Trump's Valor

[Lune]

Originally Posted by fash [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Faux libertarians like Johnson are a far cry worse than a Trump though. Vote Johnson for rapefugee.



Changing the rules of engagement and laws of war is exactly what Trump proposed in the video (and elsewhere). You currently can't seize oil fields under the Geneva Convention.

Again, the DoD (and the general public) is not going comply with Trump ordering them to commit warcrimes (and that's assuming he isn't just talking out of his ass). The alt-right window-licking 4channers that inhabit this forum might find it tasteful to kill ISIS's families, but the international community does not.

Originally Posted by fash [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

A trillion dollars in oil is something.

Oil smuggling is the big source of revenue for ISIS. The US has refrained from targeting oil facilities since many civilians in the area rely on ISIS oil. Russia and France (and maybe US now?) have begun targeting oil facilities/transports in the last half year in order to cut off that revenue. Entirely seizing the oil fields would have a greater impact on ISIS's revenue.

Its effectiveness depends on how many troops are required. Elsewhere, I recall Trump saying he'd seize the oil with a few troops. If intelligence indicates that's possible, seizing may be an effective tactic.

Syria does not have even close to a trillion dollars in oil reserves. Syria has 2.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves (not all of which is controlled by ISIS). The current price of oil is around $40 a barrel, which comes out to $100 billion. To put that in perspective, the Iraq war has cost $1.7 trillion. Even if you assume Trump "makes some smart deals" and a war with ISIS only costs 1/10 what Iraq cost, which is unrealistic, it's still a stupid and unprofitable idea. If we plunder all their oil quickly to minimize the cost of the war, we flood the market with oil and the price plunges-- we're one of the world's leading oil producers, and that would be devastating.

Occupying their oil fields is a fucking stupid idea. Iraqi insurgents, Taliban, and the Vietcong didn't have access to oil revenue and they were still able to conduct costly insurgencies.