Iraq: Out of the desert into Mosul (closed)

[OUTLAW 09]

Carl, your point is valid. Unfortunately most military and policy types are taught to look at problems locally within defined area, or focus on specific groups. It is the weakness in our center of gravity approach to planning where we conveniently ignore the whole and how the pieces interact intentionally and unintentionally. Most countries will exploit emerging opportunities to put their adversaries at a disadvantage. Usually they'll do so below the radar, but Russia just changed its relationship with North Korea and started exercising with the Chinese navy. They also are flying bombers off our coast and challenging our Aircraft.

Any Russian or Chinese support to any actor in the middle east is part of a strategic chess game based on long term strategic interests. Our military on the other hand only sees terrorists and wonder what they can accomplish with air power. Bomb ISIS until it hurts, but please do so in a way that is advantageous to our long term strategic interests.

Bill--amen to the last sentence--extremely accurate comment to strategic long term foreign relations by the Russians and Chinese.

By the way--surprised we have not totally shifted the entire drone fleet to the skies over Iraq---we fully understand how to fight an air war with just armed drones and recon drones as hunter/killer teams since Libya.

IMO the US has not even begun to fully understand the latest Russian and Chinese strategic doctrinal shifts which are a direct challenge to the US in coming years.