Iraq and the Election

[Cheerful Charlie]

It looks like Fallujah has fallen and the Iraqis are now in the eliminating booby traps and IED phase. Mosul is already being surrounded. Of the 43 founding members of ISIL, 39 have been killed. If Mosul falls, ISIL is in serious trouble. Trump and the GOP have been making hay over ISIL in Iraq, and so one wonders, will this be a political plus for Clinton if ISIL eats it big time in Iraq. What are your thoughts? I find this most interesting and its going to be interesting to see how this all shakes out as November approaches.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

In a rational America it would be good, and everyone would be glad that ISIS is on the ropes. But a victory for anti-ISIS forces is a defeat for Trump, and therefore for America.

Yes, that's the world we live.

A question is whether Obama and Hillary should make a big deal out of it. I personally find the idea that American troops are not being used to be YUUUUUUGE, and a great talking point for the Democratic party right now. But it also might be an unnecessary risk. What if ISIS, in a surprise attack, were to re-take Fallujah three months from now. I don't know if that's possible, but if it were to happen, it would be a swift kick in Hillary's crotch.

With the way things are now, they should stay low key about it because the poll numbers show that Hillary wins the White House simply by not fucking It up. So just let Mr. Velveeta keep talking and Hillary will practically be handed the Presidency. Then let the SCOTUS appointments begin.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...1a8a02-454b-11e6-8856-f26de2537a9d_story.html

Even as it launches waves of terrorist attacks around the globe, the Islamic State is quietly preparing its followers for the eventual collapse of the caliphate it proclaimed with great fanfare two years ago.
In public messages and in recent actions in Syria, the group’s leaders are acknowledging the terrorist organization’s declining fortunes on the battlefield while bracing for the possibility that its remaining strongholds could fall.

 

[Elixir]

ISIS will continue to put its face on any successful attack against Western "civilization" mounted by... pretty much anyone. Loss of their Caliphate might be a bruise to the collective ISIS ego, but it's not going to have any effect on the terrified state of the American electorate or on the frequency of attacks. Hillary should refrain from trying to make hay of it.

 

[TV and credit cards]

It won't be anywhere near the bump Obama got for taking out bin Laden.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

A near collapse of ISIS will defang Trump. He won't be able to cast himself as the only man who can defeat ISIS as president. The yammerheads at Faux et al will still bellow and bray, but that will all seem hollow.

 

[Harry Bosch]

A near collapse of ISIS will defang Trump. He won't be able to cast himself as the only man who can defeat ISIS as president. The yammerheads at Faux et al will still bellow and bray, but that will all seem hollow.

Agreed. The coming foreign policy divider seems to be that the republicans will push that only American "troops on the ground" can defeat Jihadists. The democratic seems to favor that locals in the area can defeat the jihadists, with western help and training.

 

[laughing dog]

Just watch. If and when ISIL is ousted, the chickenhawks and war hawks in the Republican ranks will start their clucking about how it would have happened sooner if we had put boots on the ground.