After much blustering over the last two weeks, the United States fired its first warshots, from fighters, bombers and Tomahawks, against terrorist targets in Syria last night. We launched the attacks alongside five Arab nations, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar. Well actually, planes of only three were in the air with us, as Bahrain and Qatar only “supplied” bases. In a speech on the White House lawn Tuesday, he again talked about the coalition of 40 countries he has built, but to date, other than the five who lent a hand last night, only France has carried out any missions, albeit in Iraq only. I have yet to hear who these countries are and the talking heads get all upset that someone would question them on anything.
Last night’s attack in Syria contained 25 targets, but, apparently, only 17 were against ISIS. There were eight targets attacked belonging to a little known group call Khorasan around Aleppo, an offshoot of Al Qaeda. A “senior administration spokesman” says they have had their eyes on the group for the last two years, but the tipping point targeting them came with intelligence that they were in the final phase prior to attacking the west and the United States. Of course, this is the administration that has told citizens that there were no indications of an imminent attack here.
The administration feels they can conduct the war from the air only and has repeatedly told citizens and ISIS alike there will be no boots on the ground, at least from America. No other countries have stepped up to accept a role on the ground. Only the Kurds want a ground role, saying they want to fight ISIS and don’t need American troops to help. They just need heavy weapons. Instead of Obama arming them directly, he wants to send their arms through Iraq, where Iraq will distribute them However, those arms aren’t being given to the Kurds. The Iraqis are keeping them, making up for the weapons lost when ISIS overran them several months ago.
There are still serious questions about how much stomach for a fight Obama has. As ISIS gets rolled back, they will become interspersed within towns and cities, hiding among the locals. As that happens, clear targets are harder to find and innocents begin to get killed. Remember all the bad mouthing this administration gave Israel about the death toll when Hamas hid behind Gazans. Also, remember Israel ultimately sent in ground forces. When the first collateral damage occurs, will he declare victory, then cut and run? I’m still not sure how he defines victory. The mission started as contain and manage, then grew to destroy. At what point will he declare ISIS destroyed. I keep hearing the term decimate. Well, when you decimate something, there is still 90% remaining, which is a viable fighting force. How high on the mission priority list is deposing Bassir Al-Assad as President? It was mentioned as a goal in today’s press conference.
As I say, a lot of questions remain. Many countries are watching, especially Russia who supports Assad. For Obama, more important things are at hand. He has a climate change speech at the United Nations to make. It is, after all, the most important thing facing the world today; at least according the John Kerry and Barack Obama. The most important thing? Really?
marjarhead1 