Ignatius: Pressure to escalate
WASHINGTON As fighters from the Islamic State surge toward control of Anbar Province in western Iraq and the border town of Kobane in Syria, U.S. commanders and diplomats are signaling that the U.S....
View ArticleFall of Ramadi Raises Doubts About U.S. Strategy
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Islamic State group's capture of Ramadi, a key provincial capital in western Iraq, calls into question the Obama administration's strategy in Iraq. Is there a Plan B? The current...
View ArticleObama must consider escalating war
As fighters from the Islamic State surge toward control of Anbar province in western Iraq and the border town of Kobani in Syria, U.S. commanders and diplomats are signaling that the U.S. must expand...
View ArticleWhat If There Is No Plan B for Iraq?
Originally posted at TomDispatch. On June 13th, Greg Jaffe and Missy Ryan of the Washington Post reported what should have been big news (though it was hardly noted). In recent White House “debates”...
View ArticleObama in Iraq: New Strategy, Old Mistakes
Almost nine months after President Obama admitted that “we don’t have a strategy yet” to challenge the Islamic State — and just days after he said he still has “” — the non-strategy suddenly has a...
View ArticleDoyle McManus: In Iraq, closing the gap between Obama's goal and means
Discordant notes from the Obama administration last week were widely interpreted as a collision between a war-weary president and a gung-ho military. And it was easy to see why. President Obama ordered...
View ArticleObama’s goals against ISIS ambitious, but means limited
Discordant notes from the Obama administration last week were widely interpreted as a collision between a war-weary president and a gung-ho military. And it was easy to see why. President Obama ordered...
View ArticleObama’s No Combat Pledge Leaves Room for Forces at Front
Putting U.S. military boots on the ground in Iraq doesn’t necessarily mean pitching infantry units into the battlefield. The possibility raised by the top U.S. general this week of involving American...
View ArticleObama's no-combat pledge leaves room for US forces near front lines
WASHINGTON — Putting U.S. military boots on the ground in Iraq doesn't necessarily mean pitching infantry units into the battlefield. The possibility raised by the top U.S. general this week of...
View ArticleDempsey again cites possibility of sending U.S. troops into Iraq combat
WASHINGTON Less than a week after the Obama administration announced that it would double the U.S. troop presence in Iraq, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Congress Thursday that U.S....
View ArticleKaplan: Obama properly worried about entering dark rooms in Iraq
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,...
View ArticleTop military commanders doubt Obama’s Iraq plan: Report
Senior American military officials cautioned the White House against deepening US involvement in Iraq as President Barack Obama was weighing deploying more military personnel to halt ISIL advances, a...
View ArticleIslamic State’s advance raises new questions about US, Iraqi strategy
WASHINGTON — The Islamic State’s capture Friday of the Iraqi provincial capital of Ramadi provides new evidence of the Iraqi army’s weakness, the terrorist movement’s resilience and the shortcomings of...
View ArticleDempsey: New hub for US troops in Iraq could be model for more
NAPLES, Italy — The Pentagon's top general said Thursday the U.S. military's reach could extend even further into Iraq if the anti-Islamic State campaign gains momentum, and he held out the possibility...
View ArticleIslamic State’s advance at Ramadi raises new questions about anti-ISIS strategy
The Islamic State’s capture Friday of the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi provides fresh evidence of the Iraqi army’s weakness, the terrorist movement’s resilience and the shortcomings of the Obama...
View ArticleGeneral: New US hub in Iraq could be model
The Pentagon's top general said Thursday the U.S. military's reach could extend even further into Iraq if the anti-Islamic State campaign gains momentum, and he held out the possibility of eventually...
View ArticleObama expected to announce increase in U.S. troops in Iraq
An expected White House decision to send several hundred more troops to Iraq to expand training of Iraqi forces in Anbar province is not a shift in U.S. strategy but is aimed at helping Iraq retake the...
View ArticleU.S. to send more troops to Iraq for expanded training
Robert Burns and Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press 7:21 a.m. EDT June 10, 2015 In this photo taken May 6, 2015, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The...
View ArticleIn White House's Iraq debate, military brass pushed for doing less
As President Barack Obama was weighing how to halt Islamic State advances in Iraq, some of the strongest resistance to boosting U.S. involvement came from a surprising place: a war-weary military that...
View ArticleObama administration nearing decision on improving Iraqi training
The Obama administration is nearing a decision on how to improve and accelerate the training of Iraqi security forces in light of recent setbacks against the Islamic State, including the possibility of...
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