US pivots at the gates of hell

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-090914.html



US pivots at the gates of hell
By Peter Lee
Sep 9, '14

I believe that President Obama tipped his hand as to the basic US strategy for dealing with Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and Syria when he stated that the US goal was to reduce IS to "a manageable problem".

Once the appalling implications of this apparent endorsement of a permanent presence for the transnational, decapitation-happy caliphate sank in, his Vice President Joe Biden was sent out for damage control with the hyperbolic message that the US would pursue IS "to the gates of hell".

Well, truth be told, actually entering the gates of hell and thoroughly sorting out the mess it created in the Middle East is apparently the one thing that the US isn't very eager to do.

One of the ironic things about the current situation is that, as the United States has pinned the "Hitler of the Month" label on a succession of adversaries - Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, Kim Jung-eun, Bashar al-Assad, Vladmir Putin - it seems unwilling and unable to so characterize the most Hitlery of forces to emerge in recent years, the IS Caliphate.

[daschess1987]

1. I believe Mr. Lee is reading too much into that quote.

A "manageable problem" could be dealt with (on our part) behind the scenes, and we aren't the only ones fighting them. The real goal is to get the other forces in the region to destroy IS themselves (with our support).

[bemildred]

2. I do think it's fatuous to want to buy ourselves a moderate opposition at this point.

And they seem to want to do it on the cheap too. So I expect Mr. Lee is right, it's going to continue to be ugly.