Iraq: What to do?

[DaveC]

If I were such an extremist, I know for sure I would have a bullseye on the "Freedom Tower", now called One World Trade Center.
I mean, what better way to get back at the U.S. than taking that down?

That's certainly much easier said than done. It seems a large chunk of the American public thinks that it's just a matter of getting some wackos to buy a few plane tickets and point it in the right direction. It takes a TON of money and planning and a huge network to pull off a job like 9/11 and not get caught, now that the intelligence agencies are focused so much more on terrorism I doubt that anything like "planes flying into buildings" will happen again soon.

On the other hand, the ports are unreasonably porous, and it doesn't take much to stick a dirty bomb in a shipping container. Enough uranium probably wouldn't be too hard to get from a shady Russian general if you offered enough cash. You wouldn't even have to get it off the boat and through customs, just set it off once the boat docks and with the right wind in the right place it could make 9/11 look like a church picnic.

 

[Vincent Vega]

On a related note, this year's theme for the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (tomorrow) is "Fighting Impunity".

That islamists could come back into Iraq is mostly Maliki's fault, who estranged especially the Sunni and Kurdish factions with his sectarian politics. In 2007 it were the residents of Anbar themselves, the Sunni Awakening Movement, who kicked al-Qaeda out and forced them to go into hiding. Those tribes are still opposed to the radicals, but are not willing to fight them with the lack of support they received from Maliki.

 

[DaveC]

On a side note, is it ISIS or ISIL? I remember first hearing about this group when they were fighting in Syria and they were called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant", now that's changed I guess?


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[deep]

ISIL

Levant is way cooler than Syria

 

[DaveC]

ISIL

Levant is way cooler than Syria

I agree, I like ISIL better anyways, cause you better believe that if they got control of Iraq and Syria, Lebanon would be next. I can only imagine what the Israelis would do if something like ISIS/ISIL set up shop right on their border, although I guess Hezbollah is very similar.

 

[Vincent Vega]

It doesn't matter much. ISIL stands for Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Levant is the Italian term for the region of the eastern Mediterranean, which originally comprised everything starting from eastern Greece.
ISIS in fact stands for Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, but is frequently being used as meaning ...and Syria (more precise would be a term like "Great-Syria"). al-Sham is Arabic and originally referred to the eastern parts of the Byzantine, which roughly is the area of today's Syria, and which were later conquered by the Muslims. But the exact borders are blurred and would have to be carved out, which currently also happens in a way. So in the end it doesn't really matter how you abbreviate it.
Iraqi and Kurdish people like to use the term Da'ash, which is the acronym of the Arabic name: al-Dawla al-Islamiyya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham. But there have been reports that leaflets were distributed threatening people to get killed should they say Da'ash, and that allegedly even happened.

 

[DaveC]

U.S. has armed drones over Baghdad, official says - CNN.com

 

[BoMac]

Who is Buk an alter for? I must know!


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[Diemen]

Who is Buk an alter for? I must know!

Get used to disappointment.

Though there's a whale of a hint in my reply to him.

 

[bono_212]

It bugs me that we used to be informed of these things and now we're not. Why did that change? Transparency was nice.

 

[DaveC]

It bugs me that we used to be informed of these things and now we're not. Why did that change? Transparency was nice.

Yeah, when I first came back I went to check out the bannings thread and was disappointed to see that it hadn't been updated in years. It was always a thrill when a new banning happened.

 

[Diemen]

You don't need to know about these bannings.

No, seriously, though, I understand. Honestly I'm not sure the exact reason those threads ended, though it did turn out to be bit too much like people gawking over the tabloids.

And for those still wondering, Buk was Sting

 

[bono_212]

I can understand locking the IO thread, it did occasionally get out of hand, but I would like to know, for example, whether or not Zoot's 3rd alter is still around, or not, because there have been times I was going to address him, but then didn't bother because, seriously, why bother if he may or may not be here. That make sense?

