Stability in Turkey is Key Strategic Goal of U.S. Foreign Policy

Following-up, "Turkey Coup d'État Risks Major Ramifications for U.S. Foreign Policy (VIDEO)," and "Turkey's Instability Threatens to Weaken the War on Terror."

A great piece, from Tracy Wilkinson and W.J. Hennigan, at the Los Angeles Times, "Straddling East and West, Turkey is a critical U.S. ally in fight against Islamic State":

Straddling East and West, #Turkey is a critical U.S. ally in fight against #IslamicState. https://t.co/UVcwAYi6sl

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 17, 2016

Dramatic @LATimes front page extra today. #Turkey pic.twitter.com/xA76Dv6q0L

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 16, 2016

The sprawling nation of Turkey is one of the United States’ most important and critically strategic allies, straddling the divide between the Middle East and the West.

As the only majority-Muslim member of NATO, Turkey has lent its soil to U.S. air bases, supported American military operations in key conflicts — such as Syria today and the Balkans in the 1990s — and served, until recent years, as a rare friendly interlocutor between Muslim nations and Israel.

But Turkey has also been a complicated and prickly ally, and more so as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan deepened his autocratic hold on power.

Turkey’s stability and the friendliness of its military toward the West are also of vital importance to the U.S. and for countries throughout Europe.

Turkey has been a NATO ally since 1952, and U.S. warplanes have used Incirlik Air Base in the south during the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

An estimated 1,800 U.S. military personnel are assigned to the base and the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, the capital.

Security at Incirlik is of critical importance for the U.S. military because there is a stockpile of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons at the base.

The B61 thermonuclear weapon is the last of its kind, the only tactical nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal. Unlike strategic weapons, designed to destroy cities and hardened military targets, the tactical weapons are intended for use on a battlefield, delivered by aircraft at treetop level or from high altitudes.

The exact number of B61 bombs at Incirlik is classified, but arms control analysts estimate there are about 50 deployed there.

With  the second largest army in NATO, Erdogan was initially hesitant to take part in the U.S-led effort against Islamic State militants in Syria. For Erdogan, the greater goal was ousting Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Erdogan was accused in some U.S. circles of turning a blind eye toward the threat of Islamic State.

However, after a series of high-profile suicide attacks in Turkish cities, Erdogan agreed a year ago to allow U.S. warplanes to fly combat sorties from Incirlik.

Since then, the intensity of the U.S.-led air war in Syria increased sharply because the flight time into Syria was drastically reduced compared with using other, more distant U.S. bases. The Pentagon in March ordered military family members to leave Incirlik due to the rising risk of possible terror attacks against Americans at the base.

Turkey has also begun to clamp down on smuggling routes along its 500-mile border with Syria that Islamic State militants use to move fighters, money and weapons -- especially along a porous 60-mile stretch known as the Manbij Pocket.

Thousands of foreign fighters have slipped across the border amid the maze of supply lines that go through Turkey to join the various militant factions in the multi-sided Syrian war.

The U.S.-led coalition, with Turkey's help, is in the midst of a massive, months-long operation to close the Manbij Pocket. Since the operation began, coalition warplanes have launched about 400 airstrikes to support ground forces known as the Syrian Arab Coalition to push the last remaining Islamic State fighters from the area...

Still more.

Turkey's Instability Threatens to Weaken the War on Terror

Following-up from yesterday, "Turkey Coup d'État Risks Major Ramifications for U.S. Foreign Policy (VIDEO)."

At the Wall Street Journal, "Turkish Instability Threatens to Hamper Battle on Terror":

An attempted military coup in Turkey introduces the prospect of prolonged instability in a key U.S. ally that could undermine one of Washington’s international priorities: the battle against the Islamic State terrorist organization.

Obama administration officials struggled to respond to the unexpected attempt Friday to unseat Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mr. Erdogan, on vacation when the coup began, returned to Istanbul early on Saturday, and forces supporting him said they were close to putting it down.

