Washington (AFP) – Barack Obama’s admission that he has an incomplete strategy to combat the Islamic State group is politically toxic, but history shows many of his predecessors also decided that “muddling through” a crisis was the least-worst option.
They were seven small words that did not help the 44th president one little bit after a G7 meeting in the clean air of the Bavarian Alps: “We don’t yet have a complete strategy.”
He may have been referring specifically to a spluttering US “train and equip” mission, but it has been 10 months since Obama started bombing the radical Islamist group and nine months since he first admitted to having no coherent strategy to fight them.
In the interim, the group has beheaded and subjugated its way through Iraq, Syria and Libya, destabilizing the entire Middle East in the process.
The self-proclaimed Islamic State has also attracted support from alienated European and American youths, who are already returning home and bringing a radical ideology with them.
In light of this national security threat, Owhile’s critics asked, how does he still not know what he is doing?
Veteran Republican Senator John McCain accused Obama of doing nothing to stop a Christian genocide.
“It is a failure of leadership,” said Rick Perry, a Republican presidential candidate.
“If I were commander-in-chief, it would not take nine months to work with our military leaders to develop a complete strategy to destroy ISIS and protect American security interests and values,” he said, using another acronym for the group.