Is The White House Plan To Fight The Islamic State Working?

Washington Post: The White House insists it has a plan to fight Islamic State and that it’s working

To its critics, President Obama’s strategy to combat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq is weak and incoherent. Even some of the staunchest U.S. allies and partners in the fight worry that the time for what they see as the administration’s incremental approach has long since passed.

The White House maintains that its strategy is comprehensive and that it’s working. Sharp increases in airstrikes and Obama’s recent decision to deploy Special Operations troops, officials say, are part of a fundamental change in the military’s mission developed this fall, along with a new diplomatic push to end the distraction of Syria’s civil war.

In his Sunday-night address to the nation following last week’s San Bernardino, Calif., shooting, Obama outlined the elements of the strategy, assuring Americans that there is a viable plan underway to decimate the Islamic State where it lives. “We will destroy ISIL and any other organization that tries to harm us,” he said, using an alternative name for the militants.

But the White House is clearly frustrated by its failure to communicate the elements of that plan and what it believes has been accomplished.

WNU Editor: Hillary Clinton is clearly worried on the White House's strategy .... she is now starting to voice her own plan .... Hillary Clinton Urges Silicon Valley to ‘Disrupt’ ISIS (New York Times). But absent any meaningful commitment of U.S. ground troops (with Iraqi and coalition support) .... or even coalition support which is now starting to fray .... NATO says won't send ground troops to fight IS: report (Reuters) .... I fail to see what else the White House can do .... or any other future President.