Joint Chiefs Chairman Dempsey: OK, maybe U.S. 'advisers' will fight on the ground

I wouldn't want to be Martin Dempsey. As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his job is to win military victories. The problem is that his boss, the commander in chief, has an entirely different priority. Barack Obama's priority is to never do anything that proves George W. Bush right or presents political problems for himself.

So when Dempsey tells a Senate committee it might be impossible to avoid the involvement of U.S. ground troops in the war against ISIS, that makes perfectly sound and logical strategic sense. But when he says he will "recommend that to the president," it does not in any way guarantee that the president will take the advice:

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the military's top officer, told a Senate panel Tuesday he will recommend having U.S.advisers fight with Iraqi troops against the militant Islamic State group if the situation requires it. "To be clear, if we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I will recommend that to the president," said Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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U.S. advisers could be called on to get closer to the fight, Dempsey said, if Iraqi security forces undertake a complex operation such as retaking the city of Mosul.

What's really remarkable here is that it's even necessary for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs to state on the record that yes, if we have to get involved in the fighting to win a crucial battle, he will recommend to the president that we do so. Normally if you're getting ready to fight a war, that's simply a given. You'll do whatever is necessary to win, and if there's anything you're considering not doing for whatever reason, you certainly don't publicly telegraph that to the enemy. Not so with Barack Obama, though, who is more interested in assuring the voters that while we might have to be dragged kicking and screaming into this battle, we will under no circumstances do anything that is politically unpopular in order to win it. It should be fun to see how Josh Earnest handles the next media question about what Obama would do in the event such a situation occurs and Dempsey makes the recommendation described above. The usual rule of thumb is that the more Earnest talks, the less he tells you. The goal in this situation will be to tell you nothing, so he might drone on all day.