LA Times: Trump may actually win the war against Islamic State
The LA Times seems surprised that there might actually be light at the end of the ISIS tunnel and Trump might take us there with their column; Trump may actually win the war against Islamic State;
Under Obama, who waged a “light footprint” strategy with minimal U.S. troops, Islamic State lost most of the territory it once held in Iraq and almost a third of what it held in Syria.
But taking the extremist group’s most important strongholds, Mosul in Iraq and Raqqah in Syria, was taking longer.
Enter Trump. The new president, after claiming he had a secret plan to win the war, told his generals to give him one in 30 days. They responded with an outline — a “skeleton plan,” in the words of Defense Secretary James N. Mattis – that could be described as Obama Plus: more bombing, more troops, fewer restrictions on commanders.
“The Obama strategy wasn’t failing, but it was slow,” James F. Jeffrey, a former ambassador (and former Army officer) who’s advising the administration, told me. “This is more — not only more troops, but more willingness to use them. It’s a change of maybe 20%, but it’s an important 20%.”
“Light footprint” is an understatement. Obama was kicking the can down the road so he could keep his Nobel Peace Prize and he was hoping to hand off the war against ISIS to Hillary so she could tough on terrorism, too, without really doing anything.
Category: Terror War
I hope he turns the whole rotten shit hole into a parking lot, or a glass salad bowl?
If we are going to actually participate in this the way Russia/Vlad Putin appears to intend to do, then it should not turn into another dragged-out war in the mud. It might be a smart thing to nail down Vlad and make a deal with him to get it over and done with, and then focus on shutting down that obese pipsqueak in Norkiland.
There was peace of a sort during the Cold War, an uneasy peace, to be sure, and there were always rattling noises in the walls, but that deterrent thing seemed to have worked. I guess nobody expected another wave of despotism to erupt like this.
Just like we beat AlQaeda,the Taliban, and whoever-the-hell it is we have been fighting in Iraq, Yemen, Libya, …
So many victories. Yeah, I am getting tired of winning.
And what about that Islamic Republic? I know it’s not an Islamic “State”, but it seems hostile to us.
Put obama and his daughters on the front line with his insane ROE…
Expect that to happen around the same time Trump and his children head to the front lines.
Ahem…I’ll just leave this right here.
http://i.imgur.com/JPyXlyO.jpg
Ouch.
“…after claiming he had a secret plan to win the war, told his generals to give him one in 30 days.” I like the way he plans. “Mr. Mattis, come up with a plan. A really good plan”. Probably the smartest thing he’s done yet, aside from hiring Mattis in the first place. Good to see he’s using his people correctly, as he has no business war planning.
It was a secret nobody could steal. Best kind really.
If he lets Mattis do it, it will happen.
Meantime, a State Dept. employee is being charged with obstructing justice by lying to FBI investigators in a counterintelligence investigation. Candace Claiborne works in the SD office that handles Caucasus Affairs.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-intelligence-state-charges-idUSKBN1702U8
The article is quire brief as it was just released. I’m sure there will be more to come before long.
If true, somebody looks like they are on their way to PYITAP.