Obama appears tone deaf in wake of Paris massacre

President Barack Obama is unwavering in his belief that the administration’s strategy for defeating Islamic State will ultimately succeed. But Obama’s insistence Monday that progress is being made in the battle was certainly untimely given the reality of Friday’s massacre in Paris of innocents by Islamic terrorists.

The president’s statement also rings hollow in the wake of the crash of a Russian passenger jet that President Vladimir Putin conceded was destroyed by a bomb. Islamic State (IS) – also known as ISIS or ISIL – has claimed responsibility for that act of terror. All 224 people on board died.

Then, there was last week’s twin suicide bombings in Beruit, Lebanon, that killed 43 people and wounded 200. And, there was a suicide blast and roadside bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, that targeted Shiites and claimed 26 lives.

In the Paris massacre, three groups of Islamic militants operating under the aegis of IS conducted gun-and- suicide attacks across the city. The death toll reached 129 people, while 352 were injured.

French President Francois Hollande issued an unequivocal declaration of war against IS, and wasted no time in ordering France’s air force to step up its bombing campaign against the Islamic jihadists’ strongholds in Syria, especially Raqqa. The Russians and the U.S. coalition forces also have been conducting bombing raids on IS’ territory.

But with France and most of the international community mourning the loss of lives and bracing for further terrorist attacks around the world, President Obama would have been well advised to weigh his words carefully.

“Even as we grieve with our French friends … we can’t lose sight that there has been progress made,” the president said, during a news conference at the G20 summit in Turkey.

Obama contended that U.S. airstrikes against IS were showing positive results and that his administration was working closely with nations in the Middle East and Europe in a coordinated effort against the terrorist organization.

“There will be an intensification of the strategy that we’ve put forward, but the strategy that we’ve put forward is the strategy that ultimately is going to work,” Obama said. “But as I’ve said from the start, it’s going to take time.”

Boots on the ground

The president is right: Fighting IS is not the same as conducting a traditional war against an enemy nation, and that putting a large number of American boots on the ground is not in our best interest.

“It is not just my view, but the view of my closest military and civilian advisers, that that would be a mistake,” he said. “What we’ve seen before [is] if you do not have local populations that are committed to inclusive governance and who are pushing back against ideological extremes, that they [terrorist groups] resurface.”

The president is also on the mark when he says that having enemies who are not afraid to die makes the battle all the more difficult and challenging. In Paris, some of the terrorists who perpetrated the massacre blew themselves up when French security forces moved in.

It is this commitment to the spread of jihadist ideology that makes IS so dangerous and such a formidable foe.

That said, Obama gave critics of his strategy another reason to lambaste him and his administration when he insisted that progress is being made in the fight against IS.

Rather than trying to put a positive spin on things, Obama should have lent his support for French President Hollande’s declaration of war against the Islamic terrorists. And, the president of the United States should have issued a stern warning of his own: If IS terrorists cause blood to be spilled in America, the response will be swift and deadly.

Indeed, after the Paris massacre, Islamic militants said that Washington, D.C., would be one of their next targets.

The goal of Islamic State and other extremists groups is to return the Middle East to the Dark Ages with an extreme version of Shariah law governing every aspect of people’s lives.

For this reason, countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan and even Iran must do more than pay lip service to the war against IS. They should be committing their troops for the ground battle that needs to be waged.

Unfortunately, as the crises in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown, that’s easier said than done. Dying for the cause of freedom isn’t a concept that is widely embraced.