Small Wars Journal

Obama’s Endless War

Mon, 04/25/2016 - 10:00pm

Obama’s Endless War by Bing West, National Review

On September 10, 2014, President Obama pledged to destroy ISIS. Three years earlier, on June 22, 2011, he declared that “the tide of war is receding.” But since he made that claim, more than half a million people have been killed just in Syria and Iraq. Currently, ISIS numbers about 20,000 fighters and controls an area of thousands of square miles in Syria and Iraq populated by roughly 4 million Sunnis.

How, specifically, does the Obama administration plan to destroy ISIS? Here’s an answer from a Pentagon spokesman: “By degrading them in Phase One and then dismantling them in Phase Two, we believe that that will set us up for Phase Three, which, of course, is the ultimate defeat of this enemy.” There are two problems with that approach. First, the administration has ruled out the use of U.S. troops in combat — which means that “dismantling” the enemy is unlikely, never mind defeating it. Second, defeating ISIS should itself be only an intermediate goal: The ultimate goal is a stable, pro-Western government after ISIS. Our huge mistake in Iraq in 2003 was not having a sensible plan for who was to govern after we defeated Saddam’s forces. By not having a plan for what happens after ISIS, the U.S. administration is today repeating that mistake.

In Obama’s view, ISIS is not a serious threat. The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, after interviewing the president, reported that “Obama frequently reminds his staff that terrorism takes far fewer lives in America than . . . falls in bathtubs do.”…

Read on.

Comments

Outlaw 09

Sat, 04/30/2016 - 1:32pm

It is not only Obama's failure against IS and no strategy for Syria and now a failure in Syria...it is also his failure in Iraq due to pulling out before a firm political solution was in place simply to be known as the President to have pulled out troops......which was part of his election campaign promises.....now he is paying for being way to intellectual...and believing he has the best ideas for everything when he does not....

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
It could be true. But Col Warren has drawn the short straw today of pronouncing "don't panic" as Baghdad collapses.

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
"A big part of the blame for this is on America, which left Iraq without solving this crisis"

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton · 43m43 minutes ago
Just as #IS seemed to struggle. What happens when focus on CT, ignore politics; latter sweeps away gains of former.

Try to imagine ISIS leader Baghdadi and commanders right now watching news from Baghdad and Aleppo. Relieved, smug and waiting for recruits

Outlaw 09

Sat, 04/30/2016 - 4:30am

Led since 8 years by a pacifist dreamer, dictators and semi-democrats around the world crawled up to take over this tiny blue ball.

2016
The formerly proud United States of America BEGS Russia to include a town in Syria into a local & temporary ceasefire.
Russia says no.

"Those who choose between war and shame. They chose shame. They will get war too." (c) W.Churchill

If you think I am harsh with the lack of a Obama WH leadership and an utter lack of strategy for anything other than his own "legacy"....I am not the only one out here in cyberspace making the same comments and they come from individuals with far more knowledge and experience than I have.

JUST as the RuAF flies loops around an American RC-135, Putin has been lopping Obama since Crimea and has not for one moment changes his tactics of confronting Obama in the first 21st century "grey war" being fought via non linear warfare supporting Putin's political warfare against the US.

Outlaw 09

Sat, 04/30/2016 - 2:52am

Bill C...this is another perfect example of the lack of an Obama strategy or for that matter the lack of anything out of this WH concerning anything resembling FP anywhere right now...other than just talk and a few comments during a spokesperson press conference.....

Footage
No legitimate government would unleash such bombs on cities ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjlJADgLcTQ

Outlaw 09

Fri, 04/29/2016 - 3:53pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Bill C.....this came in the last minutes from the ME........

Taunted at sea & at air by RuAF... played in Syria & Ukraine by Russia. I can't think of a weaker US president in history.

Outlaw 09

Fri, 04/29/2016 - 2:00pm

Bill C...we are getting to much into the weeds..let's stay on whether Obama is in fact "winning his war"......

