hi! :-)
http://www.clarionproject.org/sites/default/files/Mosul-Liberated-ISIS-IP.jpg
― am0n, Friday, 13 June 2014 17:48 (ten years ago) link
http://bilad-alsham.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/237.jpg
we begin bombing in five minutes
― am0n, Friday, 13 June 2014 17:56 (ten years ago) link
you go to war with the army you have not the army you want
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 13 June 2014 17:56 (ten years ago) link
Alright, these damn anniversary edition reissues are getting the fuck out of hand.
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 13 June 2014 17:58 (ten years ago) link
In recent days, Iran has sent about 500 Revolutionary Guard troops to fight alongside Iraqi government security forces in Diyala province, a senior security official in Baghdad told CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/13/world/meast/iraq-violence/
Maybe Iran and the US together at last
― curmudgeon, Friday, 13 June 2014 18:14 (ten years ago) link
good times
― Οὖτις, Friday, 13 June 2014 18:17 (ten years ago) link
being able to say "I told you so" not very satisfying in this case
― Οὖτις, Friday, 13 June 2014 18:18 (ten years ago) link
otm
― Hier Komme Die Warum Jetzt (Hurting 2), Friday, 13 June 2014 18:35 (ten years ago) link
so now this is basically just going to be proxy war between SA and Iran right
― Οὖτις, Friday, 13 June 2014 18:38 (ten years ago) link
Mosul liberated by LOLcats?
― did click through tho on the money (Eazy), Friday, 13 June 2014 18:42 (ten years ago) link
turban black you proxy fules
― bnw, Friday, 13 June 2014 18:42 (ten years ago) link
BREAKING NEWS
MOSUL PASSES $15 MINIMUM WAGE!
― Hier Komme Die Warum Jetzt (Hurting 2), Friday, 13 June 2014 18:42 (ten years ago) link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/several-kurdish-forces-killed-in-iraq-as-shiites-begin-to-slow-advance-of-isis-fighters/2014/06/15/5b0e015c-f473-11e3-b633-0de077c9f768_story.html
militants on Sunday posted gruesome photos on one of their Twitter accounts that purported to show the jihadists executing dozens of men in a province north of Baghdad.
The photos showed men in civilian clothes lying face down, shoulder to shoulder and with their hands bound, in a ditch surrounded by yellow fields, as masked fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fired into the ditch in Salahuddin province.
It was impossible to verify the authenticity of the photos. By Sunday afternoon, Twitter appeared to have suspended the account.
A top Iraqi general and a spokesman for the armed forces told reporters in Baghdad on Sunday that the military was steadily bringing Salahuddin under its control.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 15 June 2014 19:16 (ten years ago) link
is that my homeboy george w bush in the center of the second pic posted?
― brimstead, Sunday, 15 June 2014 19:19 (ten years ago) link
it is difficult to imagine a scenario where resolution of this conflict doesn't end in ethnic cleansing
― building a desert (art), Sunday, 15 June 2014 19:27 (ten years ago) link
Is it better or worse in Iraq after the invasion, and how could that be measured
― cardamon, Sunday, 15 June 2014 19:35 (ten years ago) link
I mean it looks worse to me but I can't say I'm on top of the subject
better for the kurds
― Mordy, Sunday, 15 June 2014 21:11 (ten years ago) link
Better for the kurds, probably gonna be about the same for the sunnis and marginally worse for tge shiites I would guess but we'll see
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 15 June 2014 21:40 (ten years ago) link
is Hitchens still dead
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 15 June 2014 23:55 (ten years ago) link
You think he's rolling around insisting he was right
― curmudgeon, Monday, 16 June 2014 15:26 (ten years ago) link
well at least the GOP has their "Obama lost Iraq" narrative, best o' times ahead
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Monday, 16 June 2014 15:29 (ten years ago) link
I don't see what good that's gonna do 'em tbh
― Οὖτις, Monday, 16 June 2014 15:32 (ten years ago) link
This is easy - Arm the ISIS against Assad, the Iraqis against ISIS and then give Assad weapons to fight the Iraqis because why not, it'll piss off Israel.
