Obama's Pathetic Bombing Campaign Hasn't Stopped Expansion of Islamic State in Syria

Military and strategic experts hammered the administration's tepid bombing campaign last summer, and now there's evidence that ISIS is not only holding the line, but expanding its presence in Syria.

Military air campaigns as leftist window dressing for appeasement. Seriously. It's come to this.

And by the way, no offense to the honorable U.S. military personnel who're on the front lines of the battle. Your sacrifice is forever appreciated.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Months of Airstrikes Fail to Slow Islamic State in Syria: Militant Group Has Gained Territory Despite U.S.-Led Strikes, Raising Concerns of the Obama Administration’s Mideast Strategy":

WASHINGTON—More than three months of U.S. airstrikes in Syria have failed to prevent Islamic State militants from expanding their control in that country, according to U.S. and independent assessments, raising new concerns about President Barack Obama ’s military strategy in the Middle East.

While U.S. bombing runs and missile strikes have put Islamic State forces on the defensive in Iraq, they haven’t had the same kind of impact in Syria. Instead, jihadist fighters have enlarged their hold in Syria since the U.S. started hitting the group’s strongholds there in September, according to the new estimates.

Islamic State’s progress in Syria is partly the result of the U.S. decision to focus its military efforts on Iraq, where the militant group has seized major parts of the country and declared them part of a new Islamic caliphate. The U.S.-led military effort has pushed the forces out of some key battlegrounds in Iraq.

But Syria still serves as a haven for Islamic State fighters, also known in the West by the acronyms ISIS and ISIL.

“Certainly ISIS has been able to expand in Syria, but that’s not our main objective,” said one senior defense official. “I wouldn’t call Syria a safe haven for ISIL, but it is a place where it’s easier for them to organize, plan and seek shelter than it is in Iraq.”

The assessments come as the Obama administration is considering whether the U.S. should embrace more aggressive ideas for containing Islamic State forces in Syria. Some administration officials have been pushing the U.S. to once again rethink its “Iraq-first” strategy and focus more attention on Syria, including training thousands of Syrian fighters to take on the feared group.

Among suggestions: The U.S. military could help set up a buffer zone along Syria’s border with Turkey that would be protected by American air power. It could start coordinating airstrikes with rebel forces currently fighting in Syria. And it could provide Kurdish forces now fighting in Syria with more sophisticated weapons.

But there is significant opposition within the administration to any idea that would drag the U.S. military deeper into a country where few see options that will make things better, officials say. Military officials say the concerns are understandable. But containing the dangers posed by Islamic State forces will take time and patience, they say.

For now, the U.S. strategy remains focused on pushing Islamic State forces out of Iraq, where they control major parts of the country, including Mosul, its second largest city, and Fallujah, a longtime stronghold of anti-American resistance northwest of Baghdad.

That focus is likely to be questioned in the coming weeks when the new Republican-controlled Congress holds hearings on Mr. Obama’s strategy in the Middle East. Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), the new chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is likely to challenge the strategy when he holds a confirmation hearing in early February for Ashton Carter, a longtime Pentagon official who is Mr. Obama’s nominee to be his next defense secretary.

Col. Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East military campaign, said the airstrikes weren’t intended to prevent Islamic State fighters from gaining ground in most of Syria.

While the U.S. has stepped in to help Kurdish fighters in Kobani, Col. Ryder said coalition strikes in Syria are primarily “shaping” operations meant to weaken their hold in neighboring Iraq. “Gaining territorial control in Syria has never been our mission,” he said. “That wasn’t the objective of our airstrikes.”

One senior administration official said Wednesday that the strategy remains focused on training Syrian rebels to eventually lead the fight in a complex civil war.

Right. "Training Syrian rebels." What rebels? They've either been exterminated by ISIS or they've sworn fealty to their Islamic State overlords to save their own necks.

Syria is virtually lost. We'd need bombing campaigns to match Dresden in World War II to start having an impact, and that's not something the United States will do, especially under the continued cowardice and appeasement of Barack Hussein.

Still more.