Would you be conscripted to fight ISIS?

Ah you'll be able to tell that i'm slightly left of the spectrum now, I believe it was Bush's administration, him and Tony Blair going into the Middle East all guns blazing, causing mass instability. Throughout history it has been clear that removing one regime and replacing it with another (even a democratic one) leads to civil unrest. The UK itself underwent years of civil war in order to establish its democratic powerhouse we call parliament.

I'm all over the place, conservatives would call me an ultra liberal and liberals would call me far right or something (using both words in the American sense, though I'm British). I'll take almost any ally on this crucial issue (defeating the jihad).

Anyway, would you not accept though that the situation in 2011 wasn't nearly as bad as it is today, and that maybe if all the American troops hadn't been taken out of Iraq for political reasons, IS would not have been able to exist in its current form? I don't even care about what you think about the wisdom of invading Iraq in 2003 - that happened, whether you agree with it or not. The question is this: the year is 2011, the Iraq war happened, Saddam no longer has his foot on the necks of Iraqis. Is it wise or unwise to lose the war as Obama did? I'd say Obama's actions were done in spite of all common sense and solely to appease people who were "anti-war" and didn't really, truly give two ****s about the situation of Iraqis, unless that situation could be blamed on their own government, and that had Obama kept a reasonably large force in Iraq the country would have progressed, slowly but surely, into a functioning, peaceful democracy.

Name one war which occurred during
the last century in which Britain was
fighting in favour of tyranny, against
democrats.
I do as a matter of fact consider what
I'm fighting for as the most important
thing. If I was fighting for Britain,
then I would be fighting for a
(reasonably) secular, liberal
democracy where minorities (on the
whole) have rights and free speech
(with minor flaws) exists.

WWII, where the UK fought against Finland with the backing of the Soviet Union

If the government said, "We are conscripting all able men aged 18-41" to join the army and fight ISIS in the Middle East. Would you join up?

Yes, I agree. But the problem is that in the absence of Obama, I don't see what would have changed.

Well, were McCain or Romney planning on removing all forces?

No, but I could have easily seen either one of them escalating the situation in Iraq to a point where it becomes much worse than our current. Also, Bin Laden was killed during Obama's tenure, there's no saying if that would've happened under a republican government.

True, Obama does deserve some credit for that. But it wasn't much more than a token gesture.

I somehow doubt that any escalation of violence would have occurred had a troop presence remained. It would have been a defence force to bolster the hopeless Iraqi army. Any sign of jihad would have been opposed before it could snowball into a monster like IS.

I suppose but you can't really blame the American's for voting Democrat when Bush's administration was such a shambles.

If I was forced to fight, I would be like "Oh but Im WAY more useful in the technology sector" Yknow safe in the UK, away from the actual fighting, but making sure all the communications and stuff work...

Yeah - I don't hold voters personally responsible for Obama's awful foreign policy (I hold Obama responsible for that), and I agree that you can't really expect people to put foreign issues higher on their priority list than their own first world problems.

I also prefer a lot of Obama's domestic policy to that of the Republicans (I support free healthcare for example).

As much as ISIS is an issue, and I'm not a male anyway, I think I'd refuse to do so. Everyone should have a choice in what fight they jon. And anyway, things like conscription and army involvement is what half caused this mess. After all, all these terrorist claims and issues rose when America invaded Iraq and some other countries I cannot mention at the moment off the top of my head.

And anyway, volunteering doesn't sound like a good decision in my head at all. Although you're seemingly fighting the good fight, the lives of many civilians and citizens are still at war. I can't imagine the scale of the effects that would come out if there was some kind of conscription for people to join the fight against ISIS. For example, racism would definitely be a high issue. Throwing around bombs won't solve anything until people start acknowledging the past and stop for just one second to think of what decisions would be appropriate to make, and what way would be appropriate when approaching the situation.