If this is correct and I am assuming it is confirmed as the source is solid...THEN we can pack in the US FP and literally go home...this is just how bad Obama has retrenched.....absolutely no leverage and that is the first time in over 70 years......

"The Americans asked for Aleppo to be included, but the Russians refused." - Security source tells @AFP #Syria

Footage coming out of Aleppo right now is undoubtedly one of the most horrifying things I have ever seen. Without a doubt and I have been reporting from the ME for years,

REMEMBER when Assad had his interview and he stated he would recapture the entire country...and he was not chastised by the Russians...WHY ...they both want the same end state and the Obama WH cannot see their nose if they tried. If it was a snake they would have been bitten years ago.

Outlaw 09

Fri, 04/29/2016 - 1:23pm

In reply to by Bill C.

I would argue that it was actually Khomeini that drove Iran into confrontation with the Sunni ME nation states and it was ultimately destined to occur.......this was driven by his "revolutionary Islam" that he had been writing about since about 1955 and it was in support of his iea of the "Green Crescent" running from AFG through Iran, Iraq, Syria and on to Lebanon.

For a long time from 1979 onwards the Shia revival driven by Khomeini attempted to take over as the leader of the global Muslim world countering KSA as he envisioned that Shia and Sunni shared similarities and they could be bridged.

Khomeini was always blocked though by the then King of KSA until his death...and the death of Khomeini ended his drive but it was transferred to Khamenei and the IRGC which are still actually driving to a confrontation with KSA as pay back for the Iran/Iraq war.

We see this confrontation actually being talked up by the Commander of the IRGC when he talks about his troops fighting in Syria.

Yes Bush 2 started the unraveling but it had already started back in 1979 driven largely by Iran and Khomeini.

Obama is though doing something more destructive to US FP...he is retrenching much as did Wilson in 1920 after the Great War when he felt the US should not get involved in leading the world.

HERE is the interesting thing...if Bush 2 had not tossed out Saddam...he would have been tossed out anyway by an underground Salafist insurgency that had been growing in strength since 1991.....so Bush just sped up the process....BUT was not the cause of the problem.

The core mistake Bush 2 made was not fully understanding the historical Shia Sunni divide and where that would take the ME.....

Bill C.

Fri, 04/29/2016 - 12:06pm

Outlaw:

Below you said:

"I agree that Bush 2 started the current spiral in the ME....BUT here is the critical point...it was not a clear intent by Bush 2 to fully and completely retrench US FP out of the ME and tilt towards and fully support ie crown a named sponsor of terrorism as the 'new regional hegemon'. Prove me wrong on that..... Those moves were exactly what destroyed 70 years of US ME FP."

Outlaw: Have you considered the rise of Iran to become the "new regional hegemon," "the current spiral in the ME" and the "destruction of 70 years of US ME FP" from the following perspective:

BEGIN QUOTES

"Today is the worst day of the George W. Bush administration. The deal U.S. President Barack Obama has struck with Iran to curb its nuclear weapons program amounts to a pragmatic recognition that Iran has joined the U.S. as a crucial regional player not just in the Persian Gulf but also in the whole Middle East. Iran's rise wouldn't have been possible -- and the deal wouldn't have been necessary -- had the U.S. not unleashed Iran from the regional power that did the most to contain it: Saddam Hussein's Iraq." ...

... "Had the U.S. never invaded Iraq, Hussein's Iraq would probably have continued to play its traditional role of containing Iran. The U.S. funded and armed Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War precisely to keep Iran penned in. The Saudis at the time were happy to see Iraq play that role, as was Israel. The Saudis didn't like it when Hussein turned on his erstwhile masters and invaded Kuwait. But after that miscalculation was reversed, Hussein's Iraq, even weakened by sanctions and a no-fly zone, remained a buffer against Iran. True, the Iranians supported Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria and used Lebanese Hezbollah as a tool against Israel. But these were moves made within a regional power structure that remained basically unchanged."

