HotAir: It is difficult to envision the circumstances that would have led Roosevelt to suggest that the Empire of Japan, or Reagan the Soviets, or Bush al-Qaeda, must be shrunken and made manageable. They were the enemy, and the objective was their unqualified defeat. Obama contradicted the statements he made in prepared remarks when he spoke extemporaneously on the ISIS threat, which indicates that his own instincts are in conflict with those of the members of his administration.Conflicting Signals?
Obama’s strategy is more limited. He seeks to contain the threat of ISIS – a group he routinely calls a “cancer” in its nascent Islamic caliphate in portions of Syria and Iraq. But you don’t contain a cancerous growth; they develop into malignancy, they spread, they kill their host. A cancer must be removed. Obama’s is not a strategy, but a plan to mitigate the political damage an attack on the nation is doing to the president’s political standing.
It's really no shock that the guy wants to manage the problem rather than defeat it, particularly if we rewind to his 2007 campaign, where he said, "I truly believe that the day I'm inaugurated, not only does the country look at itself differently, but the world looks at America differently," because he's lived in a Muslim country and he understands their point of view. Right. Obama continued, "...then I think the world will have confidence that I am listening to them and that our future and security is tied up with our ability to work with other countries in the world. That will ultimately make us safer."
Are we safer? That's rhetorical...between increased hostilities across the globe, lawlessness here at home, and our unsecured border, you know the answer.
It is troubling, though, when even McRINO can figure out that we need to "Kill'em," but our president can't.
Let's not forget that Russia's on the move as well...but all this joker in the White House is concerned with is the optics of party politics and his perpetual campaign.
Related link: RUSH: Putin Can’t Believe His Luck That He’s Got Obama As An Adversary
ADDENDUM: Levin explained this evening that we know where these terrorists are and that we could take them out if we wanted to, but this administration refuses to do so...
UPDATE: Sec. of State Lurch announced a policy of ‘no containment’ to a hodge-podge of NATO allies on Friday, as well as an emphatic red line of 'no boots on the ground,' a sentiment repeated from Sunday...TRS: Mark Levin points out that we now have leaders who don’t want to fight wars the way we used to fight wars, and are only doing enough just so they can say they are doing something.
But Levin points out that we could destroy the heart of the Islamo-Nazi state in Syria and Iraq in as little as two to three weeks if we wanted to do it, but our leaders refuse to do it.
"We have an enemy. The enemy is at war with us. The enemy is at war with the world. The enemy is genocidal. And the more we talk, the more they slaughter. We're Americans. We've overcome far worse than this. This enemy numbers less than fifty thousand. This enemy, I'm not talking about all Islamo-Nazi terrorists, this enemy in particular is located within two countries. This enemy has no air force; this enemy has no navy. This enemy has no war production capacity. And yet, we act like it cannot be defeated. It can be obliterated; it can be eviscerated. Apparently, we don't want to do it."AUDIO HERE.
But maybe Syria, maybe not...depends on this administration's mood and motives. And don't you worry, he'll have the Islamic State destroyed within 3 years, maybe. Not the epitome of confidence so much.Mediaite: Secretary of State John Kerry announced Friday a cobbled-together international coalition bent on fighting ISIS, the Islamic militant group that has been rampaging across Syria and Iraq.
Saying there is “no containment policy for ISIL,” Kerry vowed that the coalition will defeat the militant group even if it takes years, a stronger stance than has been heard from the administration, which has used language like “degrade” and “manageable.”
The announcement came following a quick meeting among powers at a NATO summit in Wales. The coalition, which comprises the United States, Britain, France, Australia, Canada, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Poland and Denmark, will focus on supplying air strikes to embolden Syrian and Iraqi ground forces.
Everybody involved pinky-swore that there would be no ground troops involved in the fight. “Obviously I think that’s a red line for everybody here: no boots on the ground,” Kerry said. Maybe not so much with the “red line” phrasing.
Related link: Jonah Goldberg NAILS Obama’s Foreign Policy: Saying Whatever it Takes to Get People Off His Back
