Photo Credit: Pete Souza/The White House

The Slippery Slope Begins -- New York Times editorial

Is U.S. Policy on Fighting ISIS Already Changing?

A week ago, President Obama stood before the American people and promised that the expanding fight against the Islamic State — a vicious Sunni militant group known as ISIS or ISIL that is terrorizing parts of Iraq and Syria — would not mean a commitment of American ground troops. “As I have said before, these American forces will not have a combat mission,” he said.

On Tuesday, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had a very different message when he testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “If we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I’ll recommend that to the president,” he said, citing a potential attempt to retake the strategic important Iraqi city of Mosul as an example.

There is no way to read this other than as a reversal from the firm commitment Mr. Obama made not to immerse the country in another endless ground war in the Middle East.

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My Comment: The New York Times is now admitting .... albeit reluctantly .... that we are heading towards a return to war in Iraq. Are they now going to admit that their support for President Obama's policy to leave Iraq in 2011 without a residual force was incorrect .... probably not.