"The invasion of Iraq changed all that. Had Iraq emerged as a functioning democracy, and not a weak state with no military capacity to speak of, it might conceivably have still contained Iran. But that was unlikely. A democratic Iraq was always going to be Shiite-led, and a democratically elected Shiite government in Baghdad was always going to be relatively positive toward Iran. With no regional power to contain it, Iran could expand its influence by taking a more dominant role in Syria and by facilitating Hezbollah's emergence into the dominant force in Lebanon." ...

END QUOTES

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-07-14/blame-george-w-bush-fo…

Based on the information provided above, should we not say that President Obama was, by the time he came into office and due directly to President Bush Jr.'s actions before him, faced with something of a fait accompli re: the Middle East generally, and Iran as the new regional hegemon therein, etc., specifically?

RantCorp

Fri, 04/29/2016 - 5:57am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Outlaw,

What makes you think a social worker who cut his teeth in the Projects has any talent for Grand Military Strategy. I mean to say the residents of Altgeld Gardens might argue he doesn’t have much of a grasp for strategy when it comes to community organization. In his defense that is why we have 39 active duty four-star Generals. I imagine they can’t help him much with regards community organization but their job is shape Grand Strategy and persuade the POTUS as to the merits of their council.

Singling out Obama and Kerry and ignoring all that brass smacks of political bias if you don’t mind me saying so. Sure he has the final word but what is the nature of the advice all our perfumed ‘Stars’ are giving him?

IMHO any army that intervenes into Syria will be at war with the KSA and Iran. Why DoS let the Mad Mullahs off the leash I have absolutely no idea but the POTUS wouldn’t have dreamed that up on his own. As it happens I knew a few Stars who were stationed in Iran in the Shah era and they tended to have a somewhat rosy image of what Iran was supposed to have been like that contradicted somewhat my experience of the ‘good ol days’.

Obama’s somewhat stiff performance on his recent visit suggests to me he knows what is driving the conflict and the Fruitcake know he knows it.

So what?

Until a European and Turkish Army masses on the Syrian border I don’t see why anyone else should be involved. After all it is the Europeans who are the target of the Fruitcake, the Mad Mullahs and the ‘Bare-chested Idiot on a White Horse’ so IMHO they should take the lead. Faced with such a commitment the US would certainly follow.

I suggest you ask some of the younger people drinking coffee on the Unter Der Linden if they feel the need to fight in Syria to avert the crisis that is impacting Germany more than anywhere else. I would be interested to know their attitude to take up the fight. After all it is European kids who are being machine-gunned whilst clubbing or hanging out drinking lattes.

Furthermore most of Europe travel on Gulf oil. The average American kid couldn’t find Syria on a map, but then they’re not being murdered watching Rock bands, and fracking - despite the Fruitcake’s best efforts - has made the US a net oil exporter.

Granted we don’t appear to have a viable strategy and you’ve pointed out that in spades. However, youself being uniquely qualified and positioned, perhaps you could find out why the Germans in particular, and the Europeans in general (who are under attack), appear to have less of a Grand Strategy than we have.

Keep Punching,

RC

Outlaw 09

Fri, 04/29/2016 - 1:54am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Bill C...this was just a cross section from yesterday that does not make the US MSM nor is mentioned by the Obama WH...notice the comments reference YPG.....

131 civilians killed by Assad/Putin in Syria on Thursday according to LCC. They're not westerners, it's ok
http://fb.me/7TuydwpvL

Michael Weiss ‏@michaeldweiss
US ally Syrian Democratic Forces posing for selfies with corpses of (kinda/sorta US ally) FSA. Charming:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

You didn't know YPG were cutting Castilo supply route & attacking opposition from behind as they the FSA advanced on ISIS?

YPG is 10kms from IS positions and yet choose to attack FSA supply lines.

YPG is now claiming that every piece of Arab land under Syrian rebel's (FSA) control is "their territory".

BTW...some in Congress do in fact that there is no difference between YPG and PKK......

