Don't go to war with the President we have

There were news reports yesterday that there was going to be an attack by American, Iraqi and Kurdish forces on ISIS in Mosul.  The attack is scheduled for a month or two or three from now: April, May or possibly later.

Please don't.

This is a disaster waiting to happen.  Forget the reasons given for telegraphing our intentions months ahead of time.   They make no logical sense.  

What will happen is that the ISIS forces will have months to prepare, to reinforce, to dig in, to booby trap ... in other words to create a killing field.  And it will get quite a few Iranians, Kurds and Americans killed.

You can be sure that the hard core of the attack will be American troops, probably Marines.

In small numbers without heavy equipment.

Mosul has a population of over a million civilians.  Fighting will be house-to-house.

There will be rules of engagement that will get more of our troops killed .... or prosecuted for war crimes.  Take your pick.

Small enough to insure defeat, big enough to create a media meme.  Like Tet, which was a military disaster for the North Vietnamese.  But transformed by the media into an American military disaster, proof that we were losing.

It can have the effect of destroying American military morale as Viet Nam did.

The Left will say that Conservatives are demanding a forceful military response.  Some are.  People like John McCain - a Republican but not a conservative - have been demanding all kinds of very forceful military action.

But count me among a growing number of people who are not.  "Be careful what you wish for" is wise advice.  We knuckle dragging Neanderthals have seen how well Obama has handled Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, and Afghanistan.  He reset our relations with Russia so well that Putin is swallowing Ukraine and there is now talk of war in Europe.  

His team dithered in a failed attempt to rescue hostages that missed by a few days; perhaps hours. Susan Rice - she who blamed a video for the Benghazi attack - claimed it wasn't Obama's fault.  “It can’t happen any faster than that . . . particularly given the complexity of the risk” she claimed.  Who are you gonna believe, known liar Susan Rice or the Pentagon spokesman who said it took a week from the time they sent a plan to the White House until the rescue attempt was made.

It should be crystal clear by now that Obama likes to micro-manage the military, even to the point of picking the victims of drone strikes.

“He is determined that he will make these decisions about how far and wide these operations will go,” said Thomas E. Donilon, his national security adviser. “His view is that he’s responsible for the position of the United States in the world.” He added, “He’s determined to keep the tether pretty short.”

This is reminiscent of Lyndon Johnson's management of the war in Viet Nam, where he picked the bombing targets.  That did not turn out well.  Wars are not won by politicians, especially politicians taking half-measures.  Compared to Obama, Johnson was W.T. Sherman who said "war is hell."  For Obama, war is icky.  The fastest way to end a war is to lose.  The president who doesn't "love America" (he may not even like America) could lose us another war.

No thanks.  No Mosul attack with Commander in Chief Obama in charge.  Let's pretend to do something but never really do it.  Let General Obama drone on.  Set up Facebook sites calling random terrorists bad names, without naming their religious affiliation.  

If Obama starts feeling belligerent, unleash the hash-tags of war.  Then pray.