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Gen. Martin Dempsey Leaves a Legacy of Caution

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Gen. Martin Dempsey took a cautious approach to U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Syria. He did not approve of the way Gen. McChrystal expanded U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, and the hasty manner in which the Iraqi army was trained under his predecessors leading to some commanders being appointed who later became members of sectarian death squads. Under his command the U.S. limited its role in Afghanistan and Iraq and handed more responsibility to local forces. Gen. Dunford who succeeded Dempsey as chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff for the U.S. follows the cautious approach set by Dempsey. Dempsey's approach extends to what he believes is an Heisenberg effect in physics where when you you observe or touch something it changes the way it functions and operates. For critics such as Senator McCain, who served in Vietnam as a pilot, if Dempsey did not want to intervene in some country, he could invent the reasons not to get involved. President Obama exceeded the caution exercized by Dempsey, leading to a situation where the U.S. after hasty action under a Republican president seemed to lurch in the opposite direction under his Democratic successor by not taking action where U.S. presence was needed, followed by a corrective course to make up for this.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff 2011-2015

05/06/2015

Grouped Articles

Gen. Martin Dempsey Leaves a Legacy of Caution

Wall Street Journal 05/06/2015

Gen. Dempsey, Gen. Dunford, and U.S. policies in Iraq and Afghanistan

05/05/2015

Gen. Dunford continues Gen. Dempsey's policy of caution in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both officers are concerned about the manner in which the U.S. undertook its missions in Afghanistan and Iraq and are making an effort to correct errors made under the Bush administration. Gen. Dempsey is concerned about the hasty training of the Iraqi army under his predecessors leading to some commanders being accused of heading sectarian death squads. Gen. Dempsey's cautious approach so that some of the mistakes made under a previous administration are not repeated, is exceeded by president Obama who has opted not to act in situations where Dempsey and most of the president's advisors have favored acting.

Grouped Articles

Gen. Martin Dempsey Leaves a Legacy of Caution

Wall Street Journal 05/06/2015

Joseph Dunford, Joint Chiefs Nominee, Known to Maneuver Between Roles

New York Times 05/05/2015

Obama leaves behind a mess in Afghanistan | Asia | DW.COM | 19.01.2017

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U.S. president Obama and handling of Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq- policy failures and corrective course

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Grouped Articles

Obama Acknowledges U.S. Erred in Assessing ISIS

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Iraq and U.S. Find Some Potential Sunni Allies Have Already Been Lost

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Months of Airstrikes Fail to Slow Islamic State in Syria

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The Obama administration's decision to ask Congress for $500 million in June 2014 to aid moderate forces in Syria including the Free Syria Army

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The decision follows gains by the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) extremist Sunni militants over large areas in Sunni parts of Iraq. Sunnis alienated by the Maliki government's policies favoring Shiites have supported Sunni militants. The move comes late in the conflict after the Sunnis are left to fend for themselves in Syria and Iraq, and continues a policy of no active engagement of U.S. airpower in the region- increases aid that is already being sent, and serves the purpose of checking the gains of the ISIS, making no significant change to the situation in the region of a refugee crisis and expanded conflict. The move may be intended also to show a balance of support to Sunni and Shia, as the Obama administration is supporting the Maliki government against ISIS. The same support of moderates with a "no fly zone" could have kept U.S. combat forces out of the region and achieved what was achieved in Libya of freeing the region of the Assad regime, not emboldening Russia's Putin, stood up for America's support for democracy and freedom and condemnation of the use of chemical weapons, been consistent with American public opinion's desire for no large interventions overseas, continued focus on the domestic economy, and not compromised severely the hard won gains of America's military and servicemen in the last decade. So weak has been the Republican response and so partisan the politics, that few Democrats voices have been heard to questions the policies, so that a muddled policy based on the president's inclinations has been allowed to look sensible. It has made the U.S. look weak in Europe and Asia, as Russia and China have been emboldened in each region. Democrats have only to look to Truman in 1947-1950 when Berlin, Greece, South Korea, were not left to fall into chaos with millions of refugees and Russian Communist influence, to see the difference with the current policies, without a knee jerk reaction to the Bush era.