Michael Weiss
✔ ‎@michaeldweiss Ash Carter seems to say YPG is different from PYD until Lindsay Graham corrects him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLiVjI

Outlaw 09

Fri, 04/29/2016 - 12:58am

In reply to by Bill C.

Bill C....I agree that Bush 2 started the current spiral in the ME....BUT here is the critical point...it was not a clear intent by Bush 2 to fully and completely retrench US FP out of the ME and tilt towards and fully support ie crown a named sponsor of terrorism as the "new regional hegemon".

Prove me wrong on that.....

Those moves were exactly what destroyed 70 years of US ME FP.

Second serious mistake and historians with time will support me.....it was the Obama Cario speech.

That was the trigger for the Arab Springs which Syria was part of and yet in the face of a deliberate Assad and Putin bombing campaign they still cling to the ideas of rule of law, transparency, and good governance.

Third serious mistake by Obama was fully supporting the Kurdish YPG.... WHICH is regardless of what the Obama WH states they are.....they are part and parcel of the PKK a US named terrorist group.

Right now that fully supported US proxy is fighting FSA Syrians who actually have been fighting IS far longer and more successfully BTW WITHOUT much US support.

AND that US proxy is receiving Russian CAS and coordinates their attacks on FSA WITH IS......AND the Assad regime has publicly stated they are part of the Assad regime.....

Outlaw below said:

"Have come to the sad conclusion that the Obama WH and Kerry have done more in five years to destroy over 70 odd years of FP in the ME than any previously sitting US President. Now prove me wrong......"

What appears to be a different opinion:

WHEN David Kilcullen, a young Australian army officer who had been seconded to America’s State Department as a counter-terrorism strategist, arrived in Baghdad’s Green Zone in late 2005 he found himself at “Ground Zero for the greatest strategic screw up since Hitler’s invasion of Russia”. Just as it is said that the first world war was the calamity from which sprang all the other calamities of the 20th century, so too was the bungled aftermath of the invasion of Iraq the screw-up from which all other screw-ups followed ... "

http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21694981-mistakes-made-isl…

Outlaw 09

Thu, 04/28/2016 - 3:31pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

And getting worse........

Al-Watan: time for Aleppo battle "complete" and ops will "cleanse" city of al-Nusra and "grassroots" armed groups
http://alwatan.sy/archives/51505

If US doesn't have a plan to roll out just after official end of CoH (and Obama's comments suggest it), perception of collusion will grow

This comment is interesting is it alludes to a "US green light for the bombing of Aleppo" and the US silence on the Assad and Russian killing of civilians reflects to the Syrians that there is in fact a "golden handshake between Putin and Obama".......

BUT WAIT the Obama WH keeps on saying we are winning against IS.........

Outlaw 09

Thu, 04/28/2016 - 3:17pm

One Obama WH mistake after another in Syria....it just keeps on getting worse day to day......is there any leadership at all at the WH?

Kyle W. Orton ‎@KyleWOrton

Even Russia admits the Southern Front, our close allies, aren't "terrorists". Still bombs them; no U.S. response.

https://twitter.com/south_front_sy/status/725661389096902657

Outlaw 09

Thu, 04/28/2016 - 2:55pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Can any SWJ reader/commenter really explain this to me.....

Reuters Top News
✔ ‎@Reuters BREAKING: U.S. military to take disciplinary action against 16 service members over 2015 Afghan hospital bombing - officials

YET ABSOLUTELY SAY nothing when Russian and Assad air strikes are hitting hospitals killing nurses and doctors, churches, schools and market places....

Assad bombed a hospital during Geneva in front of us the same way he used Sarin in Ghouta when OPCW was there. https://twitter.com/alarabiya_eng/status/725741485816188930

YET Obama and Kerry remain silent...totally silent.....

Outlaw 09

Thu, 04/28/2016 - 2:41pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Charles Lister ‎@Charles_Lister

Aleppo quite literally being destroyed in regime/Russia airstrikes. Extraordinary scenes & no reaction from West:

Remember the Obama WH was the one constantly beating the drums of "rule of law, transparency and good governance".....

