ISIS set to obliterate Palmyra

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**Sir Arun**

Cant find the big ISIS thread for some reason...(I'm looking at you, mods) so I made this one.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/14/isis-syria-palmyra-iraq

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-advances-on-palmyra-syria-urges-international-community-to-save-2000yearold-unesco-world-heritage-site-from-destruction-10252601.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32735677

I have put up a small memorial video, in case our worst fears are realized in the next few weeks.

**Frazzled**

Sad. Clearly all historical relics in the ME now need to be shipped to Abilene, Texas for safety.

**Orlanth**

To think that Mohammed left the ancient sites alone.
The Ottoman Empire left them alone.
1400 years of Islamic government have left them alone, and now they must go?

**welshhoppo**

ISIS do it for the shock value.

Seriously though, these sites predate Islam by nearly a thousand years. Leave them alone.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Gah, people who destroy history get me riled up.

**SilverMK2**

Orlanth wrote:
To think that Mohammed left the ancient sites alone.
The Ottoman Empire left them alone.
1400 years of Islamic government have left them alone, and now they must go?

If you look at them from space (or rather from the back of a really tall donkey on top of a hill as rockets are meant for blowing up the enemies of god, not for invading the heavens) they look like a picture of mohammed and so clearly must go...

**jhe90**

Sad, western looting of the world may be the last relics of these past eras left intact at this rate.

No point sending em back to be smashed, nice n safe in London, Pariz , New York etc

**Do_I_Not_Like_That**

As much as it pains me to see the destruction of historic sites, that's the least of the problems in Iraq, right now.

Another big victory for ISIL in Ramadi, with Baghdad once more within striking range http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/15/iraqi-troops-routed-by-isis-ramadi

**Jihadin**

Something like a reinforce Marine Battalion there I think and a brigade from the 82nd there at BIAP. This is going to get interesting. Will Obama pull them out along with all US citizens or go on the offensive. Route Irish Bar Room Brawl up in the air

**Wyrmalla**

Brings to mind when that giant statue of Buddha was blown up because a group of historians wanted to restore it and the local terrorist group said something along the lines of "if you want to spend so much money on your cause then you'll have to help ours too". Though its hardly like this type of crap hasn't been going on for thousands of years, but that doesn't make it any less petty.

**BrotherGecko**

ISIS is attempting to destroy the shared history of the people who live in that region. If it is all gone then nobody will be able to remember a time with out Islam. That is how ISIS will make themselves legitimate.

Except for in Iran....that won't work over there interestingly.

**easysauce**

maybe these historic sites shouldn't have provoked ISIS in the first place...

what a bunch of douches!

In all seriousness, last year some pretty awesome historical sites were also destroyed forever, unfortunately this will continue and likely get worse before it gets better.

Such a pity.

**Soladrin**

To be fair, if they keep destroying historical sites and other relics we won't have all that many reservations about flattening the entire area.

**Jihadin**

Soladrin wrote:
To be fair, if they keep destroying historical sites and other relics we won't have all that many reservations about flattening the entire area.

But we want the players in the Game of Life (combat)
We don't want a bunch of bystanders getting in the way of good bombing, shoot out, fire fight, drone, naval artillery, air strike, M1 tank, Stryker MG, MRAP though front door...

**Easy E**

Ignorant barstewards!

**hotsauceman1**

.....We need to stop ISIS, they are doing Americas job for us.
Dangit, we are supposed to be destroying culture

**jhe90**

At this rate we should just break out the B52 bombers and pound the gak out of em the old fashioned way.

120 tons of HE removes everything in a large area, guaranteed.

If they want war, give them the full arsenal not some half hearted effert, in the end your fighting or your not, the military advantages the west has is enormous.

That and back Syria to help kill them, Assad is bad, ISIS is worse.

**Sir Arun**

we can't because the current world elite is heavily influenced by the policymakers of the SJW left ._.

**Jihadin**

Be easier if we can get them to WEAR A DAMN UNIFORM!!!!
Yes I BIG CAP for YELLING!!