But whether successful or not, the coup raises new questions about Mr. Erdogan, who in recent months has shown a greater resolve to confront Islamic State, which is also called Daesh or ISIS.

Amid the race of developments late Friday, the U.S. called for the Turkish public and military to “support the democratically elected government” in the country. But the White House declined to make any further comments on the crisis, suggesting President Barack Obama wanted to keep his options open in Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The U.S. has a major air base in south-central Turkey that it has used to strike Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria.

Washington appeared to be facing two bleak outcomes in Muslim-majority Turkey in the coming month. The military could succeed in overthrowing Mr. Erdogan, resulting in unrest if the leader’s supporters, many of them religious conservatives, take to the streets.

Conversely, Mr. Erdogan could hold on to power but rule in an increasingly paranoid and authoritarian manner. He has increasingly sought control of the major institutions inside Turkey, including the media, judiciary and security forces...

Keep reading.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Looks to Restore Control After Attempted Coup in Turkey (VIDEO)

Here's my post from last night, "Agence France-Presse Updates on Coup Attempt in Turkey."

Events were moving very quickly. Shortly after I posted it looked like Erdoğan was bringing things back in control. He flew into Istanbul's airport and went on television for a national address.

The nation's capital is in Ankara, however, so it remains to be seen if Erdoğan's restored control at the government traditional seat of power.

At the New York Times, "Turkey Detains Thousands of Military Personnel After Attempted Coup: 265 Killed and Many More Wounded as Factions Clash":

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s government rounded up thousands of military personnel on Saturday who were said to have taken part in an attempted coup, moving swiftly to re-establish control after a night of chaos and intrigue that left hundreds dead.

By noon, there were few signs that those who had taken part in the coup attempt were still able to challenge the government, and many declared the uprising a failure.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called the insurrection “a stain in the history of democracy” at a news conference on Saturday in Ankara, the capital. He raised the death toll in the clashes to 265, with 1,440 people wounded, and he said 2,839 military personnel had been detained.

As the insurrection unfolded Friday night, beginning with the seizing of two bridges in Istanbul by military forces, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was not heard from for hours. He finally addressed the nation from an undisclosed location, speaking on his cellphone’s FaceTime app — a dramatic scene that seemed to suggest a man on the verge of losing power. But in the early hours of Saturday, he landed in Istanbul, a strong sign that the coup was failing.

Mr. Erdogan placed blame for the intrigue on the followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania, who was the president’s ally until a bitter falling out three years ago. Mr. Gulen’s followers were known to have a strong presence in Turkey’s police and judiciary, but less so in the military.

On Saturday morning, Mr. Erdogan said, referring to Mr. Gulen, “I have a message for Pennsylvania: You have engaged in enough treason against this nation. If you dare, come back to your country.”

In a statement released on the website of his group, Alliance for Shared Values, Mr. Gulen condemned the coup and supported the country’s democratic process.

“As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt,” Mr. Gulen wrote. “I categorically deny such accusations.”

Mr. Erdogan also said that Turkish fighter jets had bombed tanks on the streets of Ankara, and that a military helicopter being used by the coup plotters had been shot down.

There was also a battle early Saturday at Turkey’s main intelligence headquarters in Ankara, which government forces later secured, and a Turkish official said the intelligence chief, Hakan Fidan, had been taken to a secure location.

In a news conference on Saturday, Turkey’s top military officer, Gen. Umit Dundar, the acting head of the general staff, said that “the coup attempt was rejected by the chain of command immediately.”

More.

Agence France-Presse Updates on Coup Attempt in Turkey

Following-up from previously, "Turkey Coup d'État Risks Major Ramifications for U.S. Foreign Policy (VIDEO)."

Again, news is breaking very quickly and it's unclear who's in control, although I have my doubts that the coup plotters will be successful. Still, where's Erdoğan? As long as he remains out of the country, there's no saying how things will turn out. This is the real thing. Wow.