― pplains, Monday, 16 June 2014 15:32 (ten years ago) link
This could also fit in on Content 77
http://i.imgur.com/7lbOvY3.jpg
Fun to see the most dangerous army of the week using smileys to scare their victims' families.
― pplains, Monday, 16 June 2014 15:35 (ten years ago) link
ugh
― macklin' rosie (crüt), Monday, 16 June 2014 15:37 (ten years ago) link
can somebody point me to a blog that is making some sense out of all this shit?
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Monday, 16 June 2014 15:49 (ten years ago) link
Try this one..
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 June 2014 15:51 (ten years ago) link
ha ha
― curmudgeon, Monday, 16 June 2014 16:13 (ten years ago) link
Rich Lowry, model tank enthusiast
― Οὖτις, Monday, 16 June 2014 16:20 (ten years ago) link
Sorry, but this is a mess of President Obama’s making.
When Obama took office he inherited a pacified Iraq, where the terrorists had been defeated both militarily and ideologically.
There was a link there to torture enthusiast Marc Thiessen, Bush administration employee, in the Washington Post.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 16 June 2014 16:31 (ten years ago) link
let's remind everyone what Thiessen looks like:
http://attwiw.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/marc-thiessen.jpg
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 June 2014 16:43 (ten years ago) link
That's him explaining how idealogically defeated people are now doing what they're doing
― curmudgeon, Monday, 16 June 2014 17:15 (ten years ago) link
NY Times:Iraq’s effort to limit news of successful attacks by the insurgents has expanded in recent days. After initially shutting down Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other social media sites, the authorities have also blocked mobile data connections as well.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 16 June 2014 19:45 (ten years ago) link
Victory!
― Οὖτις, Monday, 16 June 2014 19:56 (ten years ago) link
http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/images/07-minister.jpg
― balls, Monday, 16 June 2014 20:12 (ten years ago) link
man is that guy still alive
― Οὖτις, Monday, 16 June 2014 20:14 (ten years ago) link
YES HE IS. HE WENT ON TO LONG AND HAPPY LIFE, NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT HIM.
― pplains, Monday, 16 June 2014 20:19 (ten years ago) link
lol apparently he is. lives in the uae w/ his family.
― balls, Monday, 16 June 2014 20:39 (ten years ago) link
Gary Brecher is generally reliable.
http://pando.com/2014/06/16/the-war-nerd-heres-everything-you-need-to-know-about-too-extreme-for-al-qaeda-i-s-i-s/
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Tuesday, 17 June 2014 07:35 (ten years ago) link
i can do without his sub-taibbi similes but that is exactly the kind of thing i'm looking for. thanks v much ShariVari
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 17 June 2014 10:59 (ten years ago) link
shoulda woulda coulda
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 17 June 2014 15:30 (ten years ago) link
yeah thanks for that SV
― polyamanita (sleeve), Tuesday, 17 June 2014 15:47 (ten years ago) link
Not a fan of some of Saletan's writing that I've read,but this is of interest:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2014/06/don_t_save_iraq_republicans_have_forgotten_self_reliance_in_foreign_policy.html
Now we have a different problem. It isn’t that Republicans overemphasize self-reliance in the context of welfare. It’s that they’ve forgotten self-reliance in the context of foreign policy. They’ve become grandiose and naive. Case in point: the emerging crisis in Iraq.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 18 June 2014 15:38 (ten years ago) link
"become"
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 June 2014 15:42 (ten years ago) link
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ohjqJDZkQps/U6GwNs4weyI/AAAAAAAABXY/ZKh7CM4jfls/s1600/cheneyiraqhaha.jpg
― Disagree. And im not into firey solos chief. (Phil D.), Wednesday, 18 June 2014 15:54 (ten years ago) link
Ha, and they've formed a new group "Alliance for a Stronger America"
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 18 June 2014 20:46 (ten years ago) link
hahahahahaha
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 18 June 2014 20:48 (ten years ago) link
http://www.duffelblog.com/2014/06/isis-humvees-maint/
Dick Cheney Negotiates No-Bid Contract To Maintain Insurgent Humvees
This website is a Onion-like website for DoD news
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 18 June 2014 22:12 (ten years ago) link
lol @ these fools
http://metro.co.uk/2014/09/05/british-jihadists-want-to-come-home-say-they-made-mistake-4857940/
― am0n, Friday, 5 September 2014 19:04 (ten years ago) link
No take backs!
