Last July, the USA started using its air power to strike against ISIS targets in Iraq. The following month, president Obama announced that America would also conduct air strikes against ISIS in Syria. This was part of the mission to accomplish the announced goal of degrading and destroying ISIS. Today, however, we know for certain that US Air Force strikes in Syria are just phony war. The question then is WHY are we doing that?
Let's start with today's events. The Kurds in Kobani or Ayn al Arab are being overrun by ISIS as I write this. In all likelihood, ISIS will slaughter the defenders and the few civilians left in the city after it falls. There may be as many as ten thousand Kurds who get killed by ISIS. Control of the city will also give ISIS an unbroken stretch of territory running across Syria and into Iraq. The loss of this position will also demoralize those who oppose ISIS in other cities and towns across the region. In short, the fall of Ayn al Arab will be a terrible blow to the effort to stop the advance of ISIS.
So what has president Obama done to try to stop this impending big victory by ISIS and the resulting slaughter? Sadly, the answer is not much. Today, as thousands of ISIS fighters moved in on the embattled Kurds in Ayn al Arab, American air power was used to carry out five strikes on ISIS positions. That's five trucks or armored vehicles or guns that got hit by American bombs.
Now imagine for the moment that instead of the city being defended by the Kurdish militia, that it was the U.S. Army that was defending the city from attack. Think about how many air strikes would have been launched to stop ISIS and to protect the city from the attack. Instead of five sorties, there would have been something more like 500 sorties or more. American air power would have been used in attacks on every piece of artillery, every armored vehicle, every truck and even every concentration of ISIS troops in the region. Not all of the targets would have been destroyed, but you can be sure that hundreds or thousands of ISIS fighters would have been killed or injured. You can also be sure that the ISIS troops would be too busy hiding from air attacks to move forward towards the city.
It is unforgiveable that in the face of impending disaster, Obama has limited the use of American power. Right now, all that the USA is doing is trying to make it look like we are fighting ISIS in Syria when we really are doing next to nothing. Obama just wants the American people to think that he is seriously confronting ISIS when the reality is something quite different. Instead of the usual Obama lie when it is just words that are involved, this time it is phony actions as well as words.
This is not a situation that has taken Obama or the Obamacrats by surprise. It is not a situation that Obama just found out about in the news. That story does not work here. Indeed, I have been writing about the situation in Ayn al Arab for roughly a month. If I knew about it, surely president Obama did also. Sadly, that means that the strategy of appearing to fight while not really doing so was a conscious choice by Obama. The idea that it was too late to act won't fly here. Obama decided to pretend rather than to actually do what was necessary.
It is a sad day for America.
Let's start with today's events. The Kurds in Kobani or Ayn al Arab are being overrun by ISIS as I write this. In all likelihood, ISIS will slaughter the defenders and the few civilians left in the city after it falls. There may be as many as ten thousand Kurds who get killed by ISIS. Control of the city will also give ISIS an unbroken stretch of territory running across Syria and into Iraq. The loss of this position will also demoralize those who oppose ISIS in other cities and towns across the region. In short, the fall of Ayn al Arab will be a terrible blow to the effort to stop the advance of ISIS.
So what has president Obama done to try to stop this impending big victory by ISIS and the resulting slaughter? Sadly, the answer is not much. Today, as thousands of ISIS fighters moved in on the embattled Kurds in Ayn al Arab, American air power was used to carry out five strikes on ISIS positions. That's five trucks or armored vehicles or guns that got hit by American bombs.
Now imagine for the moment that instead of the city being defended by the Kurdish militia, that it was the U.S. Army that was defending the city from attack. Think about how many air strikes would have been launched to stop ISIS and to protect the city from the attack. Instead of five sorties, there would have been something more like 500 sorties or more. American air power would have been used in attacks on every piece of artillery, every armored vehicle, every truck and even every concentration of ISIS troops in the region. Not all of the targets would have been destroyed, but you can be sure that hundreds or thousands of ISIS fighters would have been killed or injured. You can also be sure that the ISIS troops would be too busy hiding from air attacks to move forward towards the city.
It is unforgiveable that in the face of impending disaster, Obama has limited the use of American power. Right now, all that the USA is doing is trying to make it look like we are fighting ISIS in Syria when we really are doing next to nothing. Obama just wants the American people to think that he is seriously confronting ISIS when the reality is something quite different. Instead of the usual Obama lie when it is just words that are involved, this time it is phony actions as well as words.
This is not a situation that has taken Obama or the Obamacrats by surprise. It is not a situation that Obama just found out about in the news. That story does not work here. Indeed, I have been writing about the situation in Ayn al Arab for roughly a month. If I knew about it, surely president Obama did also. Sadly, that means that the strategy of appearing to fight while not really doing so was a conscious choice by Obama. The idea that it was too late to act won't fly here. Obama decided to pretend rather than to actually do what was necessary.
It is a sad day for America.
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