ground forces or billions in assistance to those bottomless money pits are red lines that this President is unlikely to cross in the next two years. But the reality is that Obama is determined not to be drawn into another trillion-dollar social science experiment to see whether he can put the Iraq, Afghan and Syrian Humpty Dumpties back together again.Įven when it comes to Syria, the President has been reluctant to establish “no-fly” zones to neutralize Bashar al-Assad’s air power and create sanctuaries for training opposition forces. special forces into Iraq, it’s best to look at them as significant counterterrorism operations designed both to enable the United States to hit targets and to train and equip local allies to do so. If you want to understand Obama’s policies on ISIS and the reintroduction of U.S. But what the President has done is to refrain from illusory efforts at using American forces to reconstruct Iraq or Afghanistan, let alone Syria. ![]() Indeed, it’s possible by 2016 you might even see special forces expand their numbers in Iraq and enter Syria, too. That isn’t likely to happen by the time he leaves the White House. forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq and end America’s combat role there. Indeed, Syria and the war against ISIS is proving to be a new frontier. But there’s no reason to believe that the trend line on specific counterterror attacks will go anywhere but up. ![]() The President may have declared in May 2013 that the global war on terror is over. About 50 of these were authorized by Bush, and some 450 and counting by Obama. The raw numbers speak for themselves: As of November 21, the United States had conducted 500 targeted killings (about 98% of them with drones), “which have killed an estimated 3,674 people, including 473 civilians,” according to the Council on Foreign Relations’ Micah Zenko, citing State Department numbers. Instead, the President doubled down in Afghanistan in 2009, had Osama bin Laden killed, dismantled much of al Qaeda central and has used drone strikes with a frequency and lethality that makes him look like George W. ![]() Obama’s base may have wanted (and expected) a kinder, gentler leader when it came to the policy of killing America’s enemies abroad.
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