What Critics Of Obama's ISIS Plan Are Missing

 

President Obama's plans to deal with the Islamic State have garnered a huge amount of criticism. Relying on haphazard airstrikes and al-Qaeda and Islamist Syrian rebels and the dysfunctional Iraqi Army for boots on the ground is not a recipe for success, and either is essential acting as Iran and Hezbollah's air force.

Even the New York Times, among other sources has reported on the president's refusal to listen to his military advisers, and former Marine commandant General James Conway and former CENTCOM Commander General James “Mad Dog” Mattis,both retired as part of the president's military purge on experienced generals he considers politically unfriendly have weighed in.

 

The highly decorated and capable Mattis told the House Intelligence Committee, “You just don’t take anything off the table up front, which it appears the administration has tried to do. Specifically, if this threat to our nation is determined to be as significant as I believe it is, we may not wish to reassure our enemies our enemies in advance that they will not see American ‘boots on the ground.’ If a brigade of our paratroopers or a battalion landing team of our Marines would strengthen our allies at a key juncture and create havoc/humiliation for our adversaries, then we should do what is necessary with our forces that exist for that very purpose.”

 

General Conway was even more outspoken, saying, “I don’t think the president’s plan has a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding.”

A number of the military and ex-military who are regular visitors to these pages were even more explicit, and as you know I had some fairly pungent critiques of President Obama's non-strategy here, here and here.

So it's important at this point to remember something I brought up right after the president's dismal speech. This isn't about actually destroying The Islamic State.It's about appeasing his far Left base while still trying to appear  like he's actually doing something to the American people to try and rescue his awful poll numbers before the midterms.

You see, President Obama's strategy doesn't have to make military sense or even common sense as long as it makes political sense.That's where his priorities lie. That, and kicking the can down the road for the next president to deal with, so he can get back to his usual routine.