Woodward: Obama’s ISIS ‘Containment’ Strategy Is Not Working

Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” long-time Beltway journalist Bob Woodward acknowledged that despite President Barack Obama having declared his strategy has ISIS “contained” a week ago, it isn’t working.

One the biggest vulnerabilities of the strategy Woodward said was its reliance almost solely on air power. He pointed out that despite a much more extensive bombing campaign in the 1990s Gulf War, then-President George H.W. Bush was still required to initiate a ground invasion.

“I don’t know if you look at this how it’s going to work,” Woodward said. “Go back to the first Gulf War almost 25 years ago, 1991. President Bush Sr. conducted 38 days of bombing of Saddam Hussein’s forces in Kuwait. 100,000 sorties. They still needed a ground war to win. How are you going to get there to some sort of victory. I don’t see it.”

Woodward explained Obama obvious goal was to “contain,” but that is not be good enough according to sources that talk to Woodward.

“He says he’s got a theory here,” Woodward added. “But the theory is containment and containment means in so many ways the status quo. And I think there are lots of military experts and people in the Pentagon who say the status quo is not enough if the goal, at least as articulated by the president and everyone, is to destroy the Islamic State, you don’t do it with a policy of containment.”

(h/t WFB)

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