Brent Scowcroft Center Senior Adviser Harlan Ullman writes for UPI on President Obama’s strategy for combating the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham:
Shortly after Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched in March 2003 and the rout of Saddam Hussein’s army was assured, competent commentators of all political stripes universally raised the question of “what next,” i.e. what to do in Iraq when the fighting ended. The George W. Bush administration was stone deaf. The result was the tragedy that persists today except that it is now on steroids.President Barack Obama appears to be equally hard of hearing. Many ask, where is his strategy for dealing with the Islamic State (IS) and what is unfolding in the greater Middle East? The world can but wonder.
Given this bipartisan groundswell about a strategy, why has President Barack Obama been so far so reluctant either to explain to the American public what must be done regarding IS or so tardy in producing a strategy to neutralize this danger?