The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: mystery-ak on June 13, 2014, 03:50:41 pm
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waiting on our fearless leader to speak
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Gossip on the Hill @GossipOnTheHill 54s
Obama's statement on Iraq expected to be about 5 minutes.
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BqBZ-JcCEAEAecu.jpg)
No troops..but will consider options his National Security team suggest.......sorry Iraq you are on your own!
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"I just heard about this on the news and I'm madder than hell about it..."
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Marc Thiessen @marcthiessen 45s
Terrorist forces within 110 miles of Baghdad but Obama says not primarily a military challenge??
Roger Simon @politicoroger 8s
Obama: "The U.S. will do its part, but ultimately it's up to the Iraqis to defend themselves."
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FOX News Radio @foxnewsradio 34s
Pres Obama says any US assistance will be tied to political compromise by Iraq's government, calling this a "wakeup call"
Gossip on the Hill @GossipOnTheHill 7s
Obama on Iraq: "We will keep the American people fully informed."
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Richard Grenell @RichardGrenell 43s
Shorter Obama: my team is watching and diplomacy something.
Lynn Sweet @lynnsweet 1m
And will "consult closely with Congress," Obama is saying.
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West Wing Reports @WestWingReport 48s
President warns deepening sectarian violence between Shia & Sunni could be difficult to stamp out "We cannot do it for them"
Kelly O'Donnell @KellyO 1m
Obama "We have enormous interests there..."American people have made huge investments & sacrifices" in Iraq
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Brian Faughnan @BrianFaughnan 42s
The president is *very* focused on the long term solution. In the short term, jihdadi terrorists may take over Iraq.
John Hayward @Doc_0 42s
Obama apparently thinks ISIS is invading Iraq because they're disappointed at the lack of compromise from its government.
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Charlie Spiering @charliespiering 10s
Man. This Obama speech is poll-tested gold.
Lynn Sweet @lynnsweet 46s
#Iraq, Obama saying, "This is a regional problem and this is going to be a long term problem"
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Sky News Newsdesk @SkyNewsBreak 50s
President Obama says militants in #Iraq pose a threat to Iraqis and potentially to Americans and he will review situation in the coming days
Matt Mackowiak @MattMackowiak 1m
Obama to Iraqi gov't: I'm headed to a weekend vacation. Can't help you any time soon.
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John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz 36s
"This isn't something that's going to happen overnight." So when ISIS takes Baghdad on Monday...
John Hayward @Doc_0 46s
Obama just said the terrorist killers invading Iraq are "not acting in a way that's conducive to long-term stability."
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John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz 36s
"This isn't something that's going to happen overnight." So when ISIS takes Baghdad on Monday...
John Hayward @Doc_0 46s
Obama just said the terrorist killers invading Iraq are "not acting in a way that's conducive to long-term stability."
did he really just say that?
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yep
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Melissia @ProudoftheUSA 4m
Bombs would have been dropping 5 minutes before Bush came out to speak.
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June 13 at 12:11 PM
President Obama delivered the following statement on the crisis in Iraq at the White House on Friday.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good morning, everybody.
I want to take some time to give you a quick update about the situation in Iraq. Yesterday, I convened a meeting with my national security council to discuss the situation there, and this morning I received an update from my team. Over the last several days, we’ve seen significant gains made by ISIL, a terrorist organization that operates in both Iraq and in Syria. In the face of a terrorist offensive, Iraqi security forces have proven unable to defend a number of cities, which has allowed the terrorists to overrun a part of Iraq’s territory, and this poses a danger to Iraq and its people. And given the nature of these terrorists, it could pose a threat, eventually, to American interests as well.
Now, this threat is not brand new. Over the last year, we’ve been steadily ramping up our security assistance to the Iraqi government, with increased training, equipping and intelligence.
Now Iraq needs additional support to break the momentum of extremist groups and bolster the capabilities of Iraqi security forces.
