Probably not. Cold fish that he is, Obama most likely saw that inaction, and silence, on the genocide being carried out by ISIS in Iraq weren't helping his image, so he has finally taken a few baby steps in the direction of confronting the demoniacal savagery of Islamic fanatics who are besieging the Kurds in the northeast and what’s left under Iraqi government administration in the south.
However, if he was, in fact, capable of being shamed into doing something, it might well have been due to this letter from Rep. Frank Wolf, which pulls no punches.
By the way, I rather think that it would be good form to retire the Nobel Peace Prize.
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There are those who act and those who react.
Also:
"BBC News: Caution needed with Gaza casualty figures." Yah think?
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28688179
This guy does a good job exposing some of it:
http://www.thomaswictor.com/?s=gaza
In later years, when confronted with his heartless folly, he'll point to his few bombing campaigns and aid drops, and claim: "See! I did do something!" In his tiny little mind, that's enough.
Not only should the Nobel Peace Prize be retired, every recipient since Yasser Arrafat should be forced to return their medallion and the cash prize.
Just try prying Arafat's Nobel money out of Suha. It would be worse than trying to pry a charitable contribution out of Hillary and Bill.
Policies to adopt immediately:
Continued airdrops of food, water, and ammo to the people at Jebel Sinjar.
Resupply the Kurdish Peshmerga massively, especially ammo and RPGs.
Continued airstrikes on the ISIL swine.
If we really wanted to save the day in Iraq (and I doubt Obama really wants to do so), we'd move a brigade combat team of the 82nd to Kurdistan at once. The btigade could spearhead a drive to relieve Jebel Sinjar (to prevent a massacre of Yazidis) and then to defeat ISIL in Iraq, fighting together with the Peshmerga. Maybe airdrop a battalion of Rangers on Jebel Sinjar, if they can be supplied by air, to protect the people there in the meantime and fight to link up with the combat team when it gets close (there are a few Peshmerga there I understand, and they need help).
I suggest the 82nd because it is our strategic reserve and, as airborne troops, they are likely to be deployable within a very short time. Fly them into Kurdistan. Turkey is frightened of ISIL and if we really did have some smart diplomacy going on, it would be no problem to get the Turkish government's cooperation in this matter. That would open up supply routes to the troops in Kurdistan so as not to have to rely on airlift alone.
Some heavy pressure on Qatar to stop financing these jihadist scum is also indicated. Untraceable murders of a number of rich Qataris who give money to jihadists might do the trick. Of course, we'd need a competent intel agancey with effective black ops capabilities. Where will we get that? We certainly don't have it now.
By withdrawing the US Army from Iraq Obama set up the situation where jihadists are conquering and we have no capability to stop them. Obama and the Libs (and some righties; Rand Paul I'm looking at you) seem to think that what happens in Iraq stays in Iraq. That is delusional. We must take effective steps to destroy, repeat destroy, ISIL ASAP.
I think Iraq is finished. The Shi'a part will drift into Iran's paws. The Kurds will be de facto independent, not declaring it openly in order not to antagonize Turkey but acting as such and (I hope) absorbing the Syrian Kurdish area as well. We should give maximum support to the Kurds. I'm not sure what will happen with the Sunnis, but they've badly provoked the Shi'a by allying with the ISIL and facilitating their conquest of northern Iraq. (It's true that the Shi'a treated them like dirt since 2011 so there is blame on both sides). I said years ago, before the surge, that the Sunnis were giving the Shi'a the excuse to do to them what they both want to do to Israel's Jews. I expect the Shi'a militias called out by the government in its moment of panic after the fall of Mosul are already working on that, spurred on by the tales of ISIL's murderous rampage in the north.
It always puzzles me that liberals, er progressives, cannot seem to understand the synergy between diplomacy and other elements of national power, especially military power. It's like they are oblivious to the obvious.
ISIL must be destroyed, then we must destroy the other jihadist groups. Iran's Islamic Republic must also be taken down. Unfortunately, Obama squandered the excellent strategic position he inherited from Dubya. He still does not understand what is going on in the world. Given the ideological impaction of his thought, I doubt he ever will.
Some heavy pressure on Qatar to stop financing these jihadist scum is also indicated. Untraceable murders of a number of rich Qataris who give money to jihadists might do the trick. Of course, we'd need a competent intel agancey with effective black ops capabilities. Where will we get that? We certainly don't have it now.
Mossad. That is, if Obama hadn't pissed them off so much.
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