President Obama Hints That His Iraq Strategy May Shift In View Of Recent Developments

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, May 26, 2015.

VOA: Obama: US Must Rethink Military Assets in Iraq

President Barack Obama said the U.S. and its NATO allies need to consider how they are deploying military assets against Islamist extremists in Iraq, just hours after Baghdad announced an offensive to retake the provincial capital of Ramadi.

Obama, speaking at the end of a meeting with visiting NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, said the challenge posed by the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, and the conflict in Libya, have forced the alliance to look south as well as east in its mission.

"NATO is necessarily recognizing a whole range of global challenges, particularly on what we call the Southern Front ... making sure that we continue to coordinate effectively in the fight against ISIL," Obama said, using an acronym for the Islamist group. "It also means we have to think about whether we are deploying and arranging our assets effectively to meet that challenge."

WNU Editor: U.S. Secretary of Defense Carter opened the door on the possibility of a shift in U.S. strategy/policy on Sunday .... Defense Secretary Opens Possibility to Strategy Shift on Iraq (WSJ). My guess is that President Obama is realizing that such a shift is necessary in view of the collapse of the Iraqi Army when they fled the Iraqi city of Anbar. This also follows on the heels of yesterday's announcement that U.S. and Turkey will provide air-protection for Syrian rebels .... which in itself is a huge shift in U.S. policy and a signal to me that the White House's entire Middle East strategy is now under review .... Turkey And The U.S. Have Agreed To Provide 'Air Protection' To The Syrian Rebels.

Update: Supporters of President Obama are still trying to defend and/or rationalize his Iraq war policy .... How Many US Troops Will Be In Iraq By the Time Obama Leaves Office? (Kevin Drum, Mother Jones) ... but it is no longer about Iraq. The Islamic State is now in scores of countries, the Syrian civil war, Yemen, Libya, the disintegrating situation in Afghanistan .... this has all happened during President Obama's watch .... and I cannot help but feel that he is being overwhelmed with events. But what is worrisome is that if I feel like this groups like Al Qaeda, Islamic State, the Taliban, etc. .... they are probably sensing this too .... and they are taking advantage of this perception with everything that they got.