Donald Trump vs Islamic State: First Round Begins
In January, President Donald Trump gave his generals 30 days to come up with a plan to fight the Islamic State (ISIS). Last week, the U.S. military confirmed that it may be responsible for the Mosul airstrike that killed up to 250 civilians which indicate intensified operations against the terror group.
This could only mean that the anti-ISIS blueprint, presented to Trump early this month, is underway. Called Operation Inherent Resolve, it is described as "Obama Plus," which consists of more bombings, more troops and fewer restrictions on commanders by giving them more flexibility as the mission takes place.
"The Obama strategy wasn't failing, but it was slow," former Army officer James F. Jeffrey said, referring to the former president's "no boots on the ground" policy. "This is more — not only more troops, but more willingness to use them. It's a change of maybe 20 percent, but it's an important 20 percent."
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Trump made the defeat of ISIS a major campaign promise, even boasting to knowing more about the terror group than generals do. "I would bomb the h*** out of them," he said back then. "I'd blow up every single inch. There would be nothing left." Now, that commitment seems to be on its way to fulfillment.
The first plan involves removing the Obama-imposed "troop caps" which limited the number of soldiers in Syria to 503. More U.S. military personnel are being deployed in the Middle East without any fanfare: roughly 7,000 in Iraq, almost 1,000 in Syria and another 2,500 in Kuwait.
But Operation Inherent Resolve is not only limited to crushing ISIS. Starting from the Iraq invasion experience, officials are now planning for an open-ended "stabilization operations" to include restoring local governance and public works to war-ravaged areas, which could only mean more American troops.
