NATO: From Defense to Offense
All America and much of the world had already heard President Barrack Obama’s pledge to not send U.S. combat units back into Iraq where up to 160,000 U.S. troops were engaged in combat during the Iraq War of 2003-2011. But to be sure we got the message, he said it again in his September 10 address to the nation on how he plans to deal with the jihadists known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. While announcing the dispatch of an additional 475 U.S. military personnel to Iraq — bringing the total to about 1,600, the president emphasized his pledge.
“As I have said before, these American forces will not have a combat mission — we will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq,” he said. “But they are needed to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces with training, intelligence and equipment.”
But during the debate that followed over whether the effort to, in the president’s words, “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State can succeed without U.S. ground forces, what went largely overlooked was Obama’s plan to commit American “boots on the ground” elsewhere. American troops will soon be in Estonia. And Latvia. And Lithuania. In a speech that received considerably less attention, Obama, in the Estonian capital Tallinn on September 3, spoke of plans for a new NATO readiness force to facilitate potential military interventions in the Baltic nations.
JBS Member or ShopJBS.org Customer?
Sign in with your ShopJBS.org account username and password or use that login to subscribe.
Subscribe Now
- 24 Issues Per Year
- Digital Edition Access
- Exclusive Subscriber Content
- Audio provided for all articles
- Unlimited access to past issues
- Cancel anytime.
- Renews automatically
Subscribe Now
- 24 Issues Per Year
- Print edition delivery (USA)
*Available Outside USA - Digital Edition Access
- Exclusive Subscriber Content
- Audio provided for all articles
- Unlimited access to past issues
- Cancel anytime.
- Renews automatically