ISIS 9-25-2015

25, September 2015                  ISIS

In what has become an all too familiar refrain, American military officials often provide false upbeat assessments of war efforts and belittle reporting that challenges the official narrative. Remember Robert McNamara, the secretary of Defense and General Westmorland who inflated war successes in Vietnam and  Dick Cheney who gushed ‘we have the Taliban on the run’ in Afghanistan or the ‘mother of all grandiose claims’, President George Bush claiming the Iraq War over dressed in battle fatigues? The latest fiasco is Obama’s assessments of the war against the Islamic State.  The American Central Command periodically releases photographs showing buildings being blown up but what is glaringly omitted is the number of civilians being killed which appears to have radicalized the local population. 

Inflated successes have often replaced actual numbers and the report reaching the president’s desk seems to undergo a thorough filtering process to present a misleading rosy scenario.

Gen Lloyd Austin, commander of Centcom, recently presented a most unconvincing assessment of battleground successes before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Senator John McCain called the military’s assessment of progress ”divorced from reality” and described the status quo in Syria as “an abject failure.”

Congress has also failed in its responsibility to issue a formal declaration of war  against the Islamic State. This has resulted in a muddled escalation of the military campaign with no guidance or oversight.