PETRAEUS JOINS "GROUND TROOPS NEEDED" SIDE – AT 11:12 A.M. ET:  Retired General and CIA Director David Petraeus has added his voice to those cautioning that ground troops will be needed to defeat ISIS.  Field Marshal of the United States and Chicago Barack Obama has already ruled out ground troops.  From Newsmax: 

The U.S.-led fight against Islamic State will take years and will need ground forces to succeed, retired General David Petraeus said.

“We’re talking about years, many years in the case of Syria,” Petraeus said today in a presentation to business executives at a Tokyo hotel. “What we’re doing right now is disrupting. We are gradually chipping away at the strength” of Islamic State, he said, adding that gains could not be sustained without ground forces.

“I do believe the Iraqis can be the ground forces that can deal with this over time, but again it will be months and years, not days or weeks,” he added.

A U.S.-led coalition extended a campaign of airstrikes against Islamic State from Iraq to Syria this week after the group seized control of parts of both countries and killed two U.S. journalists and a British aid worker. Obama told the UN General Assembly in a speech this week that extremists targeted by the strikes understand only “the language of force.”

Petraeus, 61, who also served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2011 to 2012 and is now chairman of KKR Global Institute, an investment management firm, compared the situation to attempts to gain control over al-Qaeda forces in western Pakistan. He said it was necessary to avoid any let-up in airstrikes.

“We have seen this elsewhere,” he said. “You have to keep on disrupting. If you let up the pressure, then al-Qaeda senior leadership will come back.”

COMMENT:  Petraeus has said he has confidence in the ultimate abilities of the Iraqi ground forces, but that confidence is not widely shared.  He also cautioned against overestimating ISIS (or ISIL, depending on who you talk to), and that is probably good advice.  They are not supermen. 

If Iraqi ground forces don't measure up, then what?  This administration provides no answer.

But everyone agrees that this fight will go on for years, contradicting Field Marshal Obama's assurance that all wars must end.  There's no God-given requirement that they end.  If we sustain our interest, we'll be militarily involved in the Mideast through several more presidential administrations.

Please note that we've been in Korea for 64 years, and in Europe for about 70, depending on how you measure it.

September 27, 2014