U.S. strategy against Islamic State: Iraq first, but not Iraq only, Dempsey says

Anna Mulrine writes for the Christian Science Monitor:

America’s top military officer is pushing back against criticism of President Obama for not having a clear strategy against the Islamic State (IS). Broadly, the stated US goal has been to “degrade and ultimately destroy” IS, the militant group that now controls large swaths of Iraq and Syria. “We have a strategy,” Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday. “But here’s what I can tell you about that strategy: It’s going to change. It’s going to change often.” For now, he said, “The military strategy is Iraq first – but not Iraq only.”

General Dempsey, who made his remarks at the Defense One summit, an annual gathering of senior military and national-security figures in Washington, spoke both about the training of Iraqi national fighters and about the lack of adequate forces in Syria. Indeed, there are not enough troops on the ground in Syria to fight IS, Dempsey said. The additional needed troops will not come from the US military, but rather from the pool of “moderate” fighters that US military forces have committed to training.