Tactical at the Expense of the Strategic
AP Photo, File
Tactical at the Expense of the Strategic
By Daniel L. Davis
October 19, 2016
The primary objective of U.S. foreign policy should be to keep Americans safe and effectively defend our vital national interests. Frequent marketing-like statements made by senior leaders notwithstanding, an examination of our actions abroad confirm that the United States’ foreign policy elite do not hold such a view.
Many pundits and policy-makers declare that it is in the United States’ interests to militarily support armed forces and militias in Iraq and Syria in order to destroy other bad actors and militias, including ISIS. As I have often argued, such a position is not supported by logic or evidence. However, the battle to retake Mosul goes on the ground, the seeds of renewed internal conflict are already spouting among Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish militias. Additionally, as the operation gets underway, there is a major new row developing between Turkey and Iraq.
http://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2016/10/19/tactical_at_the_expense_of_the_strategic_110228.html
