President Obama Decides Against Immediate Airstrikes in Iraq

[fujiyama]

13. Since he backed down on Syria, I've found it difficult to be too critical of his foreign policy

Why? Because sometimes it takes leadership to walk back on rhetoric. I'm glad he didn't follow through on his "red line". The reality is that tough talk need NOT be backed up by military action all the time. And honestly, I don't care if republicans (or conservative Dems) consider this "feckless" or "weak". Most people, including myself are not interested in another conflict.

He was partly elected in '08 for promising to bring troops home from Iraq. He followed through on that. I don't think he's going to break that. This was never our war to fight. And if he decides we have to strike the ISIS terrorists with air strikes (we don't want them forming another Taliban-era Afghanistan where terrorist camps are allowed to operate), I want him to be damn sure they actually have some strategic objectives in place.

I'm feeling comfortable that we can at least rule out sending in ground troops though. That itself is a major relief.