It’s no small irony that President Obama, who had hoped to earn his Nobel Peace Prize after the fact by ending America’s wars, will speak to the nation tonight about his plans to escalate one.
At first, Obama dismissed the Islamic State as the “JV team” of terrorism. Now, he vows to “degrade and destroy” this rampaging army of Sunni fanatics. Tonight, he’ll explain why he’s decided that crushing the Islamic State “caliphate” is essential to U.S. security and how he intends to do it.
But that’s not enough. Tomorrow, Sept. 11, marks the 13th year of America’s confrontation with Islamist extremism. Our country needs a long-term strategy for victory in this longest of wars. Six years into his presidency, however, the president has yet to devise one. Instead of steeling Americans for the struggles that lie ahead, he’s assured them that “the tide of war is receding.”
This has turned out to be an illusion. Americans can’t end wars unilaterally—our enemies get a say, too. And though it’s difficult for him, the president also should admit tonight to having made another big mistake. This was to assume that smashing al Qaeda—presumably the jihadists’ Varsity team—would close the book on the “war on terror.” By focusing narrowly on “the group that attacked us on 9/11,” the United States could settle accounts with al Qaeda without fanning the flames of Islamist extremism.
Continue reading at the Hill.
