“ISIS will be defeated”!

I have been watching the US and its coalition friends take on ISIS mostly from the air.  For 6 months I have been watching……and in that time I have been shaking my head in disbelief.  Why?  You may ask…..well I have seen a ll this before.  Not just something familiar but the same exact strategy.

Think back, if you can, to 1965.  I know that may be a stretch for some, since it has been 50 years and some will be too young……. but then that is why I am here, point out the crap when crap arises.

Back to 1965 and the opening salvo of what has become known as the “Vietnam War”.

After a North Vietnamese attack on a US destroyer a plan was come up with to punish the North for the attack………..Operation Rolling Thunder was a frequently interrupted bombing campaign that began on 24 February 1965 and lasted until the end of October 1968. During this period U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft engaged in a bombing campaign designed to force Ho Chi Minh to abandon his ambition to take over South Vietnam. The operation began primarily as a diplomatic signal to impress Hanoi with America’s determination, essentially a warning that the violence would escalate until Ho Chi Minh “blinked,” and secondly it was intended to bolster the sagging morale of the South Vietnamese. The Johnson administration also imposed strict limits on the targets that could be attacked, for China and the Soviet Union were seen as defenders of communism who might intervene if the North Vietnamese faced defeat. Consequently, the administration tried to punish the North without provoking the two nations believed to be its protectors.

In the view of the Air Force leadership, the campaign had no clear-cut objective nor did its authors have any real estimate of the cost of lives and aircraft. General LeMay and others argued that military targets, rather than the enemy’s resolve, should be attacked and that the blows should be rapid and sharp, with the impact felt immediately on the battlefield as well as by the political leadership in Hanoi.

In essence that deal was to do 3 things against the enemy…..1) punish the North for the attack…..2) attack the infrastructure…..3) inflict maximum damage…..the opening for what was then America’s longest war.

Now fast forward to day…..everything th prez and his posse have said to the public…..does any of it sound the least bit familiar?

For all I can tell the plan for Rolling Thunder is the same plan in the situation against ISIS…..how did that work out in 1965-1968?

The result of Rolling Thunder was that it was never going to win the war and the next step was major US military ground operations…..is that the plan for our newest war?

Let’s look at Vietnam….once again!

Back during the war we armed some local tribes like the Nungs….we also armed some locals in other countries like Cambodia and Laos….all in the hopes to stay off the North’s push into the south and west……that was a sucky plan….it did not work!

So we learned that lesson well….not to make that mistake again.

Fast forward again to Iraq……we are arming just about everyone in the fight against ISIS….the Kurds, Yazidis, Christians, Assyrians, and now the Iraqi Turkmen tribes are demanding a force and arms……… etc etc etc…..arming these people as a response to ISIS take over…..does this not sound familiar to you?

And just like Vietnam where NO one knew who was friend or foe……it appears the same thing is occurring in Iraq…….

Speaking today in comments to ABC News, CIA Director John Brennan conceded that the US is finding it “tough sorting out good guys and bad guys in a lot of these areas” in Iraq.

Again…..sound familiar?

How many times must the SAME mistakes be made before someone steps up and ask if their is anyone with half a brain in the government?

Is it that we do not learn from our past mistakes or is it that the M-IC does not care as long as the profits keep rolling in?

My guess is the latter.  How about you?