Here's some of the latest from AFP on Twitter, and note that events might prove different as we move along:

#UPDATE Turkish troops launch coup with soldiers taking to streets of Ankara and Istanbul https://t.co/5LzXDdKOjl

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 15, 2016

#BREAKING Turkey military opens fire on crowds in Istanbul, casualties: AFP photographer

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 15, 2016

#BREAKING Turkish F-16s shoot down helicopter carrying 'coup plotters': NTV television

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 15, 2016

#BREAKING 17 police officers killed in Turkey coup attempt: state news agency

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 15, 2016

#BREAKING Obama urges support for 'democratically-elected' Turkish govt

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 15, 2016

TURKEY - Turkish security officers detain Turkish police officers (in black) in Istanbul. By @yasinnakgul #AFP pic.twitter.com/p5VMGCUJjn

— AFP Photo Department (@AFPphoto) July 15, 2016

#BREAKING Turkish parliament in Ankara hit by bombing: state news agency

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 15, 2016

AFP photographer says Turkey military has opened fire on crowds gathered at Istanbul bridge https://t.co/RY1FWel2ka pic.twitter.com/q968SYRJVk

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 15, 2016

#BREAKING 'Situation largely under control' after Turkey coup attempt: PM

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 15, 2016

Turkey Coup d'État Risks Major Ramifications for U.S. Foreign Policy (VIDEO)

I've just been glued to my Twitter app for about the past two hours. There's no way to post on a story as fast-moving at the coup in Turkey. There's been all kinds of conflicting information, and some just plain crazy developments, especially the moment when President Erdoğan took to Face Time to announce that he was still in control and there'd be major repercussions against the coup plotters. Erdoğan urged citizens to rise up and take to the streets, and frankly, within minutes cable news reports started showing hordes of people out and about, protesting and gathering.

I'm going to look for the Sky News video of Erdoğan, but probably the best thing I saw of all this was Barbara Starr's reporting on CNN. She discussed all the intense linkages between Turkey and the U.S., including the former's key role in NATO, from which the U.S. is authorized to launch air missions from Turkish military bases. Turkey's also an incredibly strategic state, with its location at the entry-points to the Middle East from the south and to Europe from the north. And the U.S. sends billions of dollars in direct foreign aid to the regime in Ankara, so the investment is multifaceted. And then there's the fight against Islamic State and U.S. policy toward Assad's regime in Syria. Frankly, Turkey's looking like a linchpin over there, sheesh.

In any case, here's Starr at CNN. I'll update throughout the night. I've gotta say, this is an extremely interesting story from a number of angles. Donald Trump tweeted his support for the coup plotters, which may prove rather tantalizing, even problematic, depending on events.

In any case, there's too much conflicting information on who's in control.

J. Kael Weston, The Mirror Test

Obama's going to leave 8,400 troops in Afghanistan, which is about the most decent thing he's done all year.

More on that later.

Meanwhile, here's J. Kael Weston's new book, The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Islamic State Shifts Tactics

Islamic State, as it loses territory, boosts more traditional suicide terror attacks (rather than more classic insurgency initiatives).

I've been blogging most of these Ramadan attacks, although I missed the gruesome hacking attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

It's bad.

At WSJ, "Islamic State Extends Reach as It Suffers Defeats":

Islamic State Extends Reach as It Suffers Defeats https://t.co/GecqdgHt5b

— WSJ World News (@WSJworld) July 5, 2016

During a rare spate of attacks in Jordan recently, Western officials in the capital Amman intercepted messages from Islamic State leaders urging supporters to spread terror at home rather than join militants across the border in Syria.

That call, which was sent to all the group’s affiliates, and a similar appeal in a public speech by an Islamic State spokesman were followed by attacks outside the boundaries of its self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq. In the past week, supporters with suspected or confirmed ties to Islamic State have launched deadly strikes in Turkey, Iraq and Bangladesh.

