Trump’s Call for a Deadlier Islamic State Push May Hit Limits
Trump's Call for a Deadlier Islamic State Push May Hit Limits by Phil Stewart, Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump's call for a military plan to defeat Islamic State, made in an executive order on Saturday, is likely to see the Pentagon revisiting options for a more aggressive use of firepower and American troops.
But U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, doubt the country's military will advocate fundamentally changing a key strategy refined during the Obama administration: relying on local forces to do most of the fighting, and dying, in Syria and Iraq.
"It is going to be very successful," Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office at the White House. A copy of the order was not immediately available but was expected to be released later.
In a briefing with reporters on Saturday, a senior administration official said the order would ask the joint chiefs of staff to submit a plan in 30 days for defeating Islamic State, fulfilling one of Trump's campaign trail pledges.
Trump made defeating Islamic State – which has claimed responsibility for several attacks on American soil and is frustrating U.S. military operations across the Middle East – one of the key themes in his campaign. But he avoided talking about specifics of any plan to combat the radical group.
Any shifts by the U.S. military would have broad repercussions for U.S. relationships across the Middle East, which were strained by former President Barack Obama's effort throughout his administration to limit U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Syria…