IT’S GETTING COMPLICATED. PHOTOGRAPHER: SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

In this article, Eli Lake examines President Obama’s 2015 National Security Strategy and its distance from reality. He calls the White House report “Obama’s Middle East Fantasy”.

The author believes the 2015 strategy should have comprised something like this:

“In my presidency, forces have been unleashed in the Middle East that have disrupted the American-led world order forged in the aftermath of World War II. While it’s possible that an infusion of American troops could deter Sunni and Shiite extremists, I was elected twice with a promise to end wars, and I doubt the American people have the stomach for this kind of commitment. So we are just going to have to accept a less-stable Middle East, where leaders and citizens who share and cherish our values will be under constant threat and in perpetual retreat.”

But instead, the author says,

“the new strategy is a rich stew of feel-good euphemism. As the New York Times reported, the word “lead,” “leadership” or some variation appears nearly 100 times. The word “Islam” is only mentioned twice. There is a lot of “training” and “equipping.” Rest assured, our “efforts” are almost always “comprehensive.””

The author also expresses his own personal experience of speaking to Iraqi people. Almost everyone believed that the US responded too late to Jihadi threat.

“In Iraq, nearly everyone with whom I spoke, from the Kurds to the Shiite commanders, said the U.S. reacted far too late to the jihadi menace and is still doing far too little. In the region, many U.S. partners appear to be getting cold feet. It was reported this week, for example, that the United Arab Emirates suspended its contribution to the war against the Islamic State in December.”

Bloomberg’s columnist rightly points out to the only option for the US which is missing in the White House 2015 National Security Strategy totally:

“For all of the problems posed by significant U.S. ground forces in the Middle East, it is the only option right now if Obama wishes to stop the advance of the Islamic State without aiding the advance of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”