Barack Obama and the Coalition Against the Islamic State

Can we win a battle as complex as the one that is playing out in Syria and Iraq from the sky? To say that Barack Obama, who this Wednesday was to meet with his generals and advisers at the White House, finds himself under pressure is an understatement. After hundreds of strikes in Iraq, and close to 100 in Syria, the results remain very mixed. The dramatic spectacle of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane, where pesh merga fighters are trying to resist the jihadi, has become the shining symbol of the limitations of airstrikes, which the president, who is against any ground involvement, wanted to make the heart of his response. The American president must also acknowledge that his Turkish ally, who is in no hurry to help the Kurds of Kobane, is missing at the moment — a hard blow now that the White House has continued to stress the support of Muslim countries for its strategy.

The coalition forces have led close to 18 strikes in the area since Sept. 27. This Wednesday, they struck nine targets, six of which are near the besieged Kurdish city, allowing them to destroy some armored vehicles, according to the United States Central Command. These actions could slightly slow the fall of Kobane, but the Pentagon recognized this Wednesday that these strikes will not “save” the city. State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki admitted Tuesday that the situation was “terrifying,” worrying for civilians, but American officials also noted in private that Kobane is not a strategic goal for Washington.

America Is Reduced to Increasing the Pressure on Ankara

On condition of anonymity, several officials stated in the American press that America will not do more, that it will not have a Syrian rebel force on the ground capable of steering and guiding its strikes. Such a contingent, meant to represent a “moderate” alternative between Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the Islamist extremists, is being trained in Saudi Arabia and in Jordan, but will not be ready for months, the administration adds. In the meantime, America is reduced to increasing the pressure on Ankara, where passivity is obviously creating a very strong tension between the two countries. The Turkish army is deployed on the border with Syria but is not moving. “This isn’t how a NATO ally acts when hell is unfolding a stone’s throw” from its border, a frustrated American official told The New York Times. Secretary of State John Kerry intensified his phone calls with his counterpart Davutoglu, and General John Allen, in charge of coordinating the coalition’s effort, is expected in Ankara.

President Erdogan, for his part, is pressing the Americans to attack Bashar al-Assad’s regime in exchange for Turkey’s possible engagement. He asks for a buffer zone — an idea supported by France — protected by American planes in the Syrian sky. “This is not new, Secretary of Defense Hagel and Chief of Staff Dempsey have already raised this issue,” notes Brian Katulis, an expert in residence at the Center for American Progress. He explains that this idea of a buffer zone, while “tactically interesting,” poses “a real strategic problem for the United States to the extent that it presupposes to tackle Bashar al-Assad’s aerial defense, and thus divert the angle of the current campaign,” which is now centered on the Islamic State group. “It would pose a real problem for the unity of the coalition. The Gulf States would undoubtedly be thrilled but we would have a real problem with Baghdad,” said Katulis.* On Wednesday the White House seemed to be definitively ruling out the question of the creation of a buffer zone, saying that that “is not now on the table as a military option that we’re considering.”

Obama’s “Half Measures”

The spectacle of impotence provided by Kobane in any case raises a barrage of harsh criticism against the U.S. president’s “half measures,” and his choice of no ground engagement in Iraq. Republicans are of course very critical, with the coming midterm election. But the virulent attacks also come from the president’s own camp. His former secretary of defense, Leon Panetta, accused him of behaving more like a “professor” than a head of state. Panetta believed that the president did not fight to keep a contingent in Iraq and was wrong to rule out sending special ground troops to Iraq. “I understand his desire to respond to the nation’s war weariness,” he said, but “the lessons of the past must not paralyze” the present action.*

*Editor’s note: Although accurately translated, these quotes could not be verified.