Once again Western forces aid ISIS

Rational Poster said:
It's unlikely, ISIS is pretty well routed.

It's a pretty common tactic to let the enemy escape like this. Fighting men facing certain death is hellish.
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you back a rat into a corner, it's gonna jump at your throat.

i'm sure Sun-Tzu said it better, though.
 
tonni said:
you back a rat into a corner, it's gonna jump at your throat.

i'm sure Sun-Tzu said it better, though.
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Sun Tzu referred to it as "death ground" or "desperate ground" depending on the translator.

The art of war recognizes nine varieties of ground: (1) Dispersive ground; (2) facile ground; (3) contentious ground; (4) open ground; (5) ground of intersecting highways; (6) serious ground; (7) difficult ground; (8) hemmed-in ground; (9) desperate ground.


Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve.

Officers and men alike will put forth their uttermost strength.

Soldiers when in desperate straits lose the sense of fear. If there is no place of refuge, they will stand firm. If they are in hostile country, they will show a stubborn front. If there is no help for it, they will fight hard.

Thus, without waiting to be marshaled, the soldiers will be constantly on the qui vive; without waiting to be asked, they will do your will;

without restrictions, they will be faithful; without giving orders, they can be trusted.

Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared.
 
Rational Poster said:
Sun Tzu referred to it as "death ground" or "desperate ground" depending on the translator.

The art of war recognizes nine varieties of ground: (1) Dispersive ground; (2) facile ground; (3) contentious ground; (4) open ground; (5) ground of intersecting highways; (6) serious ground; (7) difficult ground; (8) hemmed-in ground; (9) desperate ground.


Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve.

Officers and men alike will put forth their uttermost strength.

Soldiers when in desperate straits lose the sense of fear. If there is no place of refuge, they will stand firm. If they are in hostile country, they will show a stubborn front. If there is no help for it, they will fight hard.

Thus, without waiting to be marshaled, the soldiers will be constantly on the qui vive; without waiting to be asked, they will do your will;

without restrictions, they will be faithful; without giving orders, they can be trusted.

Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared.
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you've read it? i assume similar strategies are at play with the Raqqa situation.
 
Rav1nHunter said:
We evacuated civilians and they bombed the convoy after pretending to ice cream to draw the kids to the bomb.

Fuck them and their families none of them deserve to live not the terrorist or future terrorists they breed
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How many more terrorists would be bred if they shot a bunch of people in the back after agreeing to let them go?
 
Rod1 said:
Because a lot of their "families" are just their sex slaves and their kids.

Also a lot of ISIS fighters are only there because ISIS punishes desertion with death, this way you undermine the capacity of ISIS leaders to force their recruits to fight to the death.
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By the way, glad you're back. I understood you were banned. And good post.
 
tonni said:
you've read it? i assume similar strategies are at play with the Raqqa situation.
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I think there are a number of factors, that being one of them.

I think another thing to consider is that instead of the Iraqi army doing to brunt of the fighting like in Mosul, it would have been the Kurds doing the grunt work.

Given the situation between the Kurds and their neighbors we probably don't want to deplete Kurdish forces in the region too much.
 
I see no problem here.

InternetHero said:
War requires difficult and mature decisions every step of the way.

Lessening a blood bath, even for the animals of ISIS, well that is difficult decision but seeing as most were women and children, I'm good.
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The utter disdain for nuance in American discourse is so frustrating. Everything has to be good guy vs. bad guy in a zero sum game.
 
For everyone arguing that we should be acting in a humane manor, you need to explain why civilian deaths are skyrocketing in Afganistan from drone strikes, but we let ISIS fighters walk.

The explanation of humane action led by the Syrians could be credible on its own, but when compared to our actions right now in Yemen, and Afganistan, that shit is absurd.
 
Trotsky said:
I see no problem here.



The utter disdain for nuance in American discourse is so frustrating. Everything has to be good guy vs. bad guy in a zero sum game.
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You're right. Not to say that every society has ills, and we basically choose the ills that hopefully make the body politic less sick.

With America though, the Revolutionary spirit exists in a sense of rejecting class (money replaced class), rejecting the elite, and rejecting a lot of knowledge as a result. Rather than study or understand, dismiss.

That was fine (although as a Trotskyite, you are likely to disagree and I respect that) until America lost the narrow historical sense of what made it "great" (or at least powerful).

Enlightenment philosophy, Locke's observations of nature, man, and the relation of those political, social, and psychological to power visa the state, and any sense of a deeper religious, social, or civic responsibility beyond a "freedom to do anything" that rejects or minimizes looking at the consequences in a thoughtful way.

Because making people adhere to good judgement, or asking them to understand what they say... uh oh... you're interfering with that absolution of "freedom," the point that the responsibility that built the freedom must be deconstructed.
 
WTF2008 said:
What war? There's no official war so no official war rules.

If you want to fight a war, you end it quick, which the US could and should do.

The only reason to prolong a war is for profit.
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Letting people surrender speeds up a wars end dude
If we allow one city to surrender and are seen to honour the deal then other areas can see its not needed to fight to the death.
Pretty much every great conquerer in history has used the same tactics
 
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VivaRevolution said:
For everyone arguing that we should be acting in a humane manor, you need to explain why civilian deaths are skyrocketing in Afganistan from drone strikes, but we let ISIS fighters walk.

The explanation of humane action led by the Syrians could be credible on its own, but when compared to our actions right now in Yemen, and Afganistan, that shit is absurd.
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Because these guys are not defeated yet, Raqqa has not fallen, so the less people defending Raqqa the better.
 
Rod1 said:
Because these guys are not defeated yet, Raqqa has not fallen, so the less people defending Raqqa the better.
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Welcome back, or was that just rational poster spreading disinformation?
 
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