Islamic State is increasingly reverting to less expensive but spectacular guerrilla maneuvers, calling on supporters to launch assaults while its costly makeshift army faces retention problems and casualties, Western officials said. It is expanding its global scope, inspiring groups and individuals spread across several continents, even though they may have different agendas and operational methods.

The frequency of attacks outside Syria and Iraq has increased in tandem with battlefield and territorial setbacks that have deprived the militants of key sources of income such as oil. The group’s shift in tactics has been prompted by those territorial losses, U.S. officials and security advisers say...

Keep reading.

Great graphics at the link.

Suicide Bombers Attack Across Saudi Arabia, Including Holy Site of Medina (VIDEO)

My god!

It's never ending terror jihad!

At the Washington Post, "Three suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia extend global wave of bombings and a bloody week":

BEIRUT — Suicide bombers suspected of links to the Islamic State struck for the fourth time in less than a week on Monday, targeting three locations in Saudi Arabia in an extension of what appeared to be a coordinated campaign of worldwide bombings coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Initial reports suggested there were relatively few casualties in the attacks at a U.S. consulate, a mosque frequented by Shiite worshippers and a security center in one of Islam’s holiest sites, the historic city of Medina. Security officials told news agencies that two security guards died in the Medina attack.

The attacks nonetheless offered further evidence that in the three years since it declared the existence of its so-called caliphate, the Islamic State has developed the capacity to strike at will at the time of its choosing in diverse locations around the world...

Keep reading.

And at CNN:

Islamic State Uses Ramadan for New Terrorist Attacks

Following-up from yesterday, "Baghdad Car Bombing is Third Mass Attack in Days (VIDEO)."

As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approached, ISIS told jihadists that it was a good time to kill people https://t.co/N37QItAn96

— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 3, 2016

Baghdad Car Bombing is Third Mass Attack in Days (VIDEO)

It's a daily thing now.

Daily, and on an apocalyptic scale.

At NYT, "More Than 140 Dead in Terror Assault Claimed by ISIS":

BAGHDAD — As celebrations for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan stretched past midnight into Sunday in central Baghdad, where Iraqis had gathered to eat, shop and just be together, a minivan packed with explosives blew up and killed at least 143 people — the third mass slaughter across three countries in less than a week.

The attack was the deadliest in Baghdad in years — at least since 2009 — and was among the worst Iraq has faced since the American invasion of 2003. The bombing came barely a week after Iraqi security forces, backed by American airstrikes, celebrated the liberation of Falluja from the Islamic State, which almost immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Even as fires still blazed Sunday morning at the bombing site, Iraq’s machinery of grief was fully in motion: Hospitals tried to identify charred bodies, workers sorted through the rubble searching for more victims, and the first coffins were on their way to the holy city of Najaf and its vast cemetery, always expanding, where Iraq’s Shiites bury their dead. By Sunday evening, a worker at the cemetery said more than 70 bodies had arrived, and many more were expected on Monday.

Less than two days earlier, two police officers and 20 hostages, many of them foreigners, were killed after gunmen invaded a restaurant in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Islamic State claimed to be behind that attack. In Turkey, the authorities blamed the Islamic State for a coordinated suicide attack on Istanbul’s main airport that killed more than 40 people, although the terrorist group has not claimed responsibility.

Many of the victims in Baghdad on Sunday were children; the explosives detonated near a three-story complex of restaurants and stores where families were celebrating the end of the school year, residents said...

Keep reading.

Sen. John McCain on Islamic State: 'What we need to do is go to Raqqa and kill them...' (VIDEO)

It's pretty straightforward, and McCain's just the latest in a long line of folks who've said the same thing.

But oh my goodness, it's "Islamophobia" to call this radical Islam. Actually killing jihadists "harms" the fight against "violent extremism," or some such bullshit.

Watch, at CBS Face the Nation, "McCain on ISIS: 'What we need to do is go to Raqqa and kill them'."