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 September 2014 19:10 (ten years ago) link
That same page features a story about Muslim fundamentalists attempting to ban Peppa Pig for being a pig.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 September 2014 19:12 (ten years ago) link
Again, doesn't mean they were fighting for ISIS.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Friday, 5 September 2014 19:55 (ten years ago) link
4 lions was right; these english jihadists are clowns
― Mordy, Friday, 5 September 2014 20:01 (ten years ago) link
hmm am i the only one that thinks they should obviously allow them back?
― een, Saturday, 6 September 2014 18:43 (ten years ago) link
They can't stop people from coming back but they could arrest them for any crimes they might have committed. Again it's a bit tough if you went out to fight for rebels we were supposed to be supporting. For reference:
March 2013: Cameron and Hollande fail to convince EU to arm rebels
March 2013: Syria: David Cameron backs down from saying he wants to arm rebels
June 2013: David Cameron Says UK Will Work With Syria Rebels, Despite 'Deeply Unsavoury' Elements, But Parliament Will Get Vote On Arming Them
July 2013: UK PM Cameron pledges not to arm 'bad guys' in Syria
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Saturday, 6 September 2014 19:02 (ten years ago) link
Assad changing his strategy?
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Raids by Syrian warplanes killed at least 25 people, most of them civilians crowding into a bakery, in the northeastern Syrian province of Raqqa on Saturday as government forces continued air attacks on territory controlled by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the extremist Sunni militant group.
The Syrian government has increased airstrikes on the group in recent months after it took over government military outposts in Raqqa in a series of newly assertive attacks.
Government critics, and increasingly some supporters, complain that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces allowed the foreign-led ISIS to gain strength and establish its proto-state over the past year, focusing the army’s attacks more on Syrian-led militant groups whose main aim is to oust the president. ISIS has a broader goal, to remake the Middle East and establish an Islamic caliphate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/world/middleeast/syria.html?_r=0
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 6 September 2014 22:10 (ten years ago) link
Heard some analyst on BBC this morning saying that Lebanese Hezbollah is now trying to spin their troops involvement in Syria on behalf of one of their patrons, Assad, as actually being intended to keep Isis from going to Beirut. Lebanese are not happy that Isis beheaded both Suni and Shia Lebanese soldiers and are holding 19 more. Lebanon PM says he is trying to get Qatar to help free them.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 8 September 2014 13:59 (ten years ago) link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/marc-thiessen-george-w-bush-was-right-about-iraq-pullout/2014/09/08/6ddd91b2-374e-11e4-bdfb-de4104544a37_story.html
torture supporter and former Bush administration employee who wrote speeches for Rumsfeld knows that if Obama had simply forced Maliki and Iraqi government to keep 24,000 or so US troops there, Iraq would be perfect now
― curmudgeon, Monday, 8 September 2014 17:02 (ten years ago) link
can we just airdrop about 24,000 pro-bush chicken hawks in raqqa?
