Obama has promised that there will be “no boots on the ground,” 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’s a good chance Obama will keep his speech points broad-brush.
“I don’t think he has to get into the specifics at this point,” says Colonel Mansoor. “He’ll want to keep the strategy as general as possible, while outlining its basic contours.”
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, “and possibly conduct raids against IS leadership as well,” he adds.
While Obama may say that he is not committing US “combat” forces to this campaign – that any fighting against IS should be led by local forces – he may also say that the US will “support” these local security forces efforts.
“This gives him wiggle room to then send in, say, US SOF forces in a ‘supporting’ role,” Mansoor says. “You don’t want to tie yourself to a position where you may have to renege and suffer the political blowback.”
