Obama’s solution for Iraq; 300 troops and John Kerry

Yep, it’s been a week now since al Qaeda forces cut a swath across Iraq pointed at Baghdad, and the president finally decided that he’s going to put boots on the ground – nearly 300. Well, 300 + 1 – John Kerry is going, too. But, that’s the same thing the White House told us last week, isn’t it? Well, it’s new again, according to the New York Times;

Mr. Obama said he still believed that the solution to Iraq’s strife was political, not military. He said he was sending Secretary of State John Kerry to Europe and the Middle East this weekend to build support among Iraq’s Arab neighbors for a multisectarian government in Baghdad.

The president also suggested that there was a constructive role for Iran, Iraq’s Shiite neighbor, to play in the crisis if, he said, “it is sending the same message to the Iraqi government that we are sending.” But he warned that Iran would be a destructive force if it supplied “armed forces on behalf of the Shia.”

So, basically, we waited for a week to see if anything would change and it didn’t. The President says that the solution to Iraq’s problems is political and not military. With what political entity does he plan to negotiate? I know he means that Maliki needs to change his ways like he promised years ago, but there is no political solution to al Qaeda at the gates of Baghdad. The only thing that al Qaeda understands is death, and unless they plan to have Kerry bore them to death, they’re going to need to apply some military force to the ranks of al Qaeda in mass quantities.

Category: Terror War