― I dunno. (amateurist), Tuesday, 9 September 2014 08:56 (ten years ago) link
remarkably durable, that joke
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 9 September 2014 14:53 (ten years ago) link
on the still top secret pages from the 9-11 report:
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/twenty-eight-pages
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 9 September 2014 15:28 (ten years ago) link
new mixtape dropping soon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td9SyiIRHWs
― 💻 👀 (am0n), Wednesday, 17 September 2014 17:03 (ten years ago) link
http://www.thenation.com/article/181601/whos-paying-pro-war-pundits
But what you won’t learn from media coverage of ISIS is that many of these former Pentagon officials have skin in the game as paid directors and advisers to some of the largest military contractors in the world. Ramping up America’s military presence in Iraq and directly entering the war in Syria, along with greater military spending more broadly, is a debatable solution to a complex political and sectarian conflict. But those goals do unquestionably benefit one player in this saga: America’s defense industry.
still don't know what i think the US's role should be here, but this kind of thing is always worth keeping in mind.
― Treeship, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 17:17 (ten years ago) link
Trailer needs a final jump-out-and-go-boo moment.
― the man with the black wigs (Eazy), Wednesday, 17 September 2014 17:19 (ten years ago) link
i don't really understand why they are marketing themselves as evil. shouldn't they be the good guys in their minds, avenging injustices and serving allah?
― Treeship, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 17:29 (ten years ago) link
☮
― how's life, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 17:31 (ten years ago) link
dexter filkins gave a possible explanation to my question in the new yorker:
It’s hard to watch the video of Steven Sotloff’s last moments and not conclude something similar: the ostensible objective of securing an Islamic state is nowhere near as important as killing people. For the guys who signed up for ISIS—including, especially, the masked man with the English accent who wielded the knife—killing is the real point of being there. Last month, when ISIS forces overran a Syrian Army base in the city of Raqqa, they beheaded dozens of soldiers and displayed their trophies on bloody spikes. “Here are heads that have ripened, that were ready for the plucking,” an ISIS fighter said in narration. Two soldiers were crucified. This sounds less like a battle than like some kind of macabre party.
i don't know if or to what extent this matters. i guess i am just questioning the extent to which radical Islam is at the root of this or if they are just thugs/assholes and no amount of de-radicalization could read them.
― Treeship, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 17:43 (ten years ago) link
*reach them.
violence + mayhem only code as evil to yr western liberal colonized mind, treesh
― Mordy, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 17:44 (ten years ago) link
But those goals do unquestionably benefit one player in this saga: America’s defense industry.still don't know what i think the US's role should be here, but this kind of thing is always worth keeping in mind.
― Treeship, Wednesday, September 17, 2014 1:17 PM
similar to u.s. prison industry. why decriminalize drugs when there so many jobs and so much money tied to locking people up
― 💻 👀 (am0n), Wednesday, 17 September 2014 18:01 (ten years ago) link
The more outlandishly barbaric ISIS is, the stronger the call in the west for action. Would have to assume that they think US intervention will consolidate their support base with Sunni ppl. They're not mugs - they know that the videos of beheadings are going to have the opposite effect to the professed desire to warn the US / UK off. They may rethink that when the bombs start falling in earnest.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Wednesday, 17 September 2014 18:26 (ten years ago) link
in some ways they're very sophisticated but like all geopolitical actors they probably mischaracterize/misunderstand the US/UK based on their own personal views of how humans react/behave -- just like the US is constantly surprised when Middle East actors don't act in accordance w/ our own view of rationality.
― Mordy, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 18:30 (ten years ago) link
yeah this is just provocation. their thinking is the wider the conflict, the more support for them will grow/solidify as they become the main oppositional player against the west. the cynical calculus of warfare...
xp
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 18:30 (ten years ago) link
Mordy otm!
man the trailer
― schlump, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 18:39 (ten years ago) link
http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/iron-man-3-poster-ben-kingsley.jpg
― schlump, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 18:41 (ten years ago) link
i was thinking the same thing---- CONSPIRACY!!!