BUT runs from the words; "invasion, war crimes and genocide".....

Outlaw 09

Thu, 04/28/2016 - 2:35pm

This is exactly why the Obama WH has totally failed in fighting IS......

Charles Lister ‎@Charles_Lister
Here, our YPG allies parade the corpses of our other FSA allies in N Aleppo

What a mess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27MhszfaW1U

One US proxy supported by the CIA and CENTCOM fighting against another US half way supported proxy...BUT NOT against IS which is the core reason YPG was to be supported....BUT in this case YPG is revealing their terrorist closeness to the PKK......

AS YPG has been largely fighting totally against FSA supported by Russian CAS and IS in combined attacks on FSA.....

NOW explain that to the American public....as a major win against IS...

Outlaw 09

Thu, 04/28/2016 - 1:12pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

AND the Russian MoD just keeps on lying....as they lied about the previous 114 hospitals, churches, schools and marketplaces they together with Assad have bombed.....

Reuters Top News
✔ ‎@Reuters BREAKING: Russian defense denies reports that its planes hit hospital in Aleppo

So let's see reality...the Assad AF has no highly precise night time bombing capacity...the Russian SU-24/34s do.....just as the Syrian Civil Defense was hit in the night time several days ago....AND a Russian SS21 fired after the bombing strikes.

Outlaw 09

Thu, 04/28/2016 - 12:57pm

The following are the direct results of Obama, Kerry, the DoS spokesperson and the CENTCOM spokesperson giving both Assad and Putin a "green light to bomb all of Aleppo "as JaN QUOTE/UNQUOTE controls Aleppo" actually a statement that is so far from the truth it hurts...........

This below is the result of loosely spoken words that were not thought through....BUT again maybe with the Obama WH they were thought through.

NOTICE though the comment from a KSA commenter...if this deliberate killing of civilians by Assad and Putin continues do not be surprised to see both Turkey and KSA move into Syria.....

KSA comments are now starting to ramp up in clarity......
Dr Jaber Alsiwat
‏@jsiwat
A genocide is being carried out in Syria under the watchful eyes of the UN.

NOTICE that when the FSA was fighting IS...the US led coalition was nowhere to be seen AND YEt Obama claims he is fighting IS......

Ahrar official complains to Asharq al-Awsat that the coalition didn’t provide support in al-Rai when ISIS launched counterattack.

More casualties reported in Assad airstrikes on Khan al-Subl in rural #Idlib as well…death and blood everywhere

Nothing but destruction in Kalaseh & Bustan al-Qasr in #Aleppo following #Russia/Assad airstrikes today
http://youtu.be/-R-puLu-cak

There are 10 civilians still under rubble and SCD is still trying to get to them.

By slaughtering the people of #Aleppo with impunity #Putin will show the West to be both powerless & grossly hypocritical

4 dead known so far inc children in Assad airstrikes on Bustan al-Qasr. +40 airstrikes have targeted #Aleppo today

7 dead so far in Assad airstrikes on the al-Kalasah district in #Aleppo, #Syria today

Last night Assad & Russia dropped 250 bombs on Aleppo. This is the Chechnya policy & no western leader is saying a thing & public is silent

Civilian casualties reported in Assad airstrikes on Ma'arat Nouman, al-Rakaya, Madaiya, Kafrsajna & Tarmala in rural #Idlib this morning

Outlaw 09

Thu, 04/28/2016 - 12:06pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Extremely graphic
Assad/Putin war planes seem to further aim at ambulances in Aleppo now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R-puLu-cak

News activists' hashtags to highlight the ongoing massacres in #Aleppo and their intl. ignorance

#حلب_تحترق
#AleppoBurning

Please share.

Aleppo this morning after the #AleppoHospitalMassacre.
Air strikes continue,no one defends the civilian population.

Footage
Entire streets pulverized by war planes in #Aleppo today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rReSOlPdLLE

The world says clearly today:
"No human rights for Syrians!"

