A Painful Choice

[unhappycamper]

http://watchingamerica.com/WA/2014/09/22/a-painful-choice/

A Painful Choice
Published in Le Temps (Switzerland) on 11 September 2014 by Stéphane Bussard [link to original]
Translated from French by Samantha Nzessi.
Edited by Kyrstie Lane.
Posted on September 22, 2014.

The symbol: A few hours before the 13th-anniversary ceremonies of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Barack Obama has not announced the end of the war against terrorism, as he would have liked to one day. He presented the American people with his strategy for fighting against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

For the Democrat and Nobel Peace Prize winner, who hoped to leave a trace in history as the president who ended the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, this is a significant step. It results from the conclusion that if the jihadis of the Islamic State already represent a serious threat to the Middle East, they could soon strike the U.S.

~snip~

Future American operations, however, present numerous risks. In Syria, besides the danger of intervening in a civil war and playing the game of tyrant Bashar al-Assad, the U.S. Air Force will have a difficult time counting on ground support from a moderate opposition that won’t measure up against the Islamic State.

As for the American public, it will undoubtedly be necessary to prepare: The fight against jihadism could last for years, maybe even for a generation.