Be much simpler

**AlmightyWalrus**

Sir Arun wrote:
we can't because the current world elite is heavily influenced by the policymakers of the SJW left ._.

Yes, realizing that bombing millions of people to death is atrocious makes one an "SJW". Good job, you nailed it.

**AlmightyWalrus**

Sorry for the double post, but:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32764995

British Broadcasting Company wrote:The US says its special forces have killed a senior Islamic State (IS) member and captured his wife in a rare raid in eastern Syria.

Abu Sayyaf helped direct oil, gas and financial operations for IS, as well as holding a military role, the US Department of Defense statement said.

It said forces tried to capture him, but he was killed after engaging them.

Oil and gas have been an important source of revenue for IS, which controls territory in Syria and Iraq.

The operation was authorised by President Barack Obama and was carried out by forces based in Iraq.

None of the US troops involved in the overnight operation was killed or injured, the White House said.

It said that Abu Sayyaf's wife, Umm Sayyaf, is suspected of being an IS member and of being complicit in the enslavement of a young Yazidi woman who was rescued in the raid.

Umm Sayyaf has been taken into military detention in Iraq.

Oil and gas have been an important source of revenue for IS, which took control of large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq last year.

Details of Abu Sayyaf's real identity were not immediately clear, and there was little information on jihadist websites, though an unnamed US official told the Associated Press that he was a Tunisian citizen.

Syrian state media reported earlier on Saturday that government forces had killed at least 40 IS fighters, including a man they described as IS's "oil minister", in an attack in Deir al-Zour province on the country's largest oil field.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which uses activists inside Syria, said the report was incorrectly taking credit for the US raid.

The US said the operation in Syria was conducted "with the full consent of Iraqi authorities", though Reuters news agency reported that it did not warn the Syrian government in advance.

"We have warned [President Bashar al-Assad's] regime not to interfere with our ongoing efforts against [IS] inside of Syria," it quoted National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan as saying.

One source with contacts in Deir al-Zour told the BBC that the operation lasted for about 30 minutes around dawn in the residential quarters of the al-Omar oil field, which houses about 500 families of IS fighters.

The bodies of 13 IS fighters, as well as many more who were injured, were later brought to the town of al-Mayadeen, he said.

The US has been carrying out air strikes against IS in Iraq and Syria since August last year. Shortly after they began, the Pentagon said there had been a failed ground operation in Syria to free American hostages - the only other raid inside the country that it has acknowledged.

Over the past week there has been fierce fighting against IS in both Iraq and Syria.

Iraqi forces have been battling IS in the city of Ramadi, where militants seized key buildings on Friday. In Syria, government forces have been trying to drive back IS fighters from the desert World Heritage Site of Palmyra.

On Wednesday, the Iraqi government said IS's second-in-command had been killed in a US-led coalition air strike in northern Iraq - a claim that has not been confirmed by the US.

Also this week, IS released an audio message that it said was from its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. If verified, it would be his first such message for several months.

Looks like not everything's going ISIS's way at least.

**Tannhauser42**

Orlanth wrote:
To think that Mohammed left the ancient sites alone.
The Ottoman Empire left them alone.
1400 years of Islamic government have left them alone, and now they must go?

ISIS has as much to do with the teachings of Muhammed as the Westboro Baptist Church has with the teachings of Jesus.

I tend to think that ISIS knows full well that their days are numbered, and so they do these things purely out of spite. Their leaders know that as long as they keep their followers focused on violence and hate, that gives those followers little time to actually think about what they're doing.

**Frazzled**

jhe90 wrote:
At this rate we should just break out the B52 bombers and pound the gak out of em the old fashioned way.

120 tons of HE removes everything in a large area, guaranteed.

If they want war, give them the full arsenal not some half hearted effert, in the end your fighting or your not, the military advantages the west has is enormous.

That and back Syria to help kill them, Assad is bad, ISIS is worse.