We will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraq security forces and I’ll be reviewing those options in the days ahead.
I do want to be clear, though. This is not solely or even primarily a military challenge. Over the past decade, American troops have made extraordinary sacrifices to give Iraqis an opportunity to claim their own future. Unfortunately, Iraqi leaders have been unable to overcome too often the mistrust and sectarian differences that have long been simmering there, and that’s created vulnerabilities within the Iraqi government, as well as their security forces.
So, any action that we may take to provide assistance to Iraqi security forces has to be joined by a serious and sincere effort by Iraq’s leaders to set aside sectarian differences, to promote stability, and account for the legitimate interests of all of Iraq’s communities and to continue to build the capacity of an effective security force. We can’t do it for them.
And in the absence of this type of political effort, short-term military action, including any assistance we might provide, won’t succeed. So this should be a wake-up call. Iraq’s leaders have to demonstrate a willingness to make hard decisions and compromises on behalf of the Iraqi people in order to bring the country together.
In that effort, they will have the support of the United States and our friends and our allies.
Now, Iraq’s neighbors also have some responsibilities to support this process. Nobody has an interest in seeing terrorists gain a foothold inside of Iraq and nobody is going to benefit from seeing Iraq descend into chaos. So, the United States will do our part, but understand that ultimately it’s up to the Iraqis as a sovereign nation to solve their problems.
More to come.
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toddstarnes @toddstarnes 7m
Americans in Baghdad might want to go ahead and start packing your bags...
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Jon Ralston @RalstonReports 8m
Seems as if that entire POTUS appearance was simply to reassure public that no troops will be sent. No news.
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Obama's message to Shiites in Iraq? Good Luck!
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Catastrophe
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I do want to be clear, though... :#@$%:
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toddstarnes @toddstarnes 7m
Americans in Baghdad might want to go ahead and start packing your bags...
Add moderates and Christian Iraqis to the list of those that need to consider leaving - if they like their heads attached to their shoulders.
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yep
So he just signaled ISIS it is yours for the taking.
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Jon Ralston @RalstonReports 8m
Seems as if that entire POTUS appearance was simply to reassure public that no troops will be sent. No news.
yep...when Obammy says a war is over, then by God that war is over, and it doesn't matter what evidence there is that proves him wrong...
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Has GWB voiced an opinion, a suggestion?
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From mystery's post above:
[[ President warns deepening sectarian violence between Shia & Sunni could be difficult to stamp out "We cannot do it for them" ]]
I'm a conservative. And a very cold-hearted realist.
Told ya that to tell ya this...
I agree with him.
There's nothing more we (of The West) can do for the Iraqis.
We did all we could, and then passed the baton to them.
What is happening now is the result that was all-but inevitable. Inevitable precisely because of WHAT WE DID when we were there. And "what we did" while we were there did nothing to stop the spread of militant islam -- or islam, period.
Anything -more- we do now -- even a repeat invasion -- is just going to be another "wash, rinse, repeat" when the time comes for us to leave a second time.
What is happening now should have been expected, after observing how events transpired not long after Saddam was overthrown.
Further, roughly the same thing would happen in ANY islamic country in which we chose to intervene.
There is a bitter reality here, and I know it's hard for many to get their minds wrapped around it. But one -must- come to grips with it, if one is to understand who "the enemy" we faced in Iraq really is.
The "enemy" is not any particular leader (such as Saddam), nor is it any particular government (such as that of Iran), nor even any terrorist organization per se (such as the taliban).
That enemy is the same throughout the islamic world.
We can't kill its leader -- he's already been dead for 1400+ years.
But he lives on, with more than a billion people living "under his instructions" as if they were held in the thrall of a modern-day "Mein Kampf".
There is no government that we can overthrow that will end this. The next government will adopt the same set of operating instructions.
(Aside: this is EXACTLY what the -new- U.S.-supported government of Iraq did when it wrote into its new constitution that islam was to be the state religion.)
