Quote:It's convenient that you left out the rest of Jag's post.


The power vacuum was created by our withdrawal from a country that wasn't strong enough to resist the gravity of religious fundamentalism in that part of the world. It is also important to point out our fundamental and unconditional withdrawal from the war on terror as a concept. The Obama administration basically abolished the term. He displayed no commitment to meet new and emerging threats with the use of force. He wanted out of the region at any cost. The doctrine of this administration has been to apologize for perceived transgressions and hope that everyone wants to sing kumbayah. The eventuality of this threat wasn't considered when we pulled out and the emergence of this threat wasn't taken seriously. Even in the face of escalating violence around the globe we basically do nothing. We are fighting a fake counter offensive where 75% of our sorties, that cost millions of dollars mind you, come back without dropping any bombs.

Prior to the withdrawal ISIS had been reduced to a fragment of what it had been and what it is now. They had lost the popular support of the masses in North Iraq and Iraq was more than capable of handling its remnants on its own.


Then the civil war in Syria started and it provided ISIS with a bedrock of choas to grow virtually unopposed. Syria couldn't reach them because of the civil war thing and Iraq couldn't do anything because it all happened across the border. By the time ISIS came across the border again they were big enough that Iraq was on equal footing at best.


The withdrawal didn't help because it means ISIS could expand into Iraq but if US troops were still in Iraq ISIS would still be big, they just wouldn't be in Iraq.

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