Please Please I Want To Play Too.....

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34927939
Ok let all and sundry Bomb Daesh and really I couldn't care less if we join in but would we make any difference? I mean uncle tom cobbly and all are bombing anyway so could we do something else useful to help? Too many Cooks? I just get the impression that Dave is feeling left out and wants to be in the "in crowd"!

[Hypognosis]

* I refer to an earlier post from jim which was, in fact, in this thread
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1458896-4.html

[sevenOP]

"It is in Raqqa, Syria, that ISIL has its headquarters...
our assessment is that there are about 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters on the ground who do not belong to extremist groups." PM Cameron

cf 'weapons of mass destruction' Bush and Blair.

Campaign Against Isis: Is There Any Hope for Military Success?

http://www.unz.com/pcockburn/campaign-against-isis-is-there-any-hope-for-military-success/

[Khandro]

SevenOP; Your link is full of questions but no answers, the big question is; are you prepared to allow ISIS to prevail? Please answer.

[sandyRoe]

Cameron should look to mend bridges with Assad and do all in his power to help the despot reestablish his authority over his lands.
Assad was never a threat to the UK, ISIS is.

[Hypognosis]

@Khandro

sevenOP has split his Q off into a separate thread, which we might as well cross-link to this one

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1459234.html

[venator]

Hypognosis - the argument "they are killing our brothers - what will you do about it" is a common first step in radicalisation of susceptible young Muslims.

Another thing IS wants is to cause distrust of all Muslims in our country, which helps to radicalise them. Terrorist attacks and bringing over terrorists among the refugees are part of this strategy.

IS are winning the game - but what should we do? Should we go away and stop meddling in these countries?

[Gromit]

The truth is, the Syrian opposition is very small, and their numbers and fighting ability is bolstered by foreign outside parties.
They have been fighting for 4 years and have let off hundreds of millions of dollars of expensive munitions. Where did those bombs and bullets come from and who paid for them? Short answer, the West.
The Syrian opposition/ rebels/ are mostly non Syrians interested in toppling Assad (a secular ruler) and replacing him with an Islamist, non democratic, medeval form of religious, backward government.
We should resist that, and put boots on the ground to eliminate ISIS for good.

[Hypognosis]

Well said ^^^^ @Gromit. If the rebels didn't end up Talibanesque, I'd have been surprised although that probably makes me sound horribly prejudiced.

@Venator

//IS are winning the game - but what should we do? Should we go away and stop meddling in these countries? //

Annoyingly, I feel the need to fudge the answer to that one:-
Instinct tells me to think that yes, when the machine is responding erratically to your control inputs, you should stop meddling with it (if only the global economy was treated in this manner but they insist on tinkering with it).

However, for as long as we depend on them to fuel our economic activity we are obliged to choose between hands off, letting them have their way (religious totalitarianism) or armed intervention and turmoil in at least one oil producing state at a time.

As we have observed, this gets civilians killed across vast swathes of territory and, since the region is so overwhelmingly *not* ethnically diverse (hard stare) it just looks like the West hates Muslims, generically: we appear to not care whether Sunnis, Shi'a, Alawites, Wahhabists etc. get caught in the crossfire.

If anyone can point to which sect is dominant in IS then well done them. If they are succeeding in unifying factions then I will have to accept that the statement "bombing drives *all* Muslims towards IS" is true.

[sevenOP]

"SevenOP; Your link is full of questions but no answers, the big question is; are you prepared to allow ISIS to prevail? Please answer."

Khandro, I would like ISIS neutralised.

The post of mine you are referring to was posted here by mistake.