Obama Must Admit to Failure in Iraq

Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, in
Washington D.C. Tuesday, June 10, 2014.

HAARETZ: With Iraq's future pouring into the hands of either Islamic militants or Iran, the time has come for Obama to admit his foreign policy is utterly flawed.

The leader of the free world didn't look good after his statement to the media on Friday from the White House lawn. With the George H.W. Bush carrier group on its way to the Persian Gulf, U.S. President Barack Obama will soon have over 100 combat aircraft at his disposal around Iraq, including those based in Jordan and the Emirates, and close to 40,000 troops in various bases in the region. If needed, that number could be doubled at short notice. But when Obama admitted that "short term military action, including any assistance we might provide, won't succeed," he wasn't just making excuses.

The new situation in Iraq - where the forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), along with local Sunni militias, have taken control of wide swathes of the country's north-west - symbolizes the total failure of the Obama administration's military strategy over the last five and a half years. Obama is effectively out of military options. » | Anshel Pfeffer | Monday, June 16, 2014