Yes, the U.S. has been conducting airstrikes against ISIL for weeks now, but to what end? The New York Times reports, “After six weeks of American airstrikes, the Iraqi government’s forces have scarcely budged the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State from their hold on more than a quarter of the country, in part because many critical Sunni tribes remain on the sidelines.” The report reminded us of this Wall Street Journal tidbit from last week: “The U.S. military campaign against Islamist militants in Syria is being designed to allow President Barack Obama to exert a high degree of personal control, going so far as to require that the military obtain presidential signoff for strikes in Syrian territory.” Granted, the Times was reporting on Iraq and the Journal was making projections about Syria, but do we think Obama’s “high degree of personal control” is going to help or hurt the mission?