Roger That: Obama mum about commando force to fight ISIS

The commando force that President Barack Obama is dispatching to Iraq to conduct clandestine raids against the Islamic State group does not fit neatly into a picture of the U.S. military strategy for defeating the extremist army.

Even the name — “specialized expeditionary targeting force” — is a bit of a riddle, according to the Associated Press.

The main point is that the force is intended to ratchet up pressure on the Islamic State by using a small group of special operations troops — possibly fewer than 100 — to more aggressively use intelligence information to include capturing and killing the group's leaders. In theory, this would generate even more and better intelligence, feeding what the military calls a "virtuous cycle" of intelligence-driven air and ground operations.

It will be combat, but on a relatively small scale. Obama remains opposed to major U.S. ground combat in Iraq or Syria. Several weeks ago the administration said it would send up to 50 special operations troops to Syria as trainers and advisers.

***

The Pentagon is trying to avoid getting directly involved in the political drama over GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s call to a ban Muslims from entering the United States, but a spokesman made clear on Tuesday the military considers anti-Muslim rhetoric a threat to national security, according to Politico.com.

“Without wading into politics, anything that tries to bolster the ISIL narrative that the United States is somehow at war with Islam is contrary to our values and contrary to our national security,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters.

“We are partnering right now with Muslim nations,” he said. “We have troops serving that follow the Muslim faith.”

***

A new report from a prominent human rights group has found that ISIS has built a substantial arsenal, including U.S.-made weapons obtained from the Iraqi army and Syrian opposition groups, according to the Cable News Network.

Amnesty International's 44-page report, released late Monday, found that much of ISIS' equipment and munitions comes from stockpiles captured from the U.S.-allied Iraqi military and Syrian rebels.

The findings come as President Barack Obama has recommitted to leaning on regional forces, including the Iraqis, Kurds and Syrian opposition, to try to wipe out ISIS rather than committing significant numbers of U.S. ground troops.

***

Humayun S. M. Khan was a University of Virginia graduate with plans to go to law school when he decided to enlist in the U.S. Army. Khan rose to the rank of captain, ultimately leading an infantry company in Iraq, where he was killed when a suicide bomber attacked his unit, according to the website Vocativ.

Khan was one of 14 American Muslims who died serving the United States in the 10 years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. His family came to the United States from the United Arab Emirates, where Khan was born. Shortly after Donald Trump called for a ban on families like Khan’s coming to the U.S., his father talked to Vocativ about the Republican frontrunner’s comments and how he remembers his son.

“Muslims are American, Muslims are citizens, Muslims participate in the well-being of this country as American citizens,” said Khizr Kahn, who moved to the U.S. in the late 1970s after growing up in Pakistan.

“We are proud American citizens. It’s the values (of this country) that brought us here, not our religion. Trump’s position on these issues do not represent those values,” he said.

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Roger That: Obama mum about commando force to fight ISIS."