Critics Of President Obama's Iraq Strategy Are Now Starting To Speak Out

TWO Retired Four-Star Generals Blast Obama For Failing To Use 'Decisive' Force in Iraq With 'Pinprick' Attacks For 'Political Posturing' -- Daily Mail

* Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey laid into Obama on Friday, saying bombing runs against ISIS positions are political posturing

* 'These are political gestures using military power,' he said, lamenting the president's lack of commitment to a full-blown military campaign

* Obama ran for president on a platform of getting US military out of Iraq but began bombing runs Friday morning in the country's northern region

* White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest assured reporters on Friday that a ground-troop incursion is out of the question

* GOP critics are hammering the White House for not being more aggressive

* House Speaker John Boehner said the White House has an 'ongoing absence of a strategy for countering the grave threat ISIS poses'

* Obama underestimated ISIS in January, telling The New Yorker that 'If a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant'



Two retired four-star U.S. Army Generals heaped scorn Friday on President Barack Obama's authorization of targeted airstrikes in northern Iraq, with one war hero calling it a 'political gesture' calculated to provide the impression that the U.S. is 'doing something' about a humanitarian crisis developing there.



'There's a huge tragedy unfolding: 1.5 million refugees, a couple of hundred thousand just in the last few weeks. 50,000 of this minority group stuck on – up in the mountains,' Gen. Garry McCaffrey said on MSNBC.



'But these are political gestures using military power.'



Read more ....



Update #1: Gen. McCaffrey ‘Dismayed’ by U.S. Strategy in Iraq, Calls it ‘Muddled Thinking’ -- Washington Free Beacon

Update #2: As ISIS Militants Exert Their Control, U.S. Pursues a Military Middle Road -- NYT



My Comment: Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey analysis is spot on .... U.S. military strikes in Iraq do not have a strategic coherence that will not make me feel comfortable that ISIS will eventually be defeated. In short .... I cannot help but feel that the main reason for these strikes is political .... to give credit to the White House for giving the appearance of doing something useful.



On a side note .... the New York Times is praising President Obama's military strategy to Counter ISIS .... As ISIS Militants Exert Their Control, U.S. Pursues a Military Middle Road (NYT). But what I would like to know is .... what is a military middle of the road military policy?