The Patriot Post® · Obama Mission Creep — Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya

Mission creep much? The Iraqi military has shown itself unable to push back the Islamic State, so the Pentagon is considering requesting more U.S. troops to touch boots to Iraqi soil to more provide training and support services. In Afghanistan, the Islamic State has established itself, mostly around Tora Bora, and some of the 9,800 U.S. troops in the country have struck out at the group, killing about 100 Islamic State fighters after Barack Obama expanded the mission U.S. troops have in the country. This comes as top Pentagon commanders are advising Obama to further slow his withdrawal from Afghanistan. And currently, the United States is gathering intelligence in preparation to increase its role in Libya, both with bombs and diplomacy, in response to the Islamic State franchise that gained a foothold there.

It’s clear that Obama abandoned his promises that there would be no boots on the ground. Like most politicians, he’s coming around to the idea that we should take the fight to the Islamic State before it grows in power and strikes the American homeland. But maybe America should consider a hands-off approach to diplomacy. “If ISIS keeps expanding into countries the U.S. ‘liberated,’” Hot Air’s Taylor Millard writes, “at what point does America stop repeating its interventionist strategy over and over again, and look at other possible ways? If the U.S. really wants Arab countries to start fighting ISIS, then they should tell them it’s their fight and America won’t be Saudi Arabia or Qatar or UAE’s military force anymore. That might cause the countries to wake up and decide to start fighting for themselves against a terrorist group that needs to be wiped off the face of the planet (just not by the U.S.).” After all, doing nothing might be better than striking nuclear deals with Iran and drawing meaningless red lines in Syria.