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n2doc

(47,953 posts)
Tue Sep 1, 2015, 11:18 AM Sep 2015

Petraeus: Use Al Qaeda Fighters to Beat ISIS

Members of al Qaeda’s branch in Syria have a surprising advocate in the corridors of American power: retired Army general and former CIA Director David Petraeus.

The former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has been quietly urging U.S. officials to consider using so-called moderate members of al Qaeda’s Nusra Front to fight ISIS in Syria, four sources familiar with the conversations, including one person who spoke to Petraeus directly, told The Daily Beast.

The heart of the idea stems from Petraeus’s experience in Iraq in 2007, when as part of a broader strategy to defeat an Islamist insurgency the U.S. persuaded Sunni militias to stop fighting with al Qaeda and to work with the American military.

The tactic worked, at least temporarily. But al Qaeda in Iraq was later reborn as ISIS, and has become the sworn enemy of its parent organization. Now, Petraeus is returning to his old play, advocating a strategy of co-opting rank-and-file members of al Nusra, particularly those who don’t necessarily share all of core al Qaeda’s Islamist philosophy.

more

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/31/petraeus-use-al-qaeda-fighters-to-beat-isis.html

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Petraeus: Use Al Qaeda Fighters to Beat ISIS (Original Post) n2doc Sep 2015 OP
That kind of stupid should be immediately and excruciatingly painful to the stupid. hobbit709 Sep 2015 #1
Actually it's a good idea, fundies should kill each other... snooper2 Sep 2015 #4
And yet, we're to believe that muslims hate us for our freedoms, NOT closeupready Sep 2015 #2
How about letting the Kurds do the heavy lifting? DetlefK Sep 2015 #3
Turkey's NATO membership poses a problem to that proposal. Chan790 Sep 2015 #9
Iraq and Iran are best friends? GummyBearz Sep 2015 #14
Ever since the Iraq-invasion, yes. DetlefK Sep 2015 #19
What could go wrong? OnyxCollie Sep 2015 #5
The enemy of my enemy who was my former enemy and likely to be my future enemy..... marmar Sep 2015 #6
US global policy, might add. n/t dixiegrrrrl Sep 2015 #7
Sure, why not. TwilightGardener Sep 2015 #8
If you're thinking cynically, ISIS is actually doing the dirty work of several Middle Eastern powers YoungDemCA Sep 2015 #10
Can we all just agree that the "War" on "Terror" is a complete Orwellian sham? [n/t] Maedhros Sep 2015 #11
The only sane thing to do in the ME is what hifiguy Sep 2015 #12
Israel's already aiding an-Nusra against the fighters we set up because we thought we'd "give Putin MisterP Sep 2015 #13
Well stated. And that's why wall-to-wall domestic surveillance. Octafish Sep 2015 #17
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly daleo Sep 2015 #15
Gosh. I wonder what he knows that we don't know? Octafish Sep 2015 #16
If this is an example of his "strategery" it's no wonder Iraq and Afghanistan are screwed up. nt stevenleser Sep 2015 #18
I think our biggest mistake in the whole mess is coming out against Assad Lee-Lee Sep 2015 #20
 

snooper2

(30,151 posts)
4. Actually it's a good idea, fundies should kill each other...
Tue Sep 1, 2015, 11:47 AM
Sep 2015

I've been advocating the end-timers and fundies here that hate Muslims should be sent over there to get their holy war on. When it's all said and done the winner gets a patch of desert and nothing else from the rest of the World.

 

closeupready

(29,503 posts)
2. And yet, we're to believe that muslims hate us for our freedoms, NOT
Tue Sep 1, 2015, 11:26 AM
Sep 2015

repeat, NOT, because we go meddle in the domestic affairs outside our jurisdiction, even encouraging civil wars, though it is certain that civilians will die as a result.

DetlefK

(16,423 posts)
3. How about letting the Kurds do the heavy lifting?
Tue Sep 1, 2015, 11:45 AM
Sep 2015

Hash out a deal with Iraq that the Kurds can found Kurdistan in northern Iraq if they defeat ISIS.

