Tuesday, September 23, 2014

America's Mission Creep To War In The Middle East


How Obama’s War Against ISIS Just Keeps Growing -- Michael Crowley, Time

A mission that keeps shedding its limits.

Barack Obama’s war against ISIS has come a long way from Sinjar Mountain.

It was six weeks ago, on Aug. 7, that the President announced his first airstrikes against the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS). It was a profound decision for a President long determined to avoid military action in the Middle East—and for a war-scarred country resistant to foreign interventions.

It was also the first of many incremental steps towards Monday night’s dramatic strikes in Syria—a piecemeal approach that suggests an improvised mission, and one whose objectives and justifications have repeatedly shifted over the past six weeks.

Read more ....

My Comment: Quoting Trotsky .... "You may not want war, but war wants you". This is the situation that has been confronting the White House since the fall of the Iraqi city of Mosul to Islamic State fighters a few months ago. But after today's bombing raids .... the decision to go to war has been made .... and all of the consequences and repercussions from it are going to be felt for the rest of President Obama's Presidency .... and probably beyond.

Update: The BBC has a good collection of maps that give an overview of the military situation in both Iraq and Syria. That link is here.

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