The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The Bloody Cost of Failure

Posted on | August 21, 2014 | 52 Comments

The New York Times reports:

Kneeling in the dirt in a desert somewhere in the Middle East, James Foley lost his life this week at the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Before pulling out the knife used to decapitate him, his masked executioner explained that he was killing the 40-year-old American journalist in retaliation for the recent United States’ airstrikes against the terrorist group in Iraq.
In fact, until recently, ISIS had a very different list of demands for Mr. Foley: The group pressed the United States to provide a multimillion-dollar ransom for his release, according to a representative of his family and a former hostage held alongside him. The United States — unlike several European countries that have funneled millions to the terror group to spare the lives of their citizens — refused to pay.
The issue of how to deal with ISIS, which like many terror groups now routinely trades captives for large cash payments, is acute for the Obama administration because Mr. Foley was not the lone American in its custody. ISIS is threatening to kill at least three others it holds if its demands remain unmet, The New York Times has confirmed through interviews with recently released prisoners, family members of the victims and mediators attempting to win their freedom.

ISIS obtained it current strength in Syria after 2011, as part of the “militant opposition” to the Assad regime. ISIS was at least encouraged — and some say aided and armed — by the U.S. and its allies during the “Arab Spring” the Obama administration celebrated. Hillary Clinton’s State Department was directly involved in this series of blunders and, while we may stipulate that their intentions were good, their policy was misguided and has manifestly failed.

The Law of Unintended Consequences has not been repealed, nor have The Gods of the Copybook Headings been dethroned.

If you ever wondered what Jimmy Carter’s second term would have been like, you need no longer wonder.

 

Category: Iraq, Syria, Terrorism

Comments

52 Responses to “The Bloody Cost of Failure”

  1. Zohydro
    August 22nd, 2014 @ 8:56 pm

    I used to like Christie—until he caved on gay marriage, anyway!

  2. XTYPE1
    August 22nd, 2014 @ 10:40 pm

    I don’t dislike him, but Im definitely critical of him on numerous issues, many of which have to do with national security, and the economy, but to compare his screw-ups to W’s is a bit much. And you haven’t actually specified how he he’s harmed the economy. It’s really the labor market that’s a disaster, but since conservatives are essentially anti-worker, and pro-employer, I cant see how any of you are helping that problem. If you think the solution is cutting corporate taxes, and killing american unions, we’ll just say this isn’t the 80’s, and it would change nothing. The EPA is not the problem, either. The problem is outsourcing, and greed. If Obama stepped in to do something about that, you guys scream “central planning”, “socialism”, “tyranny”, etc. I dont see Republicans, or Conservatives pushing any infrastructure spending that is badly needed, and would create work.

    The “death toll” of innocents is worse under Barack, than W? Tell that to the 1 million plus Iraq civilians dead during our invasion, surge, and occupation. You saying he’s competing with a death toll created by Stalin, Mao, and Hitler, makes you sound absurd, and quite frankly, idiotic. One dead journalist is not a holocaust, especially when beheadings were routine under W, like Daniel Pearl, Nick Berg, etc.

    Funny that you say “he has nothing to show for his time in office” while leaving out that anytime he attempts to do anything he deals with a do nothing, sabotaging, obstructionist congress. Illegal immigration has been a problem every President faces, especially over the last 3 decades. Reagan wanted amnesty, too, and why? Simple, better have taxes, and tabs on these people. You certainly cant deport them all.