Obama Claims To Place ‘Boots On The Ground’ In Battle Against ISIS

by JASmius



Kicking and screaming is The One being dragged down George W. Bush Road.

Or, "let the comprehensive, raging meltdown of the 'anti-war' Left begin":

Barack Obama on Wednesday opened the door to "limited" ground combat operations against the Islamic State, as he asked Congress to formally authorize military force against the terrorist network.

The [One], in a proposed resolution and a letter to Congress, underscored the "grave threat" posed by ISIS.

"If left unchecked, ISIL will pose a threat beyond the Middle East, including to the United States homeland," Obama said.

Though still a "random" one.  Right, Barry?

Still, this is quite an about-face for the man among whose most cherished boasts is having "ended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," who based his first presidential campaign upon the core bedrock proposition that resisting jihadism, fighting them "over there" so that they could not attack us "over here" was "stupid" and "criminal," that all we had to do was "reach out" to the "Muslim World," apologize for America's many "sins," extol Islam to stomach-turning proportions, and all would be forgiven and forgotten and we could embrace in the bosom affection of "peace" and "friendship" and "brotherhood," and "love".  In fact, it's a hugely humiliating 180 that has to have his Nutroot worshipers bursting capillaries in perplexed, betrayal-fueled outrage.

So what accounts for President Peacemaker grudgingly vindicating his "warmongering" predecessor?  And why now?  Perhaps the increasingly and overpoweringly excruciating stubborn refusal to acknowledge the obvious.  And the fact that an aroused and vengeful Jordan, unlike Obama, is actually taking this war seriously, and is mobilizing thousands of troops to attack the Islamic State.  Or, in other words, "God" doesn't want to get shown up by a mere king.

And maybe the intersection with the Left's "war on women" meme was just too egregious to ignore.

But let not your hearts be troubled, my "anti-war" friends, O's "request" still has plenty of defeat-guaranteeing strings attached:

The proposal includes limitations that would bar “enduring offensive ground combat operations” and let the authorization lapse after three years. The letter from Obama says the authorization would not allow “long-term, large-scale ground combat operations like those” conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Without which the Islamic State cannot be defeated and Iraq and Syria either liberated or re-stabilized.

But the request includes no restrictions on where U.S. forces could pursue the threat. And while the current military campaign centers on coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, the proposal clearly allows U.S. ground troops to engage in limited circumstances. [emphasis added]

Which they've already been doing for a month and a half.

In a nutshell, this is just another unendurable step being forced on the White House by a heretofore PR position that is no longer tenable.

But as I said on Facebook recently, the one and only reason his imperial majesty is involving Congress in his ass-covering is to have the Republicans to blame when it all goes wrong.  Because if Barack Obama was really and truly committed to fighting the Global Caliphate, he would just do it, law and Constitution be damned, just like he does everything else in which he genuinely believes.

On the bright side, though, it does provide him with another war to "end".

Exit question: Over/under on how much longer this will defer the Obama-al-Bagdadi summit?