Obama has promised that there will be 鈥渘o boots on the ground,鈥� inspiring one political cartoon, widely circulated in the halls of the Pentagon, showing a US soldier taking off his combat boots and putting on golf shoes before heading to Syria.
There鈥檚 a good chance Obama will keep his speech points broad-brush.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think he has to get into the specifics at this point,鈥� says Colonel Mansoor. 鈥淗e鈥檒l want to keep the strategy as general as possible, while outlining its basic contours.鈥�
This might include the creation of an international and regional coalition, a training-and-equipping effort for local forces, and perhaps bringing in US Special Operations Forces (SOF) to help re-knit the tribal alliances against IS, 鈥渁nd possibly conduct raids against IS leadership as well,鈥� he adds.
While Obama may say that he is not committing US 鈥渃ombat鈥� forces to this campaign 鈥� that any fighting against IS should be led by local forces 鈥� he may also say that the US will 鈥渟upport鈥� these local security forces efforts.
鈥淭his gives him wiggle room to then send in, say, US SOF forces in a 鈥榮upporting鈥� role,鈥� Mansoor says. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to tie yourself to a position where you may have to renege and suffer the political blowback.鈥�
