They have a saying in grad school.   “If you don’t know where you’re going, any path will do.”  Unfortunately President Obama never took that course.  I have no idea what Obama plans to achieve in Iraq and neither does anyone else, including our friends and enemies.  That is a serious problem.

This is frighteningly similar to how the mess in Vietnam started.  President Johnson responded to an alleged attack on two U.S. destroyers.  That resulted in air strikes over North Vietnam.  At each point there was no strategy for success, just escalation after escalation in response to uncontrollable events.  Then Johnson decided it wasn’t worth it after all, so he tried to just quit.

One has to be glad that Obama did something to save those unfortunate souls trapped on the mountain in Iraq.  Regardless of what else happens, that is a good thing.  However, it is hard to even imagine where we go from here.  This is unlikely to end well.

Ironically Obama himself described the problem.  The following story explains:

http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/09/obama-admits-error-in-libya-denies-same-error-in-iraq/

 “I think we [and] our European partners underestimated the need to come in full force if you’re going to do this,” Obama said about his 2011 campaign to remove Libya’s dictator, Moammar Gadhafi.

Without U.S. forces on the ground to help a new government establish itself, the country is being wrecked by a slow-motion civil war between competing jihadi and tribal groups. 

I don’t know what is more shocking.  That Obama could accurately describe the problem in Libya or that he would be so oblivious regarding the implications for his strategy in Iraq.
TDM