Like "shock and awe," but in reverse, a radical Islamic group rolled through huge swaths of Iraq last week and now effectively controls significant portions of the beleaguered country.
The offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) stopped just short of Baghdad, but the stop is likely just a pause, and the rekindled civil war in Iraq threatens to engulf the entire Mideast in the Sunni-Shiite divide that is playing out in Syria and elsewhere.
The rapid advance by ISIS seemingly has caught the Obama administration flat-footed — again. It's also understandably deeply distressing to Americans, especially those who fought there and those who lost loved ones during the war in Iraq, which started in 2003. Presidents George W. Bush and Obama have both been blamed, often along strictly partisan lines, for putting troops in (Bush) and prematurely pulling troops out (Obama).
This domestic debate is important, and will no doubt play out during this year's midterm election and especially in 2016, when a successor to Obama is chosen.
In the meantime, however, an international crisis is unfolding. And, although many Americans would like to retreat from the world, the world keeps finding ways to present grave choices that can have a direct and dire impact on U.S. national security.
Doing nothing may sound preferable, even rational, especially with pressing domestic concerns, a design to diplomatically "pivot" to Asia and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, among other issues. But indecision is a decision in itself, as witnessed with Syria, where extremists filled the void created by Obama's reluctance to back more moderate forces trying to oust President Bashar Assad.
But this does not mean that the administration should rush headlong into using air power, as many in both the United States and Iraq have urged. First, it may be extremely difficult in the absence of actionable intelligence — the kind that is difficult to obtain without "boots on the ground," which Obama has ruled out. Second, any civilian casualties involving Sunnis would inflame that population, whose support is key to driving out ISIS.
To be sure, some Sunnis have abetted ISIS. But it's likely that their tacit acceptance of the militant group is based on opposition to the Iraqi government, which has discriminated against the minority Sunni population. In particular, Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki is widely cited for exacerbating sectarian tensions through his economic, political and military policies.