As long as the organization continues to canada goose coats

Obama prefers special ops to combat forces in the war on terrorism

canada goose factory outlet Last week the Defense Department announced a couple of significant appointments: Gen. canadian goose jacket Joseph Votel, head of Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, would become head of United States Central Command, in charge of all military operations canada goose coats on sale in the Middle East. Lt. Gen. Raymond “Tony” Thomas, head of the Joint Special Operations Command (composed of the Army’s Delta Force, Navy SEALs and other “Tier 1” forces) would gain an extra star and replace Votel as overall head of special operations. canada goose factory outlet

canada goose outlet Thomas thus becomes the third Joint Special Operations commander in a row to ascend to lead SOCOM and Votel becomes the latest special ops veteran elevated to a senior command, canada goose uk outlet following the precedent set by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who went from Joint cheap canada goose uk Special Operations Command to director of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff to command in Afghanistan. canada goose outlet

canada goose outlet reviews This may sound like Canada Goose Parka Pentagon inside baseball, but it actually reflects an important trend: the extent to which President Obama depends on Special Operations forces, Canada Goose Outlet especially the joint command, which specializes in direct action missions: kicking down doors and killing or capturing terrorists. Army Special Forces, popularly known as Green Berets, by contrast, specialize in the less sexy mission of working “by, with and through” indigenous forces. No career Green uk canada goose outlet Beret officer has ever been put in charge of SOCOM. canada goose outlet reviews

canada goose outlet new york city Having become president by strongly opposing the Iraq war, Obama cheap Canada Goose is loath to commit ground forces to combat. But it’s a different story with special operations forces. Wherever the president sees a terrorist threat, his preferred solution is to use drones or special ops troops to stage “surgical” strikes against “high level targets.” canada goose outlet new york city

official canada canada goose factory sale goose outlet And how is this strategy working? Thomas told a West Point interviewer last spring that in the war on terrorism “we’re losing across the board.” That’s not because of any lack of valor or skill on the part of the troops Thomas commands. Special operators can eliminate individual terrorist leaders such as Osama bin Laden, but they cannot eliminate the organizations those leaders run. official canada goose canada goose black friday sale outlet

canada goose outlet nyc Since canada goose clearance sale Bin Laden’s death in 2011, the terrorist threat has only gotten worse. Al Qaeda central, in Pakistan, has Canada Goose sale been weakened but its affiliates, in Yemen, buy canada goose jacket Syria and elsewhere are stronger than ever. Meanwhile Islamic State has emerged from the ruins of Al Qaeda in Iraq, whose founder, Abu Musab Zarqawi, was killed by special forces in 2006. Islamic State not only administers a “caliphate” sprawling across the borders of Iraq and Syria, but it is also proliferating from Libya to Afghanistan and inspiring killers from Paris to San Bernardino. canada goose outlet nyc

canada goose outlet online uk What the administration has been missing all along in the fight against Islamic extremists is a comprehensive counterinsurgency plan. canada goose outlet online uk

canada goose outlet store Share quote link canada goose outlet store

canada goose outlet parka History canada goose outlet suggests that terrorist leaders, even ones as notorious as Bin Laden and Zarqawi, are as replaceable as most corporate CEOs. No entrenched insurgency has been defeated simply by getting rid of its chiefs. As long as the organization continues to canada goose coats command the loyalty of a substantial Canada Goose Jackets body of fighters, it will always find a substitute canada goose clearance leader and the new boss may turn out to be even more deadly than his predecessor. canada https://www.canadagoosejacketsoutsale.com goose outlet parka

canada goose outlet toronto factory That doesn’t mean we should stop targeting terrorist leaders. Those missions can keep our enemies off balance Canada Goose Coats On Sale and buy time for other efforts to succeed. The recent decision by the administration to send high end special operators (to whom Defense Secretary Ashton Carter referred as a “specialized expeditionary targeting force”) back to Iraq was a good one. canada goose outlet toronto factory

canada goose outlet shop What the administration has been missing all along in the fight against Islamic extremists is a comprehensive counterinsurgency plan, one that integrates political efforts, diplomacy, information warfare, development canada goose aid and security assistance. Of these, political Canada Goose online operations will ultimately be the decisive factor: Only if Syrian and Iraqi Sunni Muslims have a goal worth fighting for will they rise up against Islamic State. They won’t fight the extremists on our behalf if the alternative is Shiite Muslim tyranny at the hands of Iranian proxies. canada goose outlet shop

canada goose outlet uk sale The best special ops canada goose uk shop forces in the world can’t do it all or do it alone. The glamour of special operators, evident in movies such as “Zero Dark Thirty” and “American Sniper,” seems to have blinded Obama and a lot of other people to this important reality canada goose outlet uk sale.