Jeanette Steele, San Diego Tribune: Mattis: New game plan on ISIS
Remember candidate Donald Trump’s promise to, in his first 30 days, get a new plan out of America’s generals to beat the Islamic State?
It appears that new Defense Secretary James Mattis is preparing to start as early as Friday, when Trump is scheduled to visit the Pentagon.
Some options that could be quickly forwarded: two ideas that former President Barack Obama’s administration developed but never approved, according to CNN.
They include arming Kurdish fighters for the battle to retake Raqqa, the ISIS capital in Syria. Obama didn’t like that idea due to concerns it would alienate Turkey, where the United States needs airbase access.
Another option: sending more U.S. troops into Syria for combat against ISIS fighters. Under Obama, American service members are technically in an adviser role in Iraq and Syria.
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WNU Editor: My big fear is that the U.S. is going to accelerate the war against the Islamic State by unilaterally committing more ground forces to the fight …. in both Iraq and Syria. This is not our fight …. especially in Syria. And while I have confidence that Defense Secretary James Mattis will provide a war plan that will defeat the Islamic State …. it is the political plan that I am worried about. Many players are now involved in this conflict …. and all of them have their own agendas. And while the U.S. and Russia can accomplish a lot by working together in the Middle East …. the regional players are so far apart politically …. exacerbated by their religious and sectarian differences …. that I do not have any confidence that they will be able to reconcile their differences.