U.S. Diplomats Slam Obama's Syria Policy, Call for Airstrikes on Assad Regime

From Austin Bay, at the Observer, "As Assad Continues to Wipe Out Syria, State Dept. Dissenters Confront Obama":

Dissenting State Department officials are demanding President Barack Obama wage war on the Assad dictatorship—which is a short step away from demanding regime change.

Late on June 16 The Wall Street Journal reported that the “near collapse” of the current ceasefire had spurred 51 “mid-to high-level State Department officers involved with advising on Syria policy” to sign a “dissent channel cable” calling on the Obama Administration to target Syria’s Assad regime with repeated “military strikes.”

At the moment, the article remains behind The Journal’s paywall, so I’ll include several extended quotes. Journal reporters who personally reviewed the cable described the document as “a scalding internal critique of a longstanding U.S. policy against taking sides in the Syrian war, a policy that has survived even though the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has been repeatedly accused of violating cease-fire agreements and Russian-backed forces have attacked U.S.-trained rebels.”

The dissenters argue “Failure to stem Assad’s flagrant abuses will only bolster the ideological appeal of groups such as Daesh, even as they endure tactical setbacks on the battlefield.” The Journal adds that Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The article provides excellent background information, noting the “Dissent Channel” is an authorized forum for expressing opposing views. It also quotes a former State Department official who acknowledged: “It’s embarrassing for the administration to have so many rank-and-file members break on Syria.” The dissent comes from “the heart” of the State Department bureaucracy—in other words, career, professional diplomats.

Yeah, and keep in mind the overwhelming majority of these "career professionals" at State are leftists. It's thus even doubly telling how disastrous this dissent is the for administration's policy.

More here.

And pay wall? What pay wall?

Just click through at the Google link to read the WSJ's piece, "U.S. State Department Officials Call for Strikes Against Syria's Assad."

Iraqi Forces Engage in Largest Battle Yet Against Islamic State (VIDEO)

Following-up from yesterday, "Iraqi Special Forces Launch Ground Assault on Fallujah (VIDEO)."

Here's the update, from last night's CBS Evening News:

Iraqi Special Forces Launch Ground Assault on Fallujah (VIDEO)

At WSJ, "Iraqi Forces Begin Ground Assault on Fallujah":

BAGHDAD—Iraqi special forces advanced to the edge of Fallujah on Monday but struggled to enter the city, where Iraqi and U.S. officials said Islamic State extremists were amassing civilians to serve as human shields.

The offensive against Fallujah, Islamic State’s second-biggest urban stronghold in Iraq after Mosul, aims to dislodge the Sunni extremists from the Iraqi city they have occupied the longest.

If successful, it could significantly weaken them ahead of an advance on much-larger Mosul, long planned by the government and the U.S.-led coalition supporting its fight against Islamic State.

The Fallujah operation, led so far by Shiite militias and army and police forces, has almost completely cleared the city’s perimeter of Islamic State fighters since it was launched a week ago. But the next, crucial stage of that operation, led by Iraq’s U.S.-trained counterterrorism forces, got off to a fitful start Monday...

Continue reading.

Plus, an update, "Iraqi Forces in Fallujah Face Islamic State Counterattacks":

BAGHDAD—Iraqi special forces battling their way into Fallujah faced fierce counterattacks by Islamic State, with commanders of the operation warning that heavily booby-trapped streets in and around the city were hindering the advance.

A day after applauding the beginning of a risky ground assault into the militant-held city, commanders struck a more cautious public tone Tuesday.

The joint-operations center coordinating the government offensive warned about the mines and other explosive devices planted around the city—a tactic commonly used by Islamic State.

The counterattacks took place on Fallujah’s southern edge, Nuaimiya, where counterterrorism forces advanced Monday following a weeklong offensive to surround the city. The U.S.-trained units repelled the two attacks, which included suicide bombers and snipers, said Lt. Gen. Abdelwahab al-Saadi, commander of the operation.

