President Obama has a history of ignoring the warnings and advice given to him by our military leaders, most notably involving the Taliban prisoner exchange, the desertion of Iraq for political reasons, and the steady rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Of course, it is hard for Obama to even hear what the military’s advice for him is since he has skipped more than half of his daily intelligence briefings.
Even liberals are having to take notice of Obama’s abject failure to listen to his military commanders, as MSNBC recently reported that military advice is being ignored. (H/T Western Journalism)
NBC Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski recently reported that Obama was initially and repeatedly warned by several U.S. military officials that his belated airstrike strategy alone would not effectively “defeat or even degrade” the Islamic State, and that ground troops would ultimately be required, despite Obama’s repeated promises to the contrary.
“U.S. military officials, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, warned all along that air strikes alone will not defeat or even degrade ISIS to the point where anybody can claim any kind of significant progress or victory,” Miklaszewski began. “It’ll ultimately take troops on the ground.”
“There have been some 51 airstrikes conducted against ISIS targets around Kobani, there on the Turkish border over the last week,” he continued. “But even there the problem is, again, with no boots on the ground so many of those ISIS fighters are inside the city. It’s impossible to strike them from the air because number one, it’s difficult to find them, two, they may be mingled among some innocent civilians, not only the Kurdish fighters but among civilian population.”
It has been obvious from day one that airstrikes alone would not be enough to destroy the Islamic State. Even people with little or no military experience knew that.
A heavy and sustained airstrike campaign would be effective for destroying large equipment, keeping large groups from moving, demolishing units caught out in the open, and even keeping the Islamic State somewhat contained to a general area.
But ground troops, dirty and rough infantrymen with armored vehicles, supplemented by elite Special Forces, are the only way to get into urban centers and root out Islamic State leadership, as well push ISIS fighters out of important cities and strategic areas.
Airstrikes can often clear an area, but holding that area afterward always requires boots and rifles.
If Obama’s plan is merely to contain the Islamic State within the general area they have laid claim to, then he needs to tell the American people that. If he is serious about degrading and destroying the Islamic State, then he needs to admit that ground troops are indeed necessary and allow our military to do their job unimpeded by political decisions and maneuvering.