AND not a single comment out of Obama and Kerry about the massive targeted and deliberate killing of civilians.....

BUT WAIT this should not surprise the Obama WH as they, Kerry and CENTCOM gave Assad and Putin a "green light" to destroy the anti Assad opposition the same exact opposition that demanded in 2011/2012...the rule of law, transparency and good governance......

Outlaw 09

Thu, 04/28/2016 - 3:34am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Another bad Obama WH foul up this week which indicates absolutely no leadership on anything concerning the ME and or Syria.....OR IS.....

How embarrassing......ESPECIALLY after DHS refused entry this week to the leader of SCD who was to received an award for their impartial first responder work and who had a valid US Embassy Damascus entry visa...and then DHS sent him back to the ME.

U.S. Embassy Syria 
‏@USEmbassySyria
We commend the heroic members of @SyriaCivilDef, who have saved over 40K ppl by serving as impartial emergency responders on the front lines

THIS statement was not issued after the SCD leader was refused entry into the US for which he had a valid visa....BUT After Russian night time precise air strikes on their HQs followed by a SS21 TBM strike right after the two bombs hit their HQs......killing five first responders...

SO did the refusal by DHS give the Russians "a green light" to attack SCD as they were being viewed by the US as "terrorists" since the US refused him entry so "they must have been terrorists if the US did not let him in"???

A very valid question.....

Outlaw 09

Thu, 04/28/2016 - 3:20am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Sometimes nations should pay far more attention to the words they use....even the Russians are getting tongue tied lately.......

If @mfa_russia's words are to be taken seriously then @mod_russia's hospital massacres marks RU MoD as terrorists especially after yesterdays Aleppo attack.

From the Russian FM S. Lavrov.....in the last week......

Quote:

"If it looks like a terrorist, if it acts like a terrorist, if it walks like a terrorist, if it fights like a terrorist, IT is a terrorist.."

So air striking a hospital which in itself is a war crime and deliberately killing 55 civilians including women and children is not a "terrorist attack"?????

Outlaw 09

Thu, 04/28/2016 - 3:11am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Another small example of the total lack of any kind of Syrian strategy occurred yesterday AND yet not a single comment out of Obama and or Kerry...

After the General of the Russian General Staff publicly stated yesterday they have not bombed hospitals....a hospital in Aleppo was hit in the middle of the night with a precise Russian air strike......why Russian...as the Assad AF simply does not have nor ever had the capability.......

The air strike was a deliberate targeting of civilians...and over 55 were killed, doctors, nurses, children, parents, women............Death toll from the air strike on Aleppo's Quds hospital is at 55 civilians including 13 women & 15 children.

Luckily, all "Al Qa'eda", say pro-Assad tweeps

BTW...the US DoS, Kerry, and CENTCOM are complicit in this air strike as they have repeatedly falsely stated Aleppo is under JaN control and stated it often lately...THUS giving Assad AF and RuAF a "green light" to bomb all of Aleppo....just how stupid is the US IC to allow that statement to go forward....JaN does not control Aleppo....WHAT it does control are supply routes into Aleppo giving it influence BUT not control.....A very large difference in the words being used by Kerry, DoS and CENTCOM....thus complicit it is......

This came in this morning European time from the field......

It's graphic and hard to hear this blood-soaked baby screaming for its life. While the world plugs its ears. https://twitter.com/conflicts/status/725403319045337091

So...the US has "values" that it claims to be defending and wants the world to emulate...really??...it is hard to see that the US has any "values" left under the Obama WH other than it's own "legacy"......?

Many do not seen the connection between "retrenching a FP" and how that in fact "retrenches" one's own "values"......what is a country that has no "values".....do not know but the Obama WH is rapidly showing us one....

Outlaw 09

Thu, 04/28/2016 - 2:38am

I am issuing a challenge here to all SWJ readers and commenters to seriously attempt to challenge me in my comment......

