Tony Abbott - how long will he last as Prime Minister?

[watt price tully]

[Culprit]

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/02/australians-troll-ministers-imessage-texts-data-retention-bill?CMP=soc_567

How can Brandis introducer a bill on data retention when he simply doesn't understand technology. Moron.

[Jezza]

[Culprit]

[Jezza]

Mate I'm not even agreeing with this deployment I'm just saying Iraqi military forces require proper training and strategic tactics to defeat ISIS in Iraq at the very least. It's something that ISIS exploited when they seized much of northern Iraq last year.

I just don't think the obligation should fall onto Australia and New Zealand to train these people unless you're hinting that Australia is going over there for other reasons than just training Iraqi forces.

[Tannin]

[Jezza]

That's some great posting there Tannin! I agree with practically all of that.

One thing that I would note is that while ISIS may be an 'inferior' force as you say and they had the advantage of the Iraqi military forces running away in fear and low confidence they do have many Sunni Militia groups like the 1920 Revolution Brigade, the Islamic Army of Iraq, Aswar al-Islam and old Baathist Party loyalists on their side backing them. That's why they were so successful in capturing towns like Mosul and Tikrit in the first place and being able to thrive in towns where sectarian divides were present and the Sunni citizens were also disenfranchised with the al-Maliki Iraqi government which was treating the Sunni minority like second-class citizens as opposed to the Shia majority hence they weren't too bothered when ISIS took over initially but UN human rights report suggests that the living conditions under Mosul have rapidly deteriorated and many citizens are unhappy but are too afraid to rise up and voice their criticisms and concerns towards ISIS.

In saying that, ISIS would struggle to seize most of Southern Iraq or Baghdad for that matter because they're Shia-domianted areas with not as much as sectarianism prevalent in this part of Iraq and they wouldn't have as much Sunni militia backing as they do in the North of Iraq.

The Kurds in the North are very strong and solid fighters and their claims of wanting to become an independent state known as 'Kurdistan' are gaining small momentum as this issue continues to unravel however Turkey doesn't want to see this independence occurring hence they bombed Kurdish targets when the Battle of Kobane was taking place between Syrian Kurds and ISIS fighters so that's a very major obstacle that the Kurds themselves would have to overcome to be liberated so to speak.

The anti-IS coalition airstrikes has been mostly effective in preventing ISIS from seizing further towns but it hasn't reduced the impact that ISIS has had in capabilities and staunch fighting to continue their attempted onslaught in Syria and Iraq. The Shia militia was always going to be against ISIS for obvious reasons so it's no surprise that with Iranian backing they'll have advanced weaponry to fend off ISIS one would you think.

Interesting you mention the Tikrit campaign as different groups are fighting here alongside each other in a sign that maybe the tide is potentially turning. Firstly, we have Iraqi military forces along with Shia militias and one thing that defeats this sectarian divide that's existed for a long time in Iraq is that many Sunni tribes have joined forces with these groups which is a great sign for mine as members of Sunni Tribes have also been murdered by ISIS in the past few months. Apparently as many as 30,000 people are a part of this coalition to reclaim Tikrit from ISIS. If IS lost Tikrit that would be a major loss for the group and really diminish this ongoing propaganda of them being an unstoppable juggernaut to their supporters.

If Australia and New Zealand are going over there to train the Iraqi military forces surely it couldn't be as bad as what America did a few years back. As I said I'm against this deployment but unfortunately our opinions don't count here.

[Wokko]

There was a perfectly suitable and well trained Iraqi army; the US decided to disband it and they all went and became insurgent fighters.

[HAL]

What happened to suitable and well trained Iraqi army; the US decided to disband it and they all went and became insurgent fighters ?

[David]

[Culprit]

We are putting our troops in a dangerous situation. Not only by the ISIS nutbags but sleepers that they are training waiting to kill them. Forget solutions, there is none. The culture there is for them not to live in peace.

We are using our troops as Cannon Fodder and amazingly it's an Ex Pom sending our troops to their death and the irony is it's on the 100th Anniversary of the murder of our troops at the hands of the Poms in Gallipoli.

[David]

Yes, Abbott is definitely more WW1 Churchill than WW2.

[watt price tully]

[Lazza]

[Jezza]