There has been a major change in American military strategy in dealing with ISIS. Of course, if you follow the mainstream media or watch cable news, you wouldn't know about it. The change was made public by Defense Secretary Mattis on Friday. It seems that President Trump has approved a change designed to annihilate ISIS rather than just to move it around as had been done previously. In other words, when coalition forces approach an ISIS stronghold like Raqqa, they will first encircle that stronghold before attacking. In this way, the ISIS forces inside the city will be destroyed in the fighting rathen than fleeing to yet another location for a future battle. The point is that once the ISIS forces are trapped, they can be destroyed.
For some reason, the policy under Obama had been to attack before encircling the ISIS redoubts. Thus we saw attacks in Tikrit, and Ramadi in Iraq in which thousands of ISIS troops fled ahead of the advancing coalition forces. In the attack on Mosul, a similar strategy was followed. The battle for Mosul is almost over. At the end, Mosul will have been freed, but many of the ISIS thugs will still be at large fighting elsewhere against the coalition. Raqqa, however, is almost if not completely encircled as of today. It's not that the ISIS leadership can't sneak out of the city; anything is possible. The point, however, is that the overwhelming bulk of the ISIS forces holding their capital will be destroyed in the soon to be commenced battle. It may sound harsh, but the key point here is that if an ISIS soldier is killed, then we won't have to face him on the battlefield in the future on another occasion.
It's a rather simple change in strategy, but it seems to make great sense. Many in the media used to call Obama the smartest guy in the room and now call Trump a moron. It sure looks like they got that backwards.
For some reason, the policy under Obama had been to attack before encircling the ISIS redoubts. Thus we saw attacks in Tikrit, and Ramadi in Iraq in which thousands of ISIS troops fled ahead of the advancing coalition forces. In the attack on Mosul, a similar strategy was followed. The battle for Mosul is almost over. At the end, Mosul will have been freed, but many of the ISIS thugs will still be at large fighting elsewhere against the coalition. Raqqa, however, is almost if not completely encircled as of today. It's not that the ISIS leadership can't sneak out of the city; anything is possible. The point, however, is that the overwhelming bulk of the ISIS forces holding their capital will be destroyed in the soon to be commenced battle. It may sound harsh, but the key point here is that if an ISIS soldier is killed, then we won't have to face him on the battlefield in the future on another occasion.
It's a rather simple change in strategy, but it seems to make great sense. Many in the media used to call Obama the smartest guy in the room and now call Trump a moron. It sure looks like they got that backwards.
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