WarSclerotic

Obama shows amateurism on ISIS, Israel Hayom, Prof. Abraham Ben-Zvi, August 31, 2014

(Amateurism? Or something worse? — DM)

President Barack Obama’s “plan” to forge an international coalition to confront the lethal tentacles of the Islamic State (ISIS), is above all a testament to his amateurism and apathetic posture toward the growing crisis emanating from Iraq and the Levant.

Obama admitted that he has yet to devise a comprehensive strategy to meet the challenge posed by ISIS. Despite this jaw-dropping statement, Obama’s incompetence should not have come as a surprise. What could we expect from an administration who has had a passionate love affair with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt all the while turning a blind eye to Hamas extremism? Obama is no Dwight D. Eisenhower, who engaged in meticulous planning before unveiling the Baghdad Pact in 1955. Neither is he President George H. W. Bush, who forged an international coalition in 1990 to fight the Gulf War. Obama’s modus operandi is all about ad-hoc policymaking and band-aid solutions.

Obama, who did everything he could to downplay the threat of global terrorism, has had a hard time accepting one basic truth: that the threat of global jihad — particularly in its latest ultra-radical iteration — may transform Middle East on a dime. But unlike Eisenhower and Bush, Obama has tried to have foreign policy contracted out, with everyone welcome to submit bids. No longer is the U.S. president the leader of a confident superpower that is determined to show the way for the international community, nor has Obama been willing to exert his clout to bring coalition partners on board.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he would discuss the Islamic State on the sidelines of the upcoming NATO summit. Yes, on the sidelines of the NATO summit. This just goes to show how painstakingly slow and ineffective the U.S. response has been when it comes to the boiling lava spewing out of the Middle East volcano. Obama, whose actions during the recent Gaza flare-up only exacerbated tensions between America and its Sunni allies in the region (led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia), has now tried, with uninspiring tactics, to create unity by calling on the international community to join forces in the fight against the Islamic State.

Obama has dithered on Syria, too. His hesitation over whether the U.S. should back the moderates in the Syrian opposition has had him adopt a go-slow approach that has been defined by half-measures. Now he has to grapple with a much more trying reality, with the Islamic State already dominating a third of Syria.

These policy shortcomings have resulted a very limited response to the threat posed by ISIS. It is highly unlikely that airstrikes in northern Iraq will suffice when it comes to overpowering this monster, whose killing spree continues.

This entry was posted on August 31, 2014 at 4:41 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Islamic State