Fighting With Intelligence

Earlier today, President Obama announced the deployment of 250 special operations troops to Syria to combat ISIS, joining 50 special operations troops already providing support and intelligence to Syrian fighters. Just a week ago, the White House announced the deployment of over 200 special operations troops to Iraq to assist Iraqi and Kurdish forces against ISIS fighters concentrated in northern Iraq.

The U.S. has been engaging in an increasingly successful effort against ISIS in Iraq, and now Syria, using the surgical knife of special ops forces, avoiding civilian casualties whenever possible. Contrast that approach with the war criminal "turn-the-sand-to-glass" or "kill their families" approach to defeating ISIS that's heard from Rethuglican candidates and their followers.  There have been reports in the last few months that ISIS is losing territory and manpower, and is lashing out with the attacks we witnessed recently in Brussels and Paris, trying to inspire radicals in those countries and to provoke the U.S. and its allies into overreaction.  Recently, it's been reported that ISIS has been executing some of its leaders for command "failures" and its soldiers for losing battles. All signs are that ISIS is increasingly faltering and cracking, and that's happening without carpet bombing or tactical nukes, or a massive invasion by U.S. ground troops. Imagine that.