What should the world do If/When IS raise the ancient site of Palmyra to the ground ?

[knocky1]

I was working in Saudi for a bit in 2002. Very strong view from the locals there was that they hated Saddam and a lot of what he did, but accepted he had the region by the balls, preventing the extremists rising and that taking him and his regime out would instantly destabilise the whole region.

I was working there for a bit, as well. 2 years between 1994-96. 2 and a half hours a day work and 26 weeks a year holiday. Tax free. Not a bad job. No wonder I got my 5k and 10k pbs at that time.
But back to the point. Saddam fired a couple of scud missiles into Riyadh during the first Gulf War but the Saudis weren't too keen to fire back as you said. The Saudis also heavily bombed a few of their own towns North of Riyadh in 1994 to stop fundamentalists.

 

[portlock seagull]

I don't know what the world should do but I do know what they will. Which is f uck all.

 

[symyjym]

what you are basically saying is, keeping those tyrannical leaders in power was great because it stopped another tyrannical power. net gain? nothing.



it was founded by a Jordanian and joined al-Qaida when it suited them to do so. we must stop recasting links of a few as evidence that this is somehow the west's fault. a few Iraqi officers (from a broadly secular army) does not mean this is the Iraqi army; a few with al-qaida links does not mean its from that group (its too informal a group anyway). we have various people seeking power and/or religious objectives jumping from one bandwagon to the next. esssentially the ethos behind ISIL has been a fundemental part of some in Islam for centuries, to creating a religious lead caphilate. the west has only precipitated this to happen now, rather than at some other point.

Come off it beorhthelm, you know it's not just a few ex army behind it, they are key to the campaign, and to say we only precipated this to happen is just side stepping responsibility. Blair and Bush got us involved in an illegal war killing hundreds of thousands, flattened Iraq and destroyed it's infrustucture, giving the people little hope. If hope was all they had before, we have taken it away from them. To say it was going to happen anyway is just lame.

 

[pastafarian]

Its not just their history is it though
its everyones history,Its a World Heritage site for good reasons.

 

[beorhthelm]

Come off it beorhthelm, you know it's not just a few ex army behind it, they are key to the campaign,

no they arent, religous zealotry is the key to the campaign. most the Iraqi army officers would have been Ba'athist, which is secularist, though sharing a similar goal of grand Arabic nation. most the old iraqi army officers are still in the iraqi army, because you dont just conjure up thousands of educated, trained officers from nowhere. its not about side stepping responsibilty as you put but accepting seperate events. iraq invasion did create a fertile ground for the ISIL people to recruit into, but they existed before hand. and, when one day Saddam died or his successor got overthrown or whatever, you'd probably be in the same situation as this. we didnt invade Syria. those groups established themselves there very quickly after the arab spring didnt they? because they were already. this isnt lame, its recognition of centuries of ideolgy thats been repressed by one empire or regime after another.

 

[portlock seagull]

Its not just their history is it though
its everyones history,Its a World Heritage site for good reasons.

Genuinely non plussed. have no interest in the ancient world and that region. If they want to destroy their own history then their affair. Idiotic vandalism yes but I felt more anguish when the goldstone was demolished. Now that was criminal!

 

[knocky1]

Genuinely non plussed. have no interest in the ancient world and that region. If they want to destroy their own history then their affair. Idiotic vandalism yes but I felt more anguish when the goldstone was demolished. Now that was criminal!

It's mainly Roman, dear boy.

 

[GT49er]

what you are basically saying is, keeping those tyrannical leaders in power was great because it stopped another tyrannical power. net gain? nothing.

Geez! How can I have said it was great when I described them all (Saddam Hussain, Colonel Gaddafi and Assad) as nasty pieces of work - do you just read the parts of posts that you think will support your argument? Net gain? - again you're missing the point. The net LOSS is that we've replaced (or in the case of Syria, are probably about to) three unpleasant, undemocratic, but stable regimes with IS, thus making the world a much more dangerous place.

If you think replacing them was / is a good idea, then be careful what you're wishing for.

 

[beorhthelm]

... do you just read the parts of posts that you think will support your argument?...
If you think replacing them was / is a good idea, then be careful what you're wishing for.

good late night irony.

