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| Home Front: WoT |
| Everyone is 'fighting Islamic State'“ and they're all lying |
| 2015-10-05 |
| ...Behind all of this re-alignment of the "war on terror" is the Islamic State (IS) bogeyman. Over 62 countries have joined a coalition since last year to "fight IS," as we keep hearing. Every month brings more coalition partners. In July Turkey claimed it was joining the "ongoing cooperation against Daesh [IS]." On September 26 the British Parliament voted to allow air missions to be flown against the Islamists (the same parliament rejected David Cameron's request for air strikes against Assad in 2013). At the same time Belgium and Denmark "joined the growing coalition, which includes France and Australia, along with Arab allies like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates." Even Iran, which is already supporting Assad and Shi'ite militias in Syria and Iraq, has said it may help fight IS alongside the coalition. If you want to have some fun go to an online portal that allows you to color-code a world map (I like mapchart.net). Click all the 62 or more countries now engaged in "fighting IS." Eventually much of the world will look red. The countries with the strongest militaries in the world, the highest GDPs and some of the largest populations are all allied against IS. Almost all of the countries who fought on both sides of World War II in Europe are allied against IS. Germany, Italy, Russia, France, the UK and US, all on the same side. These countries jointly possess the most hightech military equipment that has ever existed. And what are they fighting? Islamic State is a terrifying organization -- if you are an Iraqi or Syrian civilian, or a minority Yezidi or Christian, whose communities have been murdered en masse. But setting aside its propaganda, rape of women and murder of civilians, IS was estimated to only have 31,000 fighters at the height of its offensive in September of 2015. The number of people living under IS control in Syria is estimated at around two million, although some have fled. That includes people in the province of Aleppo, Hasakah, Raqqa and the areas around Deir as-Zor. Bolstered by 20,000 foreign volunteer fighters, IS can only draw on 200,000 men of fighting age for recruitment and logistics. In Iraq it has a few more resources. But it is stretched thin in both Iraq and Syria, fighting Shi'ite militias, Iran and the Kurds of the YPG in Syria and Peshmerga in Iraq. The Kurds alone field fighting forces that are larger than IS and have defeated IS in battle. So if the Kurds, by themselves, with truck-mounted .50 caliber guns and AK-47s can defeat IS, why can't the 62-country "anti-IS coalition"? How is it possible that the countries who fought on both sides of WWII in Europe can't defeat 40,000 men armed with mortars and riding around in Toyota trucks? IS doesn't have an air force. It doesn't have air defenses. It doesn't have tanks. It improvises armored vehicles by welding plates to civilian cars, and by capturing Humvees from the Iraqi army. With no way to service the captured equipment, much of it falls apart eventually. If you resurrected just one division of Patton's Third Army from 1944, it could defeat IS. So why is IS still growing in power in Syria, still fighting? Because the 62-nation coalition and all its friends in Ankara and Moscow are not really fighting IS. We live in an era of fabrications, bombastic statements, bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo and nonsense, where paying lip service to "fighting" is always preferable to actually fighting. One foreign volunteer who served with the Kurds actually fighting IS wrote on Facebook yesterday: "Surprise, surprise, 'fighting terrorism' is a good excuse to kill whoever you don't like these days." His cynical comment is basically correct. When Turkey claimed it was going to "fight IS," it actually launched a war against the Kurdish militant group PKK partly as a way to cement its popularity ahead of November elections. Putin's claim to be fighting IS was just a way to get a stamp of approval from the international community to go deep into Syria to support Assad and defeat the Syrian rebels. Its no surprise that after Russia launched its first air strikes it was reported that Putin would hold "urgent talks" with US "after Putin defies West, 'targets US-backed rebels.'" Every nation has learned that "fighting IS" is a ticket to carry out other policy agendas. For Turkey it was a way to fight the Kurds. For Russia, a way to support Assad. For Iran a way to deepen its influence over Iraq and Syria. For some countries, it's a way to get closer to the US, or to test out military equipment. Seems Israel is the only country in the region that doesn't fight ISIS. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #2 Mexico fought declared war on nazi Germany but you'd be hard pressed to name how they helped out the allies beyond that they didn't help the enemy. Declaring opposition isn't all that big a deal. Send troops. |
| Posted by: Rjschwarz 2015-10-05 23:51 |
| #1 Back in September, 2014, the coalition consisted of 40 nations according to Obean and Kerry. Since that time the coalition has picked up another 20+ nations? 40 nation coalition. I suppose, it is like the 57 states in the U.S. No one knows who they are except Obean--it is one of those esoteric, nuanced things. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2015-10-05 12:22 |