"Possibility Of Genocide Moved Obama To Act In Iraq"

[applegrove]

Possibility Of Genocide Moved Obama To Act In Iraq

by Josh Lederman at the Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/09/obama-genocide-iraq_n_5664412.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

"SNIP..........................



Wednesday was a major tipping point. Obama was engrossed in three days of meeting with dozens of African presidents he'd invited to Washington. But roughly 6,000 miles away, the Yazidis were in trouble, having fled to the mountains to escape the extremists.

With Obama at the summit, his team met throughout the day at the White House, where they learned that the Iraqis had tried — and failed — to resupply the Yazidis, who were in dire need of food and water.

The Kurds, America's closest allies in Iraq, had sought to hold off the extremists. But on Wednesday, the Kurdish militia started falling back, moving precipitously away from Iraq's largest hydroelectric dam as they sought to consolidate their forces to protect Irbil.

Eventually, insurgents took the dam. If fully breached, the dam could flood major swaths of land, endangering the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, joined Obama for the limo ride back to the White House, where Obama said he knew the Yazidis' humanitarian crisis must be addressed. Obama had plans to join the first lady at an Italian restaurant, but the Oval Office meeting dragged on. Dinner would have to wait.



..........................SNIP"

[pinto]

1. This is pretty clear -

"When many thousands of innocent civilians are faced with the danger of being wiped out, and we have the capacity to do something about it, we will take action," Obama said.

[applegrove]

2. I thought the details of all the discussions Obama was having was interesting. Sort of a look

see behind the scenes on what it is like to be in the WH.

[pinto]

3. Yeah. Same here.

[humbled_opinion]

15. We will take action????

How did that work out in Gaza? Innocents being massacred and that could easily have been handled diplomatically here simple statement: If Israel doesn't stop killing Palestinians we will remove our ambassador and suspend all aid to Israel... Would have saved countless Palestinian lives but hey got some Christians on a mountain getting the headlines so that is the one he chooses to act on the one where he said he ended war, the one where we spent a trillion dollars and left the iraqis well trained and able to take care of situations like this.... The political calculus of who gets help and who doesn't makes me sick....

[pinto]

17. Wow, what a blatant oversimplification. (aside) The Yazidis up in the hills aren't Christians.

[morningfog]

18. Is this the new Obama doctrine of pre-emption?

This certainly hasn't been the rule so far. Thousands of innocent civilians har been killed across the globe since Jan 2009.

It is a helluva a commitment to make to the future too. How will this standard be defined? How much potential mitigation would have to be shown. In other words, it sounds noble but is meaningless except when the president chooses to invoke it arbitrarily.

[pinto]

21. Is your point of view a new doctrine of isolationism?

How would you define it? How much isolationism works? How much is too much? Is it arbitrary or unconditional isolationism?

[morningfog]

22. I'm not the one justifying acts of war.

This is Obama's policy, what is it?

[pinto]

23. Airdrops of water and MREs to support those trapped in the hills, air strikes to protect Irbil and US

personnel there. Possible air strikes to assist Kurdish forces who are on the ground to open a safe passage for refugees.

I support the airdrops of food and water 100%. As do France and England. I'm not looking to justify the military air strikes, yet I see the immediate, short term reasoning. Short term and clearly specified goals need to be the key.

I disagree with the "Obama policy" meme. It's simplistic at best. Do you feel Obama is advocating Iraq war III? That's a stretch, imo.

Opposition to the strikes is understandable, I share some of that. But overblown hyperbole? Nope. That benefits no one.

[rhett o rick]

24. Does that apply around the world? Can he bomb unilaterally? nm

[AtomicKitten]

4. I'm hoping he stops turning a blind eye to what's going on

in Gaza. It looks like he doesn't give a crap about the massacre going on there. The Palestinians desperately need some help.

[woo me with science]

9. He's not turning a blind eye.

He's funding it and sending ammo.

[AtomicKitten]

13. yes, thank you

I meant, of course, turning a blind eye to the genocide going on there. We are in the unique position of weapons proliferation and funding war crimes. USA!USA!USA!

[TBF]

16. It's something else -

you could drive a truck through the cognitive dissonance.

[morningfog]

19. In Gaza, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, etc.

It makes his standard meaningless unless this is how it will beovon forward.

If he thinks the ISIS threat is different because he thinks he can definitively resolve, I just don't buy it.

[JI7]

27. the US has been involved in Somalia and with Isis i think it's because it probably

would nto be happening if not for what the US(bush) did so there is a feeling of owing the victims something. and that genocide is very likely to happen.

[conservaphobe]

5. Any human being in his position would react in the same way.

Imagine the sleep you'd lose knowing you had the power to stop it and did nothing.

The entire nation should be applauding now, not the same ole song and dance of "too little" or "too much."

[morningfog]

20. Time will tell if our entry into this war helps or hurts.

I am sure ISIS is quite pleased to have drawn the US in, and will no doubt want to maintain engagement as long as they can.

[rhett o rick]

25. Will this apply to other countries? Or just special countries? What exactly is the criteria for

unilateral military action directed by the president.

[Electric Monk]

6. Edit: I was wrong, thinking of a dam much further south near Nasiriyah, not Mosul. nt

[The Magistrate]

8. Unlikely, Sir

That is marsh-land well south of Kut or even Nasariya, and I doubt flow from a breached dam would carry that far, save as high water on the river.

[Electric Monk]

10. Yeah, I was editing my post just around when you were posting yours. Different dams. nt

[The Magistrate]

11. It Was on My Mind, Sir

Just finished a project which touched on the taking of Kut in 1915.

[Fred Sanders]

7. Media startled to report on what they overlooked in reporting on exact same thing Obama said Friday?

Like exactly what he said....what day is today?

[TwilightGardener]

12. I never believe the "how we decided on it" stories. It's always for

political/public consumption and can't be proven or disproven. This is not to insult the Obama administration, because they all do this "exclusive backstory" stuff to spin and set the proper narrative, but I take it with a grain of salt.

[indepat]

14. Is not many red states refusing to expand Medicaid not a type of genocide waged on many of the poor?

Or is such form of seeming genocide copacetic in an extremely right-wing society?

[grahamhgreen]

26. Tell it to the Indians. Why not give them the 2 billion a week we spend in Afghanistan?