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"PRESIDENT OBAMA’S neglect of the anti-terrorism march in Paris seemed reflective of a broader loss of momentum by his administration in combating Islamic jihadism. Five months after the president launched military operations against the Islamic State, fighting in Iraq and Syria appears stalemated. The training of Iraqi army units for a hoped-for counteroffensive is proceeding slowly and, according to a report by The Post’s Loveday Morris, looks under-resourced...... ".... elsewhere, the Obama administration appears to be passively standing by as jihadists expand their territory, recruitment and training. In Libya, the job of stemming an incipient civil war has been left to a feckless U.N. mediator, even though the Islamic State is known to be operating at least one training camp with hundreds of recruits. In Nigeria, where a new offensive by the Boko Haram movement has overrun much of one northeastern state, a U.S. military training program was recently canceled by the government following a dispute over arms sales. ...... "In a speech last May, Mr. Obama identified terrorism as the greatest threat to the country and noted the decentralization of al-Qaeda to multiple theaters. Ruling out U.S. military involvement, he said his strategy would be to forge “a network of partnerships” with local forces and governments “from South Asia to the Sahel.” While the idea was mostly sound, the execution has been weak. There is, as a practical matter, no U.S. partnership in Libya, Nigeria or Syria. In other places, such as Iraq and Yemen, it is underpowered. ....... "The attacks in Paris should motivate Mr. Obama to reinvigorate a war against al-Qaeda that appears to be dangerously stalled. |
Jan 16, 2015
Defense Drumbeat
114th Congress