Yesterday Obama gave a rare speech at the Pentagon and basically outlined the strategy for the defeat of ISIS…….he did tell one piece of truth…..this will be a long battle, a generational conflict……and then he presented his outline for victory………

President Obama made a rare visit to the Pentagon yesterday and delivered an update on the mission against ISIS and an outline of US strategy in what Obama stresses will be a long-term fight. The four key points, per the Pentagon conference and the White House, which uses the ISIL acronym for the group:

• More airstrikes. The US is stepping up strikes in Syria as well as Iraq, and Obama says the strikes will “continue to target the oil and gas facilities that fund so much of their operations.”

• More support for those fighting ISIS on the ground. The White House says the US has “ramped up our military assistance to the Syrian opposition” fighting the group, as well as continued to provide the training and support Iraqi government forces and Kurdish fighters need.
• Making full use of US power and counterterrorism expertise. To fight ISIS in ways that include cutting off its funding, the “comprehensive strategy” includes “harnessing all elements of American power across our government—military, intelligence, diplomatic, economic development, and perhaps most importantly, the power of our values,” Obama said yesterday.
• Helping civilians displaced by ISIS. The White House says its strategy includes helping Muslims of all sects forced out of their homes by ISIS, “as well as tens of thousands of Christians and other religious minorities.”

Obama didn’t announce the deployment of any more troops, and he said the strategy recognizes that “no amount of military force will end the terror that is ISIL unless it’s matched by a broader effort, political and economic, that addresses the underlying conditions that have allowed ISIL to gain traction,” ABC reports. “They have filled a void and we have to make sure that, as we push them out, that void is filled.” But so far, filling the “void” has exposed weaknesses in US strategy, the Washington Post reports. ISIS has suffered major setbacks in Syria in recent weeks, but the anti-ISIS offensive has been led by Kurdish forces backed by US airstrikes, and as it moves into Arab-dominated areas, even Syrians firmly opposed to ISIS fear that the Kurds are trying to change the demography of the region, the Post reports.

If you are a regular reader of IST then these tactics are NOTHING new!  This is the strategy the US has pursued since the beginning of this conflict.

Can you now see why I am so critical?

All of this “NEW” strategy is the same strategy that we are pursuing and it is NOT working……and yet we will continue to waste time and money chasing a failed strategy……it is pathetic attempt to make all parties happy……..if we continue down this path then any victory may not necessarily be one for the home team……and then we will really have something to bitch about…….and I can utter the four most beautiful words in the English language……”I TOLD YOU SO!”