Encouraging news:
Dispatching a major U.S. ground force against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq would be a serious mistake and lead the nation into an unsustainable strategy requiring a long-term occupation in the region, President Barack Obama said.
Obama called the Islamic State terror organization "the face of evil" and insisted the U.S. and its allies are shrinking its hold in Syria and Iraq even as the extremist group has demonstrated its ability to spread terror beyond the region.
And:
Ground troops would be a mistake, he said, according to the opinion of his military advisers. The US military could easily march into Mosul, Raqqa or Ramadi but that would only be a temporary solution.
“If the US sent 50,000 troops into Syria, what would happen if an attack originated in Yemen or Libya?”
That’s excellent framing. With Jeb! Bush declaring that our response to an act of terrorism should be to declare war, Obama is making clear that playing the mission accomplished game isn’t a valid response. It doesn’t achieve any real ends. As Jeb!’s brother so disastrously demonstrated.