Gen. Saadi said Islamic State was using every possible method it could to slow the government offensive, including flooding farmland.

Fallujah, where aid agencies and Iraqi officials estimate at least 50,000 civilians are trapped, is expected to be a tough and unpredictable urban battleground, even for the elite fighters leading the government push.

While counterterrorism units have battled Islamic State militants inside cities before, including in Ramadi last year, Fallujah is more complicated because of the large numbers of civilians who have been unable or unwilling to flee.

The Sunni city also has long been a stronghold for Sunni extremists, including al Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor of Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL...

Keep reading.

'Isis' — Muslim Student, Sponsored by CAIR, Breaks Silence on Rancho Cucamonga Yearbook Mishap (VIDEO)

Bare Naked Islam reports, "In CALIPHORNIA, if you think it’s cool to dress like an ISIS jihadi bride for your yearbook photo, this is what happens."

Actually, the yearbook staff made an honest mistake, albeit unfortunate, considering.

According to ABC 7 Los Angeles:

The school district said there was a student at Rancho Cucamonga High School named Isis Phillips, but she transferred earlier this year.

School officials also confirmed Zehlif was not the only person on two pages to have the wrong name under their picture.

"We are, at this point, involved in an investigation on how this could occur," said one spokesperson.

Some students said they think the mistake was being blown out of proportion.

"The yearbook is kind of notoriously known for, you know, mixing up names, making mistakes," said Ethan Espinoza, a student at the school.

But it's an issue that Zehlif takes seriously...

Of course. She's got the CAIR litigation jihadists to shake down the school district and propagandize this case into a wildly inflated instance of "Islamophobia."

More at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Muslim Student Wrongly Identified in Yearbook as ‘Isis’ Says She's 'Sad,' 'Embarrassed'."

CAIR "hasn't rule out" taking legal action, naturally.

Protesters Pour Into Heavily-Fortified Green Zone in Baghdad (VIDEO)

It's out of control over there.

At LAT, "Iraqi protesters pour into Green Zone, storm parliament."

And at CBS News This Morning:

Here's 10 Times Obama Pledged 'No Boots on the Ground' in Syria (VIDEO)

The background's at the Los Angeles Times, "Up to 250 U.S. military personnel will be sent to Syria, Obama to announce."

And major kudos to NBC news for this epic mashup of O's prior denials of "boots on the ground" in Syria:

Setbacks Hobble U.S. Military Efforts in Iraq

Following-up from previously, "The Inherent Fallacy of Believing We Can Beat the Islamic State Without U.S. Ground Troops."

At the Los Angeles Times, "U.S. faces an uphill effort in helping build an Iraqi force that can retake Mosul":

As machine guns rattled Thursday from a nearby firing range, Iraqi recruits at this dusty base outside Baghdad trained on tactics, radios, firing mortars and tanks before a bevy of visiting Pentagon brass.

But off to the side, their trainers, mostly from Spain and Portugal, said the soldiers often show up late for training courses or don't show up at all.

"The last group we had here was a complete disaster," said Spanish army Maj. Ignacio "Nacho" Arias. "They would come and go without permission."

The troubles at this training base reflect broader difficulties in building an Iraqi ground force capable of pushing entrenched Islamic State fighters out of Mosul, the militants' self-declared capital in Iraq, a priority for the White House and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi's government.

The Pentagon announced in March 2015 that an Iraqi offensive on the strategic city was all but imminent. But those ambitious plans were repeatedly shelved as Iraqi troops struggled to push the militants out of smaller cities and towns.

Iraqi forces finally launched their long-delayed assault toward Mosul last month. It quickly stalled.

The sluggish pace has frustrated U.S. commanders and White House officials, who had hoped to recapture the heavily defended northern city and deal a decisive blow to the militants before President Obama leaves office in January.

Obama made it clear this week that he isn't very optimistic.

"My expectation is that by the end of the year, we will have created the conditions whereby Mosul will eventually fall," he said Monday in an interview with CBS News.

