WASHINGTON • We’ve seen this dreaded movie before. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before a Senate committee this week and said that, under certain circumstances, he might recommend that President Barack Obama send U.S. ground forces to help fight the Islamic State, the terrorist group known as ISIS. The front-page headlines were predictable, as was The New York Times editorial fuming, "There is no way to read this other than as a reversal from the firm commitment Mr. Obama made not to immerse the country in another endless ground war in the Middle East," adding that "the Obama administration has turned on a dime in record time." This is overblown. First,...
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