http://www.newsmax.com/PrintTemplate.aspx/?nodeid=603097Newsmax
US Struggles to Turn the Tide Against ISIS
Saturday, October 25, 2014 09:50 PM
After more than two months of air strikes, a U.S.-led coalition has prevented the fall of a northern Syrian town to Islamic State jihadists but is still struggling to halt the group's advances on other fronts, experts say.
Since the air war on the ISIS militants began on Aug. 8, the United States and its allies have few concrete successes to point to as the ISIS group has continued to roll ahead in western Iraq and tighten its grip elsewhere.
But U.S. officials insist it is too early to draw conclusions, and that a methodical effort will eventually bear fruit, as Iraqi and Kurdish forces build in strength.
"We're in the first couple of minutes of the ball game," said one senior officer at U.S. Central Command, which oversees the air campaign.
Senior administration officials and military commanders acknowledged in recent days the Iraqi army is months away from any sustained counter-offensive that could roll back ISIS from its strongholds in Iraq's western and northern provinces.
And despite ambitious plans for Iraq's Sunni tribes to join the fight, most of the tribal leaders are sitting on the fence, waiting to see if the new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi will break with the sectarian politics of his predecessor, officials said.
In the Syrian border town of Kobani, U.S. officials are cautiously optimistic that Kurdish fighters, backed by U.S. air raids, have fended off a relentless push by the ISIS militants to seize control of the area.
By keeping the town from falling, at least for the moment, the Americans avoided handing ISIS a potential propaganda coup in a battle that has drawn intense media attention.
But the fight remains a stalemate and the Kurds' desperate appeals for help, and Turkey's cool response, have highlighted the deep divisions that plague the anti-ISIS coalition, experts said.
The U.S. strategy's goals "cannot be realized because the interests of the different partners are diametrically opposed," said French General Vincent Desportes, professor of strategy at Sciences-PO in Paris.
The fragile coalition offers a contrast to the 1991 Gulf War, when the United States was able to forge common ground with Arab and European allies, he said.
"In 1991 something was achieved because the Americans succeeded in aligning with the Gulf States," he told AFP.
Turkey's role has been a constant source of tension. And the United States has underestimated Ankara's determination to avoid any action that would empower the Kurds, analysts say.
At the same time, Turkey and Arab governments are frustrated with Washington's reluctance to directly confront the Syrian regime.
European allies have treaded cautiously as well, signing up for air strikes in Iraq while abstaining from bombing ISIS in Syria.
The goals of the war are still only vaguely defined and coalition members cannot agree on them, said a French official.
"There are a series of political problems that have repercussions for the military plan," said the official, who asked not to be named.
The initial objective of the war effort was to use air strikes to build a "firewall" that would stop the militants' progress, buying the coalition time to rebuild the Iraqi army and eventually launch counter-attacks.
But after more than 630 air raids in Syria and Iraq, ISIS has continued to gain ground, particularly in western Anbar province, and threaten other key fronts in the north.
The scale of the air war has paled compared to the NATO intervention in Libya and some other campaigns, sparking accusations of a half-hearted effort.
Retired Air Force commander David Deptula complained the air campaign is nothing more than a "drizzle" and that only a "thunderstorm" will suffice.
