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Iraq-Syria solution will need more than bombs and boots

President Obama met with top Pentagon officials Monday but failed to map out in any detail a new military strategy for defeating Islamic State. Real and important decisions remain on how deeply and widely to involve US troops on the ground and how the United States can do a more effective job of training Iraqi and […]

The Christian Science Monitor writes :

President Obama met with top Pentagon officials Monday but failed to map out in any detail a new military strategy for defeating Islamic State. Real and important decisions remain on how deeply and widely to involve US troops on the ground and how the United States can do a more effective job of training Iraqi and Syrian forces to oppose Islamic State (known as IS, ISIL, and ISIS).

But Mr. Obama did do something appropriate and important for a commander in chief: He stepped back to look at the big picture, the deeper questions that must lie behind a decision such as choosing a military strategy. What he saw were two competing visions: IS terrorism and extremism and the values held dear by the US.