When we defeated Germany in 1945, we didn't just accept the Nazis surrender. We literally deconstructed their political (and almost religiously fanactical) belief system amongst the German people. "De-Nazification", wasn't it?
When we defeated Japan, not only did we force the emperor to renounce his "divinity", we literally wrote and handed them a new constitution that TOLD THEM how they would behave in a postwar world.
We didn't go into Germany, order the Nazis to put down their weapons and then..... let them go on governing. Nor did we do this in Japan.
But this is EXACTLY what we have done in Afghanistan and Iraq, in a part of the world where religion and government are all-but one and the same.
There's that old saying attributed to Einstein that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.
Turn that around 180 degrees, if you will. What we did back in 1945 after the bloodiest conflict in human history WORKED.
How can we do something completely different today that ignores reality (which we recognized in 1945), yet expect the results today to be as they were back then?
The only answer is that we are no longer serious about our own survival, and no longer willing to "do what it takes" to defeat the enemy that is eventually going to dhimmify us.
Until we are, it's not worth wasting another drop of American blood in the Middle East.
Unless we are willing to confront the reality of what the struggle there is about, that fight is over...
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From mystery's post above:
[[ President warns deepening sectarian violence between Shia & Sunni could be difficult to stamp out "We cannot do it for them" ]]
I'm a conservative. And a very cold-hearted realist.
Told ya that to tell ya this...
I agree with him.
There's nothing more we (of The West) can do for the Iraqis.
We did all we could, and then passed the baton to them.
What is happening now is the result that was all-but inevitable. Inevitable precisely because of WHAT WE DID when we were there. And "what we did" while we were there did nothing to stop the spread of militant islam -- or islam, period.
Anything -more- we do now -- even a repeat invasion -- is just going to be another "wash, rinse, repeat" when the time comes for us to leave a second time.
What is happening now should have been expected, after observing how events transpired not long after Saddam was overthrown.
Further, roughly the same thing would happen in ANY islamic country in which we chose to intervene.
There is a bitter reality here, and I know it's hard for many to get their minds wrapped around it. But one -must- come to grips with it, if one is to understand who "the enemy" we faced in Iraq really is.
The "enemy" is not any particular leader (such as Saddam), nor is it any particular government (such as that of Iran), nor even any terrorist organization per se (such as the taliban).
That enemy is the same throughout the islamic world.
We can't kill its leader -- he's already been dead for 1400+ years.
But he lives on, with more than a billion people living "under his instructions" as if they were held in the thrall of a modern-day "Mein Kampf".
There is no government that we can overthrow that will end this. The next government will adopt the same set of operating instructions.
(Aside: this is EXACTLY what the -new- U.S.-supported government of Iraq did when it wrote into its new constitution that islam was to be the state religion.)
When we defeated Germany in 1945, we didn't just accept the Nazis surrender. We literally deconstructed their political (and almost religiously fanactical) belief system amongst the German people. "De-Nazification", wasn't it?
When we defeated Japan, not only did we force the emperor to renounce his "divinity", we literally wrote and handed them a new constitution that TOLD THEM how they would behave in a postwar world.
We didn't go into Germany, order the Nazis to put down their weapons and then..... let them go on governing. Nor did we do this in Japan.
But this is EXACTLY what we have done in Afghanistan and Iraq, in a part of the world where religion and government are all-but one and the same.
There's that old saying attributed to Einstein that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.
Turn that around 180 degrees, if you will. What we did back in 1945 after the bloodiest conflict in human history WORKED.
How can we do something completely different today that ignores reality (which we recognized in 1945), yet expect the results today to be as they were back then?
The only answer is that we are no longer serious about our own survival, and no longer willing to "do what it takes" to defeat the enemy that is eventually going to dhimmify us.
Until we are, it's not worth wasting another drop of American blood in the Middle East.
Unless we are willing to confront the reality of what the struggle there is about, that fight is over...
Nail on the head! Thank You.
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:amen: