It looks like that recent report from Real Clear Defense was prophetic.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Obama will require the military to get his personal approval for US air strikes in Syria.
Here’s an excerpt via Hot Air:
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, officials said.The requirements for strikes in Syria against the extremist group Islamic State will be far more stringent than those targeting it in Iraq, at least at first. U.S. officials say it is an attempt to limit the threat the U.S. could be dragged more deeply into the Syrian civil war…Throughout President Obama’s time in office, the White House has kept close control of counterterrorism targeting, reserving the right to sign off on strikes against al Qaeda and other militant targets in Yemen, Pakistan and elsewhere.Defense officials said that the strikes in Syria are more likely to look like a targeted counterterrorism campaign than a classic military campaign, in which a combatant commander picks targets within the parameters set by the commander in chief.
Charles Krauthammer calls this “scary stuff.” Via National Review:
“Lyndon Johnson, who had a lot more experience, was also the one who directed air strikes in the north of Korea” during the Vietnam War, Krauthammer reminded his fellow panelists on Friday’s Special Report, “and there was universal agreement that it was a catastrophe. And Obama, with zero experience, having now gone against his secretary of defense and generals on Iraq and on Syria — to a disastrous effect — is going to be in charge of the air campaign? That’s really scary stuff.”
Here’s the video:
Sean Davis of The Federalist is of a similar mind:
This Parallel Between LBJ’s And Obama’s War Plans Will Terrify YouA controversial new war with no definition of victory, no clear exit strategy, and a naive president who thinks targets should be picked from the Oval Office? What could possibly go wrong?
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