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'the notorious North County Sancho'

I'm kidding of course (maybe I'm better?)... I don't need any help to, or blame anyone else for, shooting-off my own big mouth. I'm just very upset about this whole thing.

With all the unrest, violence, and hate around the world, I'm not entirely sure why the ISIL/ISIS conflict bothers me so much, except to say, when I saw the self-published ISIS videos showing them lining-up their innocent victims - hundreds at a time, machine-gunning them in the dirt, rolling the bodies into mass graves, and celebrating with AKs waving in the air, I felt an intense need to hate them back, kill them all if I could... or support the effort of others who can.

^^^^^ SO MUCH AWESOME!!!!

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Velo Ergo Endo

...well, here we go again.

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Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~Milan Kundera

Disclaimer: I have (2) kids in the Army and a nephew flying in the Air Force. I have never supported any "boots on the ground" in the Middle East specifically because I don't believe there's anybody over there worth having Americans die for. Based on the history and culture of the Middle East, they've proven time and time again that nothing is going to change over there.

That being said, there's probably not a soul alive that didn't believe that Saddam Hussein was in possession of and/or attempting to develop some sort of WMD. When he was constantly refusing to let UN Inspectors actually inspect certain sites over and over and over and over again, 99% of Americans were saying "how many times are we going to let this guy (Saddam) get away with this". nearly everybody I knew was chomping at the bit for the US to go in and force Saddam to abide by the UN agreement to allow inspectors carte blanche access. Then Saddam started publicly recruiting and offering to pay the families of suicide bombers
$25,000. Once again, the WORLD responded that something must be done to stop this madman. We of course were the ones that stepped up to answer the call...and if it was about oil, explain to me why we didn't line up tanker after tanker after tanker and just take what we wanted? If it was all about oil, why didn't we demand at least a discount on our oil from Kuwait and later Iraq until the debts were paid?

ISIS is turning into another situation just like that. In the big picture, they aren't much more than a gnat that could be swatted away. However, when they started the mass killings/executions of unarmed civilians for no legitimate reason, the alarms started going off again. People speaking out that "something must be done". I'm okay with something being done but this time, let some other country or coalition go in and do the dirty work. I agree with most of you that we need to stop arming countries/rebel armies that need us today but will fight against us tomorrow.

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If you don't go this year, you'll only be a year older when you do - Warren Miller

Uhhh... I can think of two souls alive that knew with certainty that Saddam did not have WMDs.
1) Hans Blix - head of the UN weapons inspection team. http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/03/18_blix.shtml
2) Me. I knew it was a total pile of horse shit from the start. It was simply Bush Jr trying to go after Saddam. I didn't believe Bush for one second.

I listed Hans first as his opinion has a bit more clout than anybody on this topic. After all he was the leader of the team responsible for knowing whether there were WMDs or not.

I do thank you and your family for their service and commitment to this country. I only fault jerk-off assholes at the top of our government who send good people into dangerous situations over complete fabrications.

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Velo Ergo Endo

Please ask the Kurds whether the attempted genocide of their people by the Hussein Regime, resulting in thousands of dead citizens by poison gas attack resembles WMD. Please ask the Kuwaitis whether the invasion of their county by the Hussein Regime to confiscate their oil producing resources, was pre-arranged by right-wing American politicians...

because that would be too obvious. DUH!
much more coy to go in there, take over the region (militarily wise) and make back door deals with the sheikhs and sell the oil back to the American market at a much higher price.
this way, the sheeple in America can still believe we are playing high prices due to 'those pesky Arabs'...and not see all the benjamins that Bush and company pocketed (whether it be in oil deals or military contracts).

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'the notorious North County Sancho'

Hi Eric, i agree that Saddan was no saint. But must we police every bad guy on earth? Why don't the other countries step in to squash an occasional baddy or two?

Ever see the Terminator movies? Where a band of lightly armed people are trying to fight off horrific robots from the future? Put yourself into the mindset of an average Iraqi/Syrian/afgan citizen. These powerful robots from the future (our present but their future) can kill anyone at anytime without warning. Sometimes they veer into a wedding party or apartment building and kill innocents. Would you cheer for the robots? Fuck no. You would want them to go away. You cannot win hearts and minds with airstrikes.

Barack calls Yemen a success because air strikes have killed lots of baddies. Yet more and more Yemeni are hating us due to our seemingly random bombing. We call short term victories wins while we alienate the citizens and lose the war.

War in that region is simply a waste of lives and money. Let the UN or other countries take over. Why engage in an unwinnable conflict?

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Velo Ergo Endo

Good evening, and Happy Birthday BTW!!!

I know that the circumstances surrounding the two Gulf wars as well as current conflicts, are subject to many interpretations, and there is endless debate about cause, effect, and remedy.
Personally, I just know that when good people stand-by and do nothing in the face of genocide, murder, invasion, and all the worst things that humans are capable of doing to each other... it ain't right.
Should we do it?.... sometimes - yes. Should others help us?.... yes, and very often they do.
I suppose the baddys don't always wear name tags, and sometimes we end-up dealing with Devil, but as long as the end-game is protecting innocent human beings from destruction, I'm good with the USA leading the effort.
I fully agree that (our participation in) war in the region is a total waste... But, I'm not afraid to intervene as needed to stop a modern-day holocaust... sadly though, the list is long, who will help in Darfur, Congo, Somalia, Ukraine, etc. etc. It's a tough choice to help or not based on all the complex factors discussed in this thread... but I find it tougher to accept that evil terrorist bastards get a pass because those who have the means to crush them, don't do so.

We are so blessed to have a peaceful home and country, and the freedom to debate these issues.
btw...imo, The Governator is a douche for cheating on Maria and I won't watch his Robot movies anymore.

The heat-wave is over, so I'm gonna go lube my chain and ride all weekend!

Now that's logical and coherent

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You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

this is an excellent observation, and not a small point regarding (questioning) the pecking order of military intervention and the underlying reasons for that order.

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Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~Milan Kundera

in my EMS training and classes we were continuously taught not to run to the person(s) in need of help on the scene.
why? because you are of no help to them if you run, trip and break your neck before you are able to treat them.

I completely agree with your statement about a duty to help if we have the ability to help. However I also know that we have plenty to focus on here at home before we go playing captain-save-a-hoe on a world wide scale.

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'the notorious North County Sancho'

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'the notorious North County Sancho'

the enemy of my enemy is my friend. you can't pick your friends, but you can pick your nose. peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. how much wood could a wood chuck chuck if the rain in spain stays mainly in the plain?