Obama has never intended to defeat IS....WHY do I say that .....if we all remember the Obama press conference where he inadvertently stated that he "has no strategy BUT is working on one".....followed by the extremely insightful WaPo article "claiming he is winning against IS with a great strategy WHICH we common folk simply did not understand thus we "needed more messaging".....followed by the threats issued by DoS Kerry to the anti Assad opposition to surrender to Putin's demands.

Followed by the now infamous Goldberg interview where he publicly stated disdain for the ME particular anything Sunni....in favor of the state sponsor since 1979 of terrorism......Iran...

Some really smart individuals here at SWJ have often stated in order to defeat IS it has to be done by the Syrians and Iraqi's themselves with the US assisting....that is the boots needed on the ground...

BUT then we have Obama, CENTCOM, DoD, and CIA suddenly supporting the Kurds against IS, then he have a ludicrous debate by Obama and Kerry over who is a "moderate" in the anti Assad opposition ALL BTW to avoid making any decisions.....AND now we have a true US proxy SDF/YPG/PKK (a US named terrorist group) fighting against a sometime US proxy FSA...WHO has actually been taking the fight to IS over the last three years on their territory with virtually no assistance from the US WHO Obama claims to be in the fight to win against IS......

THEN the US restricts TOWs to force FSA to negotiate with a genocidal dictator....then restricts MANPADs which is urgently needed against the genocidal air strikes by both Assad and Putin...and the restrictions go on and on.......let's not even discuss the Obama lack of understanding as to what the terms "genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing" mean......

Over the last two days there has been intensive fighting between IS and FSA where a ton of clear IS targets for the US AF have been just sitting there......AND where was the US AF and WHERE is the so called Obama "we are beating IS into the ground"...comments......NOTHING.

This is from the field concerning this particular fighting that is still ongoing as I write this......

QUOTE:
Have just chatted with somebody who 'spent some time in the area', lately.

Word is, there's a gang of Christian Intruder Apes (if you know what I mean..) BS-itting around and sticking their noses wherever they only can. Turks asked for lease of Reapers and similar stuff, they said 'nyet'; but then deployed 15 of 'wild things' at Incirlik; only to make next to no use of them: they're just flying around the whole day, burning fuel for nothing, more disturbing than providing any kind of help.

Lately 'they' came to the idea to 'offer' deployment of US Army's HILMARs systems, which Turks never asked for (why should they? they're perfectly capable of hitting back on Daesh). But nah, 'must be'.

Ironically, to call patterns of Daesh's rocket attacks on Turkish border-towns/villages 'quite interesting' would be an understatement. At least it leaves one bamboozled about who's actually collecting intel on whom, there...

And of course, after all the success of the Mare'a OR, 'they' impressed themselves upon the place. Ever since, it's a total screw-up, mildly experessed: now the people and units are sent each other direction, just not where they would make sense...

Bottom line: this stinks after some megalomaniac who thinks he must impress himself upon everybody else, and 'be there'... if for no other reason, then 'for the f... of it'.

Worst yet: it could be that things were developing so well, that DC simply can't tolerate that. Just imagine the 'shock and awe' at Capitol Hill if it turns out the same 'farmers, pharmacists, doctors' that were the first of all to fight - and to defeat - the Daesh, turn out are better anti-Daesh fighters than all the beloved Kurds combined...

So, as said: women and children first. It's Syrians, and they're all Jihadist rats. Who cares...
UNQUOTE:

So again the challenge to any and all SWJ readers and commenters....prove me wrong .....that there is no functioning Obama anti IS strategy whatsoever in Syria and that he really does not care about genocide in Syria and ACTUALLY he is far more supportive of Assad and Putin FP and he wants us to not see that so he unleashes an uncontrolled Kerry on an impossible Geneva mission as Putin is not in the slightest interested in a "political settlement" just as he is not interested in one in eastern Ukraine.

Have come to the sad conclusion that the Obama WH and Kerry have done more in five years to destroy over 70 odd years of FP in the ME than any previously sitting US President.

Now prove me wrong......