ISIS has groups of women and so sadly, very young girls, that they are keeping imprisoned and raping every day.  Some of the young girls have lost the ability to even speak now.

Yes there are some kooky Christians but this tired comparison and moral equivalency is as divorced from reality as Obama's statement.

Islam has a problem and these people call themselves the "Islamic State...".   They are funded by other Muslims, sheltered by Muslims and get their ideology from Muslim religious leaders who then go on Western TV and act like nothing they are doing is wrong.

Muslim Cleric calls for Islamic State in England

It's a silly comparison in every way and people need to stop making it.

Not all Muslims are bad.  Islam in and of itself is not bad but far too many Muslims are practicing a brand of Islam that is perverse and must be confronted.   Not acknowledging as much and hiding behind PC rhetoric as the president did last night is not a good start.

I think he's over-estimating the participation that will be forthcoming from other middle eastern countries. I also don't think the Sunni groups, tribes, rebels and Kurds will be on board with our goal of destroying ISIS. I think the Kurds want to be left alone and given independence, the Sunnis don't trust the Iraqi government (the new one isn't much more inclusive than the old one), the rebels only want to fight Assad and the tribes will switch allegiances back and forth. Many think they are better off with ISIS than they were with Malaki and certainly than with Bashad.

None of the other allied countries are offering troops on the ground to fight ISIS -- just some special ops guys.

Maybe the airstrikes will be lucky and take out the ISIS high level military commanders like Omar Shishani and Abu Wahib, but even then, that won't be the end of ISIS.

ISIS is already governing in many places, ensuring food, water, gasoline,road repairs,  toys for kids, traffic control, police to resolve disputes and Sharia courts. They aren't just a vision-less, terrorist group. They have a vision, which is building a unified state, and they are working hard to establish it, asking us to stay out of their way, and showing us there will be consequences if we don't.

Threatening to kill people who think being killed is an honor and who look forward to it isn't much of a deterrent.

Yes, they are brutal and barbaric, but so are the groups they are fighting. The Shia militias behead, they all kidnap and torture. Assad is killing civilians daily and indiscriminately.

Many people in government and the military, or formerly in the government and the military, including many in the Obama administration, seem to have the same views as I do.

Of course they do.
The ones you believe have track records that leave something to be desired, imo, but, if those are the people whose opinions resonate with you, so be it.

Those would, I would assume, be the people trotted out by the media to shill for government policy. As they did the first time around in 2002.

Of course, anyone can say the same to support the view that what Obama is doing is dangerous, costly in every sense, and even, to use his phrase, "dumb".

I just don't buy the argument that ISIS will leave us alone if we leave them alone.

And ISIS/ISIL is Islamic. It may be completely doing wrong just as other extremist religious groups are doing but when Obama claims they are not Islamic then Obama removes the motivation for the moderate Muslims to step up and work for reform. And to be fair, Bush did the same thing.

Part of leading is telling people what you want them to do.

Whether we like it or not radical Islam has declared war on us. We may find it silly for them to think they can take over the world but they do and have worked on a two pronged front to do so.

And before I go farther.... There is no grand conspiracy. Just groups working more or less to accomplish common goals. And yes, they fight each other but at the end of the day the west remains the Great Satan.

One is changing the west's culture to accommodate Islam's various doctrinal demands. While accommodating them works fine when Muslims are a small minority when they grow larger then it is no longer practical. Thus their demands will be enforced on everyone. Check Europe's demographics.

We have seen the military/terrorism approach for years. They seek to intimidate. They don't want the western press around. Behead a couple of reporters and they won't be. Keep launching rockets on Israel while claiming Israel is killing innocents and getting the western media to amplify the claim will eventually work. And we can get ready for this times ten when we really start to hurt them by bombing.

I have posted this before and bin Ladin is dead but his comments are as instructive as Hitler's in Mein Kampf. From the 3/97 interview with Peter Arnett of CNN.

 REPORTER: Mr. Bin Ladin, will the end of the United States' presence in Saudi Arabia, their withdrawal, will that end your call for jihad against the United States and against the US ?

BIN LADIN: ........So, the driving-away jihad against the US does not stop with its withdrawal from the Arabian peninsula, but rather it must desist from aggressive intervention against Muslims in the whole world.

Link

But all in all Obama made a good start. We'll probably get the same amount of support Bush got and we'll probably lose some as terror attacks in Europe scare countries off.

Look how Americans in Abou Ghraib and Gitmo were trained not only to torture their prisoners, but to enjoy doing so.

And what did we do to Vietnam, and were brainwashed, or numbed, not to feel any of it.

The Nazis, in recent history, proved that people can be brainwashed to do anything. To the weak. To children.

We have been brainwashed, or desensitized to the fact that we target "high value" people and knowingly bomb in areas in which civilians are located - and we call them "collateral damage" and feel nothing.

Look what we did during the horrific "shock and awe" bombing by America under Bush. We left them without hospitals, without electricity. Without food -- and without water! And what did we feel about it? How do we feel about it? Obama just thanks Bush for his "service" - and we are brainwashed to think that that is as it should be.

I think it's time for some compassion and understanding of the grievances of peoples from other countries - especially those on whom we and our allies have trodden for decades.

People, like the Americans in Abou Ghraib are not born fiends.
Neither are Muslims extremists. Their behavior is horrific, but we should spend a little time to try to determine what caused and enabled them to behave that way - and to feel OK about it. Even prideful about it.

This is not "bleeding heart" liberal thought.
It is a means to an end. That end being the defusing of a very dangerous situation.

If you are interested in travel, and wreaking havoc AND the authorities have a picture of your face, you will be stopped well before any damage can be done.