Obama's smart war plan, lousy leadership

By James S. Robbins

Tonight in an address to the nation, President Obama promised a "relentless effort" to wipe out Islamic State terrorists "wherever they exist." The strategy he presented draws on over a decade of American experience in fighting jihadists. But whether the president can execute it is another matter.
 

Obama's war plan contains familiar elements from previous phases of the war on terrorism. The United States will give support to Iraqi ground forces, including air strikes, training and equipment, intelligence support, everything short of boots on the ground. The plan is similar to the opening phase of Operation Enduring Freedom, in which American assistance allowed Afghanistan's Northern Alliance to rout the Taliban regime in two months.

Augmenting Iraq's army with critical capabilities may be effective, but it will be harder to implement the plan in Syria, where friendly ground forces are in short supply. The president rightly ruled out supporting Syrian strongman Bashar al Assad, who is also fighting the Islamic State. Instead the administration is pinning its hopes on developing a "moderate" Syrian opposition, though it will be hard to find anyone in Syria inclined towards moderation after years of brutality and slaughter. The family of murdered American journalist Steven Sotloff claims that he was kidnapped and sold to the terrorists who beheaded him by "so-called moderate rebels that people want our administration to support." This may or may not be true, but it underscores the shifting nature of a conflict in which loyalties are fluid. We can be certain that if the U.S. pumps money and arms to self-described moderate rebel groups, opportunists will proliferate, along with American arms showing up on the black market.

The president plans to assemble a broad-based coalition to fight the Islamic State, and declared "this is American leadership at its best." But it is doubtful Obama will be able to match the 40-country coalition President George W. Bush put together for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Obama is acting without UN sanction or for that matter Congressional authorization, hoping his go-it-alone approach will attract others over time. In the meantime, the Islamic State has been assembling its own international coalition of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, as well as terror organizations in other countries that have pledged loyalty to the Caliphate. Emphasizing the Islamic State's global reach may help convince wavering countries to join in the United States effort, particularly if they are facing current or potential future problems with groups aligned with the Caliphate. And it is worth remembering that fighting the terrorists "wherever they are" may lead right back to the United States.

Obama noted that despite its name, the Islamic State is neither Islamic or a state. He emphasized that most of the victims of terrorism are Muslims, and catalogued the atrocities the terrorists have committed. In contrast to the nihilism of the "Caliphate," he made the case for American values of freedom, justice and dignity. This is a critical aspect of the struggle against the jihadists, the war of ideas.

The Islamic State is another head of the hydra that gave birth to al Qaeda, jihadist radical extremism. The president claimed the terrorists have no vision, but they do. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's Caliphate has become synonymous with beheadings, sexual slavery, shooting helpless prisoners in ditches and wiping out any ethnic or religious minorities who get in their way, all in the name of Islamic radicalism. This is their vision made manifest. President George W. Bush was right when he said the jihadists hate us for our freedoms; perhaps now Obama seems to agree.

Our newly stern president promised to go after the Islamic State wherever they are and to do it for as long as it takes to destroy them. However, he once said he is not a president who starts wars, but ends them. It rang strangely hollow when he declared that American leadership is "the one constant in an uncertain world." The president will have to recalibrate his self image to undertake this conflict successfully. His strategy is mostly sound, but strong leadership is essential for it to have any hope of succeeding. The most important – perhaps the only -- thing that Americans ask of a president who takes them to war is that we win.

James S. Robbins, author of The Real Custer: From Boy General to Tragic Hero, is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors.