So the US and Russia have called for a Syrian cease-fire, but not everyone is going to comply – including most of the ‘bad guys’; ISIS, al-Nusra, and Turkey.
If I was part of the coalition sitting around ‘not’ firing and ISIS shelled my location, I think it is a fair assumption that I’d get my booty in gear and shell back! The choice – die or fight. Hmmm.
What a strange solution to think that the bad guys will be nice and wait until the talks are over in which the coalition agrees to bond together to fight – an agreed upon definition of who the bad guys are. And right now, Turkey has joined the ranks of the bad guys with indiscriminate shelling. Of course Saudi Arabia is also using the vast stash of weapons sold to them by the US and UK and France to bomb whomever they please in Syria as well.
What the heck good is a cease fire if only the good guys comply? It’s like telling all the WWII allies to stop doing any bombing while the Nazi’s gain ground and create Holocaust No. II!! Imagine the Generals on the field?
The US has refused to give Russia coordinates of it’s ‘good guys’ because they think doing so will put them at risk. In the meantime there are now so many factions fighting in Syria, no one is sure who is who as every month or so another faction rises up from the dust. And as everyone might notice, ISIS continues to spread – we are supposedly now bombing Libya, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Sudan – all in the fight against ISIS, and still the media would have us believe that Russia and China are the real bad guys… All of Europe is at high risk for ISIS attacks, the US is ‘ready’, and still we can not agree that this is even a pressing issue.
I just read an article about the woman, who as a girl in Vietnam suffered horrific napalm burns to most of her body, is teaching others the value of forgiveness. During the war, her picture was plastered all over the magazine covers as she ran down the middle of the street naked, her clothes burned from her body, screaming in agony. She is grown now, but her life has been agonizing in that her wounds never healed and she has excruciating pain every day. This is what war is! It is excruciating pain.
We didn’t win Vietnam. We haven’t won our wars in a long time. And while arguments continue that we have a moral obligation to intercede, I am reminded of my father. Head of Defense Intelligence in Europe, a WWII veteran who headed a tank battalion, a lover of horses and art and me, he witnessed firsthand the daily trauma of war and the only way he could deal with it was to push it down so deep into his psyche that it would hopefully never surface – ever.
Meddling in countries that have a completely different culture than our own has proven catastrophic. Trying to make them into something they never can or want to be is – catastrophic. It is reminiscent of the missionaries who tried over and over to convert the ethnic tribes in Africa and South America to conversion, only to be slaughtered, their children raped, and their wives sliced into pieces. As gruesome as this sounds, this is the reality. And the Middle East is no different. It took Gaddafi to hold it together, as horrific as he was, it took Saddam to hold it together as disgusting as it was, because they understood the psyche of their countrymen.
We freaking goofed BIG TIME.
North Korea? China? Brazil? Leave them to their own ways and focus on helping people escape rather than annihilating countries and their populations. While ISIS continues to grow and expand, the idiocy of our bombing campaign is leaving most veterans crazed with wonder. Six drone strikes take out four trucks, seven drone strikes hit a building, eleven drone strikes cratered a ‘target’… Every veteran of military heritage knows the ridiculousness of these claims of ‘fighting the enemy’. When we can’t even agree on WHO IS THE ENEMY.
Everyone is sick of the lies. Everyone is sick of hearing military commanders who either don’t care, or who follow White House orders to circumvent the targets, spray worthless bombs, and blame other countries for indiscriminate attempts to rid this world of the enemy!
WWII – number of bombs dropped by the allies – 3.4 million tons.
Syria – number of bombs dropped – maybe 5,000 – or less.
It is NOT WORKING. Either just stop – or ramp up and create undergrounds for the civilians to find safety.