- Iraq needs the Kurds because their own army sucks. They don't have much of a choice.
- Iraq is best friends with Iran and the Kurds have close cultural ties with Iran.
- I'm sure, Iran wouldn't mind having yet another ally in the Middle-East now that Assad is going down.
- Turkey first gave ISIS leeway in funneling new recruits through Turkey and now they pretend to fight ISIS while bombing the guys who fight ISIS. Turkey can go suck dick. (There was an ISIS-suicide-bombing recently that struck turkish supporters of the Kurds. Seconds later the turkish police showed up, closed all exits and attacked the survivors with tear-gas...)
- Saudi-Arabia literally created Al-Qaeda and the ideology behind ISIS while urging for leaving murderous dictators like Gaddafi alone. Saudi-Arabia can go suck dick.

 

Chan790

(20,176 posts)
9. Turkey's NATO membership poses a problem to that proposal.
Tue Sep 1, 2015, 12:12 PM
Sep 2015

Also, we have airbases there (and possibly nuclear weapons that we don't admit having there) which would make alienating Turkey problematic.

Nevertheless, it's becoming increasingly obvious that we need to pursue a permanent resolution to the displacement of the Kurdish diaspora and landed population. Even proposals to give the Kurds a Kurdistan which ends at the Turkish border gets Istanbul's hackles up...so it's not going to be an easy resolution.

 

GummyBearz

(2,931 posts)
14. Iraq and Iran are best friends?
Tue Sep 1, 2015, 09:33 PM
Sep 2015

most of iraq is the iran version of islam. the crazy pscyhos blowing such iraqi's up are the crazier version of islam. throw in iran with their weight, and saudis would start shitting themselves and throw in their weight. Now that I think about this, it would be the quickest way to just get rid of the whole place once and for all.

marmar

(76,985 posts)
6. The enemy of my enemy who was my former enemy and likely to be my future enemy.....
Tue Sep 1, 2015, 11:49 AM
Sep 2015

...... is my friend.

U.S. Middle East policy in a nutshell.


 

YoungDemCA

(5,714 posts)
10. If you're thinking cynically, ISIS is actually doing the dirty work of several Middle Eastern powers
Tue Sep 1, 2015, 12:41 PM
Sep 2015

They are a major threat to Iran, who are the sworn enemy of both Israel and (increasingly) Saudi Arabia. They are a major threat to the Kurds, who the Turkish government have been fighting for a long time now. And they are a major threat to the Syrian government, who are another enemy of Israel.

In addition, the immense amount of violence in Syria and Iraq means that the US and its allies are - in a way - distracted from other issues in the Middle East, which is convenient for many governments in the region.

Again, this is cynical geopolitics, and I'm not saying that I agree with what any of these governments are doing (or not doing, in this case). Just an attempt to provide some regional context.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
12. The only sane thing to do in the ME is what
Tue Sep 1, 2015, 01:09 PM
Sep 2015

George Ball told LBJ to do with Vietnam in 1968: declare victory and get the hell out ASAP.

MisterP

(23,730 posts)
13. Israel's already aiding an-Nusra against the fighters we set up because we thought we'd "give Putin
Tue Sep 1, 2015, 09:23 PM
Sep 2015

a black eye": so damn clever

the question is, who'll we use ISIS to beat? PMOI's a good candidate, since we'll probably unleash them on ISIS next year--they have a woman leader! so what if they're a Saddam-backed genocidal pseudosocialist death cult?

we're now using dictators to attack the group that spun off of the group we supported against one of those dictators that we used to like and another group we formed in reaction to another group we formed that used to fight us, and which hooked up with the generals of the dictator we used to like but then fought and another group we used to support against another dictator that we supported against that group, which even Israel likes now; this group partly grew out of another group we supported against another regime by means of another regime and we directly funded one leader and told to get more radical

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
17. Well stated. And that's why wall-to-wall domestic surveillance.
Tue Sep 1, 2015, 10:37 PM
Sep 2015

And those who know that what you wrote MisterP are the real threat to the warmongers, banksters and traitors who make a killing er mint off the war without end national security racket.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
16. Gosh. I wonder what he knows that we don't know?
Tue Sep 1, 2015, 09:43 PM
Sep 2015

For instance, which side got what money from whom when and why?

 

Lee-Lee

(6,324 posts)
20. I think our biggest mistake in the whole mess is coming out against Assad
Wed Sep 2, 2015, 06:40 AM
Sep 2015

For all his issues, he is still far better than anyone else fighting in Syria.

But we backed ourselves into a corner early saying he must go- so now we really have nobody in Syria to back.

Meanwhile Assaad is getting help anywhere he can, including having North Korean "advisors" on the ground there.

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