The U.S. Wades Deeper Into its War on ISIS

It has been a year since ISIS seized the key city of Mosul in northern Iraq, and it shows no sign of giving up. In May, while U.S. and Iraqi commanders were drafting war plans to retake Mosul, ISIS overran Ramadi, 200 miles (322 km) to the south. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, which like ISIS is largely Sunni, and remains a challenge for the majority Shi’ite central government in Baghdad to control.

So President Obama is shifting the focus of U.S. efforts to “degrade and destroy” ISIS from Mosul to Anbar. The Pentagon plans to open a second U.S.-run camp to train Iraqi troops and Sunni tribal fighters at al-Taqqadum. It’s an Iraqi base about 20 miles (32 km) east of Ramadi. Pentagon officials say that could add up to 450 U.S. military advisers to the 3,100 already in Iraq. They’ll be restricted to advising and training Iraqis. None of them, Obama has pledged, will be sent into combat against ISIS.

The U.S. military likes to say that when it comes to war, the enemy gets a vote. That much is clear as Obama responds to ISIS. Unfortunately, his modest changes only highlight the fact that the 10-month U.S.-led effort to defeat the self-declared jihadist state has yet to bear fruit.

–MARK THOMPSON