Talk to me when Britain has B-52s and can do carpet bombing of anything. You go. We'll hold your coat.

**BlaxicanX**

AlmightyWalrus wrote:
Sorry for the double post, but:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32764995

Looks like not everything's going ISIS's way at least.

It really goes to show that this is what we should have been doing from the start. Our special forces and air superiority units are so kick-ass that there's really no reason to use a bulldozer to kick over an ant-hill by flooding the region with our boys. Go in quietly, kill the right people with minimal collateral damage, boom- you've dealt them a grievous blow without creating a dozen martyrs for their cause in the process.

**djones520**

These actions really infuriate me. This alone is all the justification we should need to steam roll these guys back to the stone age, let alone the mass slaughter they've been committing. I still can't believe people are hesitant about destroying these people.

**Da Boss**

Reckon people are hesitant about getting involved in another quagmire after the costs of the previous one.

**whembly**

Da Boss wrote:
Reckon people are hesitant about getting involved in another quagmire after the costs of the previous one.

We kicked assed militarily... the problem stems from the "nation building" efforts.

I'd say bomb them to smitheress and let nature pick up the pieces.

**Ghazkuul**

BlaxicanX wrote:
AlmightyWalrus wrote:
Sorry for the double post, but:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32764995

Looks like not everything's going ISIS's way at least.

It really goes to show that this is what we should have been doing from the start. Our special forces and air superiority units are so kick-ass that there's really no reason to use a bulldozer to kick over an ant-hill by flooding the region with our boys. Go in quietly, kill the right people with minimal collateral damage, boom- you've dealt them a grievous blow without creating a dozen martyrs for their cause in the process.

Except that has been proven time and again not to work against extremists and Insurgent groups. I can't tell you the number of times we wiped out the senior Taliban/insurgent leadership in Sangin/Helmand only for new figure heads and leaders to step forwards the next day...hell we had a commander appointed within hours of us killing the last one.

With extremists their is no head to cut off. Its an all or nothing scenario and history has proven that America/Western countries lack the stomach for the All or nothing approach.

**Jihadin**

Ghazkuul wrote:
BlaxicanX wrote:
AlmightyWalrus wrote:
Sorry for the double post, but:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32764995

Looks like not everything's going ISIS's way at least.

It really goes to show that this is what we should have been doing from the start. Our special forces and air superiority units are so kick-ass that there's really no reason to use a bulldozer to kick over an ant-hill by flooding the region with our boys. Go in quietly, kill the right people with minimal collateral damage, boom- you've dealt them a grievous blow without creating a dozen martyrs for their cause in the process.

Except that has been proven time and again not to work against extremists and Insurgent groups. I can't tell you the number of times we wiped out the senior Taliban/insurgent leadership in Sangin/Helmand only for new figure heads and leaders to step forwards the next day...hell we had a commander appointed within hours of us killing the last one.

With extremists their is no head to cut off. Its an all or nothing scenario and history has proven that America/Western countries lack the stomach for the All or nothing approach.

Do we not do the same when someone in a leadership position get opted out be it death or wounded? They (ISIS, AQ, Taliban etc etc) are not an exception to the rule. They have individuals willing to step forward and take over when someone gets popped out of the equation. Time is on their side and they know it

**Relapse**

Da Boss wrote:
Reckon people are hesitant about getting involved in another quagmire after the costs of the previous one.

I'm afraid that, like it or not, we're going to be over there again in force within a few years.

**Ghazkuul**

Relapse wrote:
Da Boss wrote:
Reckon people are hesitant about getting involved in another quagmire after the costs of the previous one.

I'm afraid that, like it or not, we're going to be over there again in force within a few years.

Unfortunately, I believe you are right. Combat deployments to Iraq have already begun again and it is only a matter of time before the Iraqi government asks for an intervention to keep their government from collapsing. It actually breaks my heart to see Iraq fail this hard after having so many of my friends spend months and years in that country and having lost brothers and sisters and the mental anguish attached to many deployments.