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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump Rejected Militarys ISIS Strategy Because It Was Too Similar to Obamas
Trump only wants a new strategy so he can put his brandname on it.
Trump Rejected Militarys ISIS Strategy Because It Was Too Similar to Obamas
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/trump-rejected-isis-plan-because-it-was-similar-to-obamas.html
By Eric Levitz
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Obamas third term? Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
In one of his first acts as commander-in-chief, Donald Trump ordered his top military advisers to conduct a 30-day review of Americas strategy for defeating ISIS.
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Nearly a month later, were still waiting for that news conference.
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But the Daily Beast suggests an alternative answer. The outlet notes that U.S. forces have removed 50 top ISIS leaders from the battlefield since Trump took office down from 80, in the last six months of Obamas tenure. Further, the militants killed on Trumps watch have generally been lower-ranking than those targeted by the previous administration.
These facts dont reflect the inferiority of the Trump administrations anti-ISIS strategy so much as the sufficiency of the strategy it inherited: The military is simply running out of high-value ISIS targets to kill. Under Obama, the U.S. military was effectively wiping out ISISs leadership.
....................... But to the extent that sheer force can solve a problem like ISIS, the Obama administrations approach was working just fine:
Trumps changes to the campaign [against ISIS] so far have been tacticalnamely, giving the military more autonomy to strike, including special operators. But the effectiveness of the current Obama-era strategy of attacking ISIS via local forces together with allies calls into question whether theres a need for more dramatic revision.
Thats presented a dilemma for those working on the Trump anti-ISIS strategy and slowed its public unveiling, U.S. officials tell The Daily Beast. The White House has asked defense officials to come up with new ideas to help brand the Trump campaign as different from its predecessor, according to two U.S. officials and one senior administration official. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive debates............................
Turbineguy
(37,206 posts)worked well for Hitler too.
Coventina
(26,846 posts)What happened to that?!?!?
spanone
(135,632 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,437 posts)Obama, unlike Trump, knew that he was not a trained and experienced military strategist and had the Pentagon come up with a plan. He may have made some minor modifications for political and foreign affairs reasons, but by and large he did what most good executives do, he relied on the experts instead of pretending to be smarter than them.
Initech
(99,912 posts)When he got so much right that they're getting wrong.
Boomerproud
(7,888 posts)Just like his base.