"We're not doing the fighting ourselves, but when we provide training, when we provide special forces who are backing them up, when we are gaining intelligence … what we've seen is we can continually tighten the noose," he added...

Actually, no.

We're not going to tighten the noose unless the U.S. commits to a substantially larger U.S. ground presence, and that's not likely to happen under this administration, and it might not happen under the next one.

But continue reading.

The Inherent Fallacy of Believing We Can Beat the Islamic State Without U.S. Ground Troops

From Kori Schake, at Foreign Policy, "No one — not Obama, Clinton, Trump, or Cruz — will dare to admit the obvious: We’re going to need to put boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria":

On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama authorized the deployment of 217 more troops to Iraq, as part of the fight against the Islamic State. As Secretary of Defense Ash Carter explained: “This will put Americans closer to the action.” Washington will also send Apache helicopters to Iraqi forces and pay $415 million in salaries for Kurdish troops and other “military needs” in the runup to retaking Mosul.

If you think this counts as getting tough in the fight against radical jihadis who have unsettled the Middle East and brought violence to the heart of Europe, you’re deluding yourself. Obama’s strategy for fighting the Islamic State is half-measures, at best: contributing U.S. military force at the margins of efforts by those most directly affected with loss of territory. The president prides himself on a minimalist approach, doing just about as much for Iraqi forces or the Syrian rebels as they could do for themselves. It amounts to an argument that he is preventing the moral hazard of other countries relying on the United States for their security. But that approach treats as costless two very important elements in fighting the Islamic State: confidence and time.

One of the emptiest canards in warfare is “there is no military solution.” Unless you fight to complete extermination, war always involves convincing your adversary to stop fighting. That is, to cede their political goals rather than continue using military force to attain them. Usually, that requires doing some fighting. Of course, adversaries tend not to give up if they think they’re winning or could win — which is why soldiers like the Powell Doctrine of committing large forces in order to demonstrate your political will to win.

It’s also why Obama’s incremental commitment of small numbers of troops — 300 advisors here, a specialized targeting team there — is so ineffective. It conveys the limits of Washington’s willingness to fight. The Islamic State, Bashar al-Assad, Vladimir Putin, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei all understand those limits and are acting accordingly. America’s allies get the message now, too, especially after the president wrote off Iraq and fought the war in Afghanistan halfheartedly. They will not step forward and commit the ground troops necessitated by Obama’s approach because they lack the confidence that Washington will see this difficult fight through...

A great piece.

Keep reading.

Unbearable Grief in Iraqi Village of Asriya

Now this does seem pretty senseless, but then again, it's not.

Islam is just death. Death all around, wanton, and without remorse.

From Liz Sly, at WaPo, "‘It was a children’s soccer game. Of course he knew he was going to kill children...’":

The suicide bomber who blew up a youth soccer match late last month left barely a dent in the hard, dry earth, and only a faint scorch on a concrete wall nearby.

But he gouged a chasm of grief in the heart of the small community that lost more than two dozen of its sons in a single moment, at 6:15 on the evening of March 25.

A total of 43 people died in the bombing at the game, according to figures provided by the local government. Of those, 29 were boys younger than 17 who had either been participating in the match or watching their friends play.

The bomber also was a teenager, no more than 15 or 16 years old, judging by the picture of him released by the Islamic State, which asserted responsibility for the bombing, and the accounts of those who saw him at the match. The militants’ statement said the target was a gathering of members of the Shiite paramilitary group known as Hashd al-Shaabi, and the local government said two members of a militia were among the adults who died.

Yet that hardly explains the horror of an attack that inevitably would kill children.

The bomber “was a child, and he came to kill children,” said Mohammed al-Juhaishi, one of the sheiks from the area, who lost five relatives in the blast. “It was a children’s soccer game. Of course he knew he was going to kill children.”

