White House: We’re “at war” with ISIS

The other night, John Kerry made some kind of discombobulated statement to explain how we’re not really at war with ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State forces. So the White House quickly corrected him yesterday, according to Fox News;

The comments are a sharp turnaround from how Kerry described the military operation on Thursday. In interviews with CNN and CBS News, Kerry described it as a “very significant” and “major counterterrorism operation.” He told CBS News that “war is the wrong terminology.”

His spokeswoman, Marie Harf, also said she would not “refer to our efforts” as part of the “war on terrorism.”

Therein lies the problem; If you can’t even admit that its a war, how can you fight it the way it needs to be fought? Do they plan to tickle the jihadists until they cry “Uncle!” The only way to win is to kill them all, every last one of them until the countryside is one huge gooey paste, but if the people who are responsible for fighting the war can’t even say the word “war” and use it correctly in a sentence, it’s already lost. No one in the White House thought to correct Kerry until the morning shows pointed out the silliness of his statement.

Then they send out Kerry to coordinate a “broad coalition” of allies, but who is going to take him seriously? Turkey has already caved on their commitment to provide us with airbases from which we could hit whatever we’re going to be shooting at Syria, you know Turkey, the sole Islamic member of the 10-nation coalition that was supposed to provide direct military support.

There are other Islamic countries in the coalition, though;

Thursday’s meeting in Jiddah ended with Saudi Arabia, other Gulf states, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon pledging to stand against terrorism. They promised steps including stopping fighters and funding, repudiating the Islamic State group’s ideology, providing humanitarian aid and “as appropriate, joining in the many aspects of a coordinated military campaign.”

They also agreed to boost support for the new Iraqi government as it tries to unite its citizens in the fight against the militants. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said coalition members agreed to share responsibilities for fighting the Islamic State group, as well as to “be serious and continuous in our action to eliminate and wipe out all these terrorist organizations.”

That sounds helpful, but not in any meaningful way, but I’m sure they all feel better about themselves. At least they’re going to “be serious” more than John Kerry appears to “be serious”. I appreciate their seriousness. Back to Fox News;

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest and Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby used almost identical language when pressed by reporters Friday whether or not the expanded military operation against the terrorist group is in fact a war.

“In the same way that the United States is at war with Al Qaeda and its affiliates … the United States is at war with ISIL,” Earnest said.

OK, that’s a little bit better, but someone needs to grab the State Department by the throat (I’ll volunteer) and shake them until they understand that war is part of their political business, too. They should read von Clauswitz, and then reread it occasionally.

Category: John Kerry, Terror War