I assumed as much, considering the forum

 

[DaveC]

You don't need to know about these bannings.

You can go about your business.

Move along.

 

[BoMac]

That was, perhaps, the greatest alter this decade.

 

[bono_212]

Buk?

 

[BoMac]

Perhaps.

Spoiler

Yes.

 

[BVS]

He'll sting you, bug you, strongbow you, and more... and you can bet he'll be back.


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[bono_212]

Perhaps.

Spoiler

Yes.

Zoot's alter was amazing. The reveal was just...a beauty.

 

[BoMac]

Zoot's alter was amazing. The reveal was just...a beauty.

It was a reference to his comment in the Coldplay thread about Ghost Stories perhaps being the best album this decade.

Anyway, I don't want to derail this thread any further.

 

[bono_212]

OOhhh fuck yes, that's right, my mistake

 

[PhilsFan]

I love how his way of trying to make it seem like he was someone else was to rant about how 70-year-olds are really physically fit these days and Harrison Ford should be fine with this new Star Wars shit.

 

[U2DMfan]

One thing that Sting (as Strongbow, IIRC) used to argue was that Joe Biden was totally full of shit for his 'partitioning of Iraq into three countries' idea. And maybe that idea still can't work, but clearly Biden wasn't totally off his rocker. Whereas, Sting is a legit neocon (read: wrong on everything w/r/t foreign policy).

But even worse, he thinks that albums sales = quality. I knew it was him when he was making those arguments in the U2 album thread. Been reading that shit for years.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Tons of people on this larger forum think that album sales = quality. I'm afraid that short of ranting about UN resolution 1441 I would never have been sure who it was.

 

[Vincent Vega]

Now that ISIS has declared the formation of a caliphate under al-Baghdadi, I'm for the translation of Iznogud into Arabic and mass distribution throughout Iraq and Syria. Mock the shit out of him.

 

[Vincent Vega]

The president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region has told the BBC he intends to hold a referendum on independence within months.

Massoud Barzani said that Iraq was already "effectively partitioned".

While the Kurds would play a part in a political solution to the crisis caused by jihadist-led Sunni Arab rebellion, independence was their right, he added.

Meanwhile, the first session of Iraq's new parliament has been adjourned after deputies failed to elect a new speaker.

Acting Speaker Mahdi al-Hafez called off proceedings after most of the Sunni and Kurdish members of the House of Representatives did not return after a break, meaning there was not a quorum present.

BBC News - Iraq Kurdistan independence referendum planned

 

[deep]

Bush/Cheney: Destroyer-Creator Of Nations!

 

[DaveC]

BBC News - Iraq Kurdistan independence referendum planned

Good. That has been a long time coming.

 

[Jacobite]

ISIS take over Iraq's Mosul dam after Kurds withdraw. Not good news.

 

[Vincent Vega]

Though in fact they weren't. Rudaw, a local Kurdish news outlet (close to the Kurdish Democratic Party, KDP) was there and around the dam. ISIS wasn't to be seen. Nonetheless, they are very close and have taken different villages in the Shingal which is mainly home to Yezidi people. Right now there is a Kurdish counteroffensive with, as sources say, 10,000 troops. They evacuated the area when about 200 Peshmerga were facing some 4,000 ISIS troops. Many Yezidi fled, some into the mountains. Others were executed and a number of women was taken hostage. And, of course, they began destroying ancient holy sights of the Yezidi.
Yezidi are an ancient religion which is unique to the area and seen as having a pact with the devil by groups like ISIS.
The Peshmerga received heava weaponry including tanks from the US yesterday which aids in the counter-offensive. One high ranking US source (according to Rudaw) claimed the US offered air support, but that's not verified. Baghdad has also offered air support, but I'd worry too much about "friendly fire" with them. Other unverified news were that YPG fighters, the Kurdish fighters in Syria, crossed the border to lock down the Western flank of the ISIS fighters.

In the meantime, Saudi Arabia mobilized 30,000 additional soldiers for fear of an attack by ISIS.