Grouped Articles

Obama's Foreign-Policy Failures Go Far Beyond Iraq

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Syria Is Breeding Western Terrorists, U.S. Warns

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Iraqi soldier tells of desertion as militants attacked refinery: ‘Our officers sold us out’ - The Washington Post

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U.S. Approves More Hellfire Missiles for Iraq

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The Obama doctrine and U.S. foreign policy in 2015-2016

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Grouped Articles

The Incredible Obama Doctrine

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Gen. Martin Dempsey Leaves a Legacy of Caution

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A detailed account of the events in September 2013 involving Obama, Kerry, Hagel, White House and Congressional officials as president Obama reversed policy on Syria

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Inside White House, a Head-Spinning Reversal on Chemical Weapons

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By allowing reckless intervention by Putin's Russia in Syria, and by its policies in the Middle East after the Arab Spring, the Obama administration has starved the hopes of an entire region heavily oriented towards a young demographic for participatory democracy and economic development, leaving it to descend into religious conflict, and then into sectarian conflict.

Grouped Articles

Sunni Militants Drive Iraqi Army Out of Mosul

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Mosul Falls to ISIS, Endangering Iraq’s Democracy

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Nawaf Obaid on the events leading to Saudi turndown of a seat on UN Security Council and changes in Saudi-U.S. relations

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The Obama administration succumbing to pressure from Russia pushed for the British, French and Saudis to give up their effort to include firm language for action against the Assad regime in a Security Council resolution on the use of chemical weapons. For the Saudis, says Obaid, this was more evidence of dysfunction in the working of the Security Council allowing the slaughter in Syria to continue.

Grouped Articles

Saudi Arabia gets forceful on foreign policy - The Washington Post

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Rice Offers a More Modest Strategy for Mideast

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Spillover effects for Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. from the civil war in Syria- Sept-Nov. 2012 and by 2014

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The Syrian civil war is spilling over into Iraq. Iraq is unable to protect its airspace from being used by Iran to ship supplies to the Assad regime, or to prevent Turkey's warplanes from using Iraqi airspace to attack Kurdish separatists. There is also a danger of a Sunni-Shiite conflict being exacerabated by former Sunni insurgents in Iraq joining up with Sunni refugees from Syria. The Maliki government in Iraq is moving closer to Iran as the Syrian civil war escalates and brings Sunnis together against the Assad regime. Turkey is also seeing the effects of a flow of refugees on its border with Syria. The Obama administration has been slow to respond to the rapidly developing situation as it concentrates on a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq with the lack of agreement on a residual U.S. troop presence. This leaves the U.S. less than the minimum leverage that is needed just as the sectarian divisions are worsening, after years of investing resources in the region. With the EU countries focussed on economic problems, and the Obama administration's lack of active support for the Free Syria movement, the broader involvement of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Russia in the region, the situation is likely to lead to an international crisis without U.S. leadership.

Grouped Articles

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New York Times 04/22/2013

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What if the U.S. doesn’t intervene in Syria? - The Washington Post

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Why did Mr. Obama overrule his advisers on Syria? - The Washington Post

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Lessons of Libya

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The use of chemical weapons by the Assad government in Syria and the failure of the U.S. Obama administration's response in Syria

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The western world looks on as chemical weapons are used repeatedly by Syria's Assad government, according to some reports. The lack of leadership from the U.S., France, Britain and Germany. The failure of the Russian government under Putin to separate global geopolitics from the aspirations of the people of Syria for freedom and democracy and the use of artillery and bombing of civilian population.

Grouped Articles

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What if the U.S. doesn’t intervene in Syria? - The Washington Post

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Why did Mr. Obama overrule his advisers on Syria? - The Washington Post

Washington Post 05/09/2013

Two millon displaced Iraqi refugees in the winter of 2014-2015

12/27/2014

Displaced Iraqis in Kurdish areas of Iraq and other parts of the country following the U.S. intervention period and the invasion by Islamic State from Syria. Just as the country was returning to a degree of normalcy after the U.S intervention, actions of the Maliki adminsitration and Islamic State's attack on Mosul lead to a huge wave of refugees and displaced people by the winter of 2014-2015. The inaction of the Obama administration till the fomation of the new Abadi government in Iraq worsened the situation.

Grouped Articles

Iraq faces new crisis as winter descends on millions uprooted by Islamic State - The Washington Post

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Kurdish Forces Declare Victory in Kobani

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Splits in Islamic State Emerge as Its Ranks Expand

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Iraq Inches Toward 3-Way Split

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