Patrick Cockburn, whose Middle Eastern reporting and analysis I follow closely, has a grim round-up of the recent fighting in Syria and Iraq. His key line: “President Obama’s strategy of containing the Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria is in ruins…” And the problem is that, in our world, the response to such a situation is almost invariable not less, but more. The pressure for escalation in Washington if things continue to go badly in the Middle East will be almost unbearable. Tom “Isis is close to capturing the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, just a short distance from the Turkish border, after a three-week siege in which US air strikes turned out to be ineffective in preventing Isis winning an important victory. “With Isis fighters also making advances into western Baghdad, which may allow them to close the city’s airport with artillery fire, President Obama’s strategy of containing the Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria is in ruins… “Isis forces have also captured Hit in Anbar province and parts of the provincial capital Ramadi. The successful advance of the militants shows that the Iraqi army is little more capable of resisting Isis than when it lost Mosul and Tikrit in June. The ability of Isis to resume offensive operations may also be a sign that the effectiveness of US air power, without highly trained observers on the ground to call in air strikes, is limited when used against well-led forces. A veteran Kurdish leader, Omar Sheikhmous, said that Isis ‘is saying that ‘we can still win victories on the ground’ and the capture of Kobani will give them complete control over territory stretching from Mosul to Aleppo.’”
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 19:00:01 +0000
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