Posted on 10/08/2014 4:10:10 PM PDT by Kaslin
ISIS not backing down.
The good news is that we and our allies are not backing down to ISIS concerning the fate of the Syrian border town Kobani. Reuters reports that air strikes are at least momentarily pushing ISIS back. It's the first sign of hope for 180,000 Kurds forced to flee across the border into Turkey by the ISIS incursion:
U.S.-led air strikes on Wednesday pushed Islamic State fighters back to the edges of the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani, which they had appeared set to seize after a three-week assault, Kurdish officials in the town said.
The town has become the focus of international attention since the Islamists' advance drove 180,000 of the area's mostly Kurdish inhabitants to flee into adjoining Turkey, which has infuriated its own restive Kurdish minority by refusing to intervene.
Islamic State hoisted its black flag on the eastern edge of the town on Monday but, since then, air strikes by a U.S.-led coalition that includes Gulf states opposed to Islamic State have redoubled.
But it's one thing to knock ISIS back on its heels. How exactly do you re-take the city without putting boots on the ground? That appears to be a question Barack Obama failed to consider - or just didn't want to consider - when he developed his politically driven mission.politically driven mission paramenters:
The Syrian Kurds are trapped between the President’s refusal to act beyond cursory bombing and neighboring Turkey’s cynical realpolitik. In northern Syria and across the Middle East, the Kurds are secular, mostly Sunni Muslims and staunch friends of America. The U.S. needs to protect and strengthen these allies to defeat Islamist terror and restore order in the region.
As for Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ’s government is letting its distrust of Kurdish intentions cloud its moral and strategic interests. Turkey refuses to let weapons and supplies cross into Kobani to reach the Syrian Kurdish YPG, or People’s Protection Committees. Ankara suspects them of links to the banned Turkish Kurdish terrorist group, the PKK. Though Turkey’s parliament last week voted to support the Obama campaign, its formidable military sits on the border, watching the ISIS onslaught.
All these articles operate under the assumption that Turkey isn’t ally and supplier and sponsor of ISIS.
While our formidable military is delegated to putting up first aid tents in Obola infected areas of Africa.
If Syria launches a chemical attack on ISIS, the Kurds could be saved.
For once I agree with Jimmy Cahter, too late. We could have tried to contain exits from Syria, trying to separate ISIS from refugees which they would infiltrate but not be as brazen of what they accomplished.
That would have cut down on ISIS sympathizers. Everybody loves a winner.
I said what I said because I don't want us to be in Syria in any manner, let them fight it out. I don't want our ground troops back in Iraq either. I wish I could think of a better way to kill more ISIS and beat them back. We're too nice. Behead the bastards. Stuff that flag up their you know whats. Greased with bacon fat.
In Vietnam we used to throw captives out of helicopters. It was against the rules but as long as the pilot didn't object, we did it anyway.
We should be arming the Kurds. They are willing to to put up a good fight.
My guess is that the Turks hate the Kurds more than they fear their fellow Sunni Muslims.
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