F-35's and F-15E's take out "Isis Island" with 80000 pounds of bombs

A combined force of F-35A's and F-15E's dropped nearly 80000 pounds of bombs on island targeting ISIS. The island located on Iraq's Tigris River was used as a transit hub for the on the run terror group. The music is cheesy but the rest of it is pretty interesting

www.thedrive.com...

Ooooooh dang never imagined

What a view...tack driving, actually

Not a good time to head to the beach!

a reply to: GBP/JPY

Right? If you take into account fragment patterns there should be very little left alive on that island

Nm

Should have been done years ago. Way to go President Trump! Every single enclave of these demons needs to be wiped clean of life. At least we are finally squashing them like the roaches they are.

originally posted by: KYRick
Should have been done years ago. Way to go President Trump! Every single enclave of these demons needs to be wiped clean of life. At least we are finally squashing them like the roaches they are.

They have been for some time actually and it predates Trump. However, Trump like the rest of his predecessors on BOTH sides of the isle have no plan beyond bombs away for the middle east. Hence while we will take out most of ISIS, the strong will survive and a new threat will emerge that will make the ISIS folk look like a bunch of hippies.

Without any sort of Marshall Plan its inevitable. If people have no hope, this is what you get. Thats why we rebuilt Germany after WWII cause we learned from the mistakes of post WWI. We don't seem to understand that for the ME.

Without any sort of Marshall Plan its inevitable.

Iraq already got more than 70 Billion US-$ since 2003. Granted, the vast majority of these funds were related to miliary expenditure, but Germany recieved only 15 Billion US-$(2019) between 1948 and 52.
It's not about the money.
The reality is, Germans had no choice but to accept defeat after 1945 and strived to rebuild what was left of their country. This was actually pretty easy to do, the German economy had very solid industrial foundations, it was merley a matter of getting the civlian production back on track and the free market did the rest. They would have been ok with or without the Marshall funds really.
Iraq and the entire Middle East in general a rather different beast. Unsurprisingly, what worked in Germany and Western Europe didn't work there and never will.

Why's that? It's not about culture or religion either although thats part of it.
The answer is simple - the Middle East will be pacified the exact same way Europe was - when they run out of young men to send into the meat grinder. Two world wars bled Europe dry. It literally killed off three generations of young men, #ing up their demographics beyond repair.
That is what it boils down to. Nations without a surplus of young men don't have the stomach for conflict and war. Nations with a surplus of young men do.
The rest is pretty much window dressing. Humans will always find a reason to fight each other. If not religion it will be something else.
So yes, in a why it's what you wrote about hope. Only there is little to be done about it in the short term unfortunately.

Further Information, including a link to a great study on the subject - www.cfr.org...
The issue however is - there are less and less new markets for developing countries to expand into. It's simply next to impossible to grow yourself out of a population explosion. Europes excessive population growth bred vast Empires and settled multiple continents over the centuries. And it still blew up in our faces. These days there arent any opportunities like that anymore.

Soem fun charts - why the US wasnt able to control Iraq?
This is why: www.populationpyramid.net...
Compare that with Germany in 1950: www.populationpyramid.net...

Other nice places:
www.populationpyramid.net...
www.populationpyramid.net...
www.populationpyramid.net...
www.populationpyramid.net...

Want to know why Iran is aggressive but never embarked on holy crusade to rid the world from the infidels? Birth rates collapsed due to reasons before a population boom could have manifested itself:
www.populationpyramid.net...

So why hasn't China conquered the world yet and (spoiler) never will? They traded long term domination for short term stability: www.populationpyramid.net...

India made it, they have a great future ahead for their country: www.populationpyramid.net...
Russia on the other hand will take care of itself: www.populationpyramid.net...

Want to know who is broken beyond repair for the next 200 years? www.populationpyramid.net...


/ ontopic
Terrain denial with fighter jets. *sigh* Thats like using a florett for butchering.

a reply to: FredT

Without any sort of Marshall Plan its inevitable. 

We have poured trillions into the Middle East in aid for police stations, schools, hospitals, electric plants, water facilities, bridges, business grants etc, etc. The problem is A) we don't share the same fundamental values, and that can't be changed with a check, and B) corruption and the black market is rampant-- everyone takes their cut of the money, and by the time it filters through the local warlords, nothing is left after corruption and waste, and C) dumping so many dollars so quickly into the small economies creates runaway inflation of already weak native currencies.

We gave so much money to Afghanistan that money accounted for over 95% of Afghanistan's GDP for years. Maybe still, I'd have to hunt and run numbers.

Believe me, we've tried. They don't talk about it much because it's been an expensive failure.

Smells like... victory!

... some day this wars gunna end.... *solem walk away*