XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: drblack@msnbc.com   
      
   Obama is an ordinary punk who would get his ass totally kicked   
   on the street.   
      
   The videotaped killing of kidnapped journalist James Foley   
   prompted President Barack Obama this week to condemn his   
   ruthless executioners — the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham,   
   or ISIS — as “a cancer.”   
      
   Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes went a step further   
   Friday, vowing that the U.S. won’t cower to terrorists.   
      
   “We’ve made very clear time and again that if you come after   
   Americans, we’re going to come after you wherever you are — and   
   that’s what's going to guide our planning in the days to come,”   
   Rhodes told reporters.   
      
   The marauding militant group wants to carve out an Islamic state   
   straddling Syria and Iraq, essentially a jihadist safe haven.   
   Stomping out ISIS now presents a number of options for the Obama   
   administration — each one with its own advantages and potential   
   pitfalls.   
      
   And with at least three other Americans, including freelance   
   journalist Steven Sotloff, still being held hostage by the   
   terror network, the U.S. is under even more pressure to outline   
   an effective battle plan.   
      
   Here are tactics the U.S. is already using or may want to   
   consider in its bid to thwart ISIS, according to counter-   
   terrorism and foreign policy experts, and the pros and cons of   
   pursuing each:   
      
   Continue an airstrike campaign that could include Syria   
      
   Why it could work: This month, the U.S. began a targeted   
   campaign against ISIS in Iraq, focusing mainly on the Mosul Dam,   
   which terrorists have threatened to overrun. The dam is key   
   because it supplies power and water to millions. U.S. Central   
   Command said Friday that 60 of the 93 airstrikes launched have   
   been to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces on the ground as they   
   root out ISIS from the areas around the dam. Officials say the   
   action has been successful.   
      
   To further erode ISIS’s grip in the region, the U.S. could look   
   into similar airstrikes in Syria, where the terror organization   
   grew its ranks amid the civil war that began in 2011. Syria   
   remains a refuge for ISIS members, and intelligence officials   
   say some of its commanders have retreated there during the   
   airstrikes in Iraq. It wasn’t immediately known whether self-   
   appointed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has also fled to   
   Syria.   
      
   Rhodes on Friday didn’t say specifically what new military plans   
   Obama could be presented with, but suggested operations could   
   extend past Iraq.   
      
   “We’re actively considering what’s going to be necessary to deal   
   with [a] threat and not going to be restricted by borders,”   
   Rhodes said.   
      
   Why there are drawbacks: “It’s not as simple as, ‘A-ha, bomb   
   Syria now,’” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow with   
   the national security think tank Foundation for Defense of   
   Democracies. The U.S. would have to decide how it would inform   
   Syria's government and coordinate with its military forces, as   
   the two countries maintain a chilly relationship.   
      
   In addition, the possibility of an air raid killing civilians in   
   Syria, a country already decimated by war, would only bruise the   
   U.S.’s image, Gartenstein-Ross said.   
      
   “In taking a heavier role, we have to make sure we don’t end up   
   doing more harm than good — that we don’t end up killing   
   civilian populations,” he added.   
      
   Continued.   
      
   http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/what-are-obamas-   
   options-stomping-out-isis-iraq-syria-n187136   
      
        
      
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