By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--October 8, 2014
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U.S.-led air strikes on Wednesday pushed Islamic State fighters back to the edges of the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani, which they had appeared set to seize after a three-week assault, Kurdish officials in the town said. The town has become the focus of international attention since the Islamists' advance drove 180,000 of the area's mostly Kurdish inhabitants to flee into adjoining Turkey, which has infuriated its own restive Kurdish minority by refusing to intervene. Islamic State hoisted its black flag on the eastern edge of the town on Monday but, since then, air strikes by a U.S.-led coalition that includes Gulf states opposed to Islamic State have redoubled.
The Syrian Kurds are trapped between the President’s refusal to act beyond cursory bombing and neighboring Turkey’s cynical realpolitik. In northern Syria and across the Middle East, the Kurds are secular, mostly Sunni Muslims and staunch friends of America. The U.S. needs to protect and strengthen these allies to defeat Islamist terror and restore order in the region. As for Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ’s government is letting its distrust of Kurdish intentions cloud its moral and strategic interests. Turkey refuses to let weapons and supplies cross into Kobani to reach the Syrian Kurdish YPG, or People’s Protection Committees. Ankara suspects them of links to the banned Turkish Kurdish terrorist group, the PKK. Though Turkey’s parliament last week voted to support the Obama campaign, its formidable military sits on the border, watching the ISIS onslaught.The bottom line is the same it's always been. We can't win this war without fighting it for real, and that means boots on the ground and full-scale combat engagement. In no way do I want to minimize what the means for the troops who are asked to put their lives on the line. It's the greatest of all sacrifices we put them in a position to make. But the simple fact remains: If you're not going to fight to win, don't fight. Obama is trying to half-# this thing, and ISIS knows it. That's why they're on the march into Kobani and other towns will be next until we get serious about what we say we're committed to doing.
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Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain
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