― Nhex, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 18:45 (ten years ago) link
it's like you wish you at least had the dignity of being embroiled in don delillo-wave geopolitics but it's like fucking ben elton wrote this
― schlump, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 18:52 (ten years ago) link
you mean isis vids are psy-ops productions to convince u.s. public they need another war? sounds far-fetched
― 💻 👀 (am0n), Wednesday, 17 September 2014 18:56 (ten years ago) link
things like this are why a professional standing army are bad
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 19:02 (ten years ago) link
bring back the draft etc.
FWIW I'm not convinced of the "they want us to come back and fight another war" theory. Us leaving Iraq was pretty much the best thing that ever happened to them AFAICT.
Plus the timing of the beheading videos wouldn't make sense -- they held these guys for a couple years and only beheaded them after we started airstrikes.
I could def be convinced otherwise though.
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 17 September 2014 19:02 (ten years ago) link
they = ISIS tbc
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 17 September 2014 19:03 (ten years ago) link
so Martin Dempsey doesn't rule out ground troops
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 September 2014 19:18 (ten years ago) link
Obama still does, though, which is kind of a difficult position to take since I don't think anyone believed IS will be stopped with airstrikes alone
― busted (art), Wednesday, 17 September 2014 19:21 (ten years ago) link
ISIS can only operate as long as the rest of the Sunni population isn't actively united against them. The rest of the Sunni population may not be motivated to mobilise to counter them at the moment but I'm pretty sure they don't want to be governed by 22-year-old Turkish remedials with a penchant for lopping off people's noggins in the grand scheme of things. Get the US back, get a united Sunni front going to oppose them and you have more chance of delaying the day they turn on you.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Wednesday, 17 September 2014 19:22 (ten years ago) link
The Sunnis were more united by the Maliki govt than they were by our presence. I don't buy it. Not to mention the obvious downsides for them of bringing us back, i.e. having to fight a superior army instead of waltzing into under-defended towns and plundering them.
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 17 September 2014 19:27 (ten years ago) link
the sunnis being allied w/ isis is what allowed the initial isis successes at the turn of the year, but it's always been uneasy. yr post-iraq war "third generation" jihadis are well aware of the benefits of focusing on "the far enemy" & I suspect they may have some concerns given the track record jihadis have fighting against secular middle eastern govts/"the near enemy"
― ogmor, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 20:52 (ten years ago) link
welp
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 8 November 2014 12:07 (nine years ago) link
Less than two months to go before it is 2015 in Iraq.
― oh no! must be the season of the rich (Aimless), Saturday, 8 November 2014 18:48 (nine years ago) link
M:A-2
― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Saturday, 8 November 2014 18:53 (nine years ago) link
gulf war 3: saddam's revenge
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 11 November 2014 20:36 (nine years ago) link
McCain is itchin'
― things lose meaning over time (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 12 November 2014 04:57 (nine years ago) link
Gulf War 3D: Sharknado
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 12 November 2014 05:30 (nine years ago) link
Wednesday 31 May: 150 killedMosul: 56 executed; 60 found in mass grave; 16 killed by government airstrikes and shelling; 13 family members by coalition airstrike; 3 by gunfire. Qandil mountains: 2 by Turkish airstrikes.
MAY TOTAL: 1,871 civilians killed.
https://www.iraqbodycount.org/analysis/numbers/2016/
― scott seward, Saturday, 3 June 2017 01:55 (seven years ago) link
2016 was a very bad year in Iraq.
may total this year...
The annual total for civilian deaths in Iraq in 2016 was 16,393, which is within a broad range encompassing 2015 (17,578) and 2014 (20,218). These past three years are very much higher than the years 2010-2012, the least violent period since the invasion, when the annual numbers ranged from 4,167 to 4,622, and are also substantially higher than 2013 (9,852) which saw the beginning of the change from the pre-2013 levels to current levels.
― scott seward, Saturday, 3 June 2017 01:56 (seven years ago) link