For the boys of the impoverished, mixed Sunni-Shiite village of Asriya, 40 miles south of Baghdad in the area the U.S. military called the Triangle of Death, soccer is not a pastime. It is a passion and a purpose, offering the dream of escape from the grim monotony of life in one of Iraq’s more neglected communities.

One such boy was Mohaned Khazaal, age 10, who lived for the sake of Real Madrid, his favorite team, and his idol, the team’s star forward, Cristiano Ronaldo, said his brother, Ahmed, who is 12. Mohaned hoped one day to play for Iraq, and perhaps even
Real Madrid, said Ahmed, who dreamed of playing for Barcelona and often got into fights with his brother over which of the rival teams was better.

They also both played for a local team, which did not qualify for the final of the youth league tournament. But they attended the match nonetheless, along with an older brother, Farouq, 20, and almost all of the other boys living in the soccer-crazed community.

The final took place between a team called Ahli and a team called Salam, which means peace. The venue was a dusty field in the middle of the village, unmarked except for the goal post at either end. Local officials watched from plastic chairs on a small podium erected at one edge of the field. The spectators, most of them boys, stood around the perimeter of the field.

Hardly anyone seemed to notice that one of the boys watching the game was wearing a thick jacket on a warm spring evening while all the other boys were dressed in T-shirts. Anmar al-Janabi, 12, who was standing near the oddly dressed boy, said he did notice, although he did not think to say anything to the adults at the match.

“He was a little tall with long hair, and he looked different. He was wearing a thick jacket, and it was hot,” Anmar recalled. “He spoke to us. He said, ‘It’s a good game, isn’t it?’ ”

When the match ended, the boy in the jacket joined the scramble of boys converging at the podium to watch the awarding of the trophy and the medals, said Anmar, who attended the match with his 13-year-old brother, Bilal, and a group of friends.

“Then he blew himself up, and I felt a fire hit my face,” Anmar said. “And then I ran away.”

More at that top link.

This is one of the most deeply disturbing stories I have ever reported. I knew it was bad but I had no idea how bad. https://t.co/Jgg59jq9Yy

— Liz Sly (@LizSly) April 8, 2016

Just stepping onto the soccer field & seeing this memorial to the boys who died was overwhelming. pic.twitter.com/2Vg7f43UDv

— Liz Sly (@LizSly) April 8, 2016

This was the trophy that was to be given to the winning team when the bomb went off. The team was called Peace pic.twitter.com/rP5u1tKqAt

— Liz Sly (@LizSly) April 8, 2016

Karrar Idani,13, who died in the soccer bomb. His Dad arrived too late to give him the goalie gloves above the photo pic.twitter.com/mCoZwlAHfx

— Liz Sly (@LizSly) April 8, 2016

And this is Mohaned Khazaal, 10, the youngest victim of the soccer bomb. He dreamed of playing for @realmadrid pic.twitter.com/Hu5BipE4Py

— Liz Sly (@LizSly) April 8, 2016

This is Ahmed,12. His brother Mohaned died beside him. He's nicknamed @Neymarjr because he looks like his Barca hero pic.twitter.com/U3RlyetT9g

— Liz Sly (@LizSly) April 8, 2016

This photo of Walid,16, is on the wall of his parents' home. He failed exams because he was always playing soccer pic.twitter.com/sKiqLnEBvz

— Liz Sly (@LizSly) April 8, 2016

This is Abdullah Najah Nouri. I don't know his age. We didn't have time to meet all 29 families of the dead boys pic.twitter.com/y3tQCgQg0Z

— Liz Sly (@LizSly) April 8, 2016

This is Ahmed Khudair al-Shujairi, another of the 29 boys who died in the soccer game suicide bomb in Asriya pic.twitter.com/T9GYWAV9P8

— Liz Sly (@LizSly) April 8, 2016

Crushing story by @LizSly on the soccer game in Iraq where 43 people died in a suicide bombing, including 29 teens https://t.co/NlXdlkJl3S

— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) April 8, 2016