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Its not just their history is it though
its everyones history,Its a World Heritage site for good reasons.

You and I can't do a thing so I prefer to ignore it.
However if IS were coming up my road tomorrow that's another thing.
I posted on another thread how I was in a queue in Florida last summer with several muslim families.
All the fellas and their kids wore designer labels---the wives wore tents with slits to see out of.
These people are sub human in my opinion-----but hey ho let them get on with it.

 

[kevo]

IS now claiming it will be able to get hold of nuclear weapons...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-from-pakistan-within-12-months-10270525.html

 

[pastafarian]

You and I can't do a thing so I prefer to ignore it.
However if IS were coming up my road tomorrow that's another thing.
I posted on another thread how I was in a queue in Florida last summer with several muslim families.
All the fellas and their kids wore designer labels---the wives wore tents with slits to see out of.
These people are sub human in my opinion-----but hey ho let them get on with it.

I think we can all agree there is nothing we can do about it.

I just personally find it very sad these ancient sites are being destroyed,i dont think im alone in that thinking.

I hope these tossers bypass Palmyra and leave it alone,going by their previous though i wont hold my breath.

 

[portlock seagull]

It's mainly Roman, dear boy.

Well, what did they ever do for us eh?

 

[RexCathedra]

What would the world do? I don't know.

In most of western Europe, "Put up a Aldi/Tesco's/IKEA and get on with it' would be the winning answer.

Are we supposed to be exercised by what's happening, or who's doing it?

 

[gregbrighton]

The World do something? Don't you mean the US? Come on. The American Nazi bankers and weapons/arms/oil companies don't care about ancient cities or UNESCO heritage sites.. America will only intervene when financial conditions and public perception are favourable to allow them to make the billions in contracts and rebuilding as a result of war.

Expect further bloodshed, social and political unrest perpetrated by the American/Israeli Zionist sponsored State of Islam to continue for a while yet. Eventually the Americans will come 'to the rescue' only to inflict even more death and destruction on a perpetually broken and unstable region.

 

[knocky1]

Well, what did they ever do for us eh?

Nothing except shag our women, drink our beer, fight the scots and eat our olde, worlde spam.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

It's time for the Aliens to show their little grey faces, and that will be the end of ALL religions.

 

[spongy]

I was working in Saudi for a bit in 2002. Very strong view from the locals there was that they hated Saddam and a lot of what he did, but accepted he had the region by the balls, preventing the extremists rising and that taking him and his regime out would instantly destabilise the whole region.

I was chatting to my dad about this when the first Iraq war kicked off. At the time he said even though Saddam was clearly a bit mental he was the only man capable of controlling the clans. He warned me then that when Saddam were to be toppled the whole region would turn to **** pretty damn quickly. And fair enough, Saddam was topped and the whole region breaks out into civil war with everyone wanting to rule it for themselves.

I should listen to him more often........

 

[Soulman]

I was chatting to my dad about this when the first Iraq war kicked off. At the time he said even though Saddam was clearly a bit mental he was the only man capable of controlling the clans. He warned me then that when Saddam were to be toppled the whole region would turn to **** pretty damn quickly. And fair enough, Saddam was topped and the whole region breaks out into civil war with everyone wanting to rule it for themselves.

I should listen to him more often........

My Dad told me in the mid 70's before he died not to worry about the Germans, Japanese and Russians etc.......his concern was the Middle East.

 

[symyjym]

I was chatting to my dad about this when the first Iraq war kicked off. At the time he said even though Saddam was clearly a bit mental he was the only man capable of controlling the clans. He warned me then that when Saddam were to be toppled the whole region would turn to **** pretty damn quickly. And fair enough, Saddam was topped and the whole region breaks out into civil war with everyone wanting to rule it for themselves.

I should listen to him more often........

This is why it amazes me that highly paid government advisors on foreign affairs and policies failed to foresee this scenario. Robin Cook and many others said the same thing at the time.

At the end of the day this was all about Bush’s overwhelming desire to kill Saddam and nothing else mattered. Hundreds of thousands killed and a country destroyed all for one person. And on top of that, the illegal war has lost us the moral high ground and handed the extremists a great marketing tool to recruit members based on revenge and hate of every Western person.