Steve Chapman: The U.S. Goes to War Without a Clue, Again

War, it’s
been said, is God’s way of teaching Americans geography. Maybe we
do learn how to locate the countries we invade or bomb on a map.
But recent experience indicates how much we don’t know about those
societies and how slow we are at learning.

The United States is still involved in a 13-year-old war in
Afghanistan, and President Barack Obama has undertaken a new one
against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, just three years after he
withdrew the last of our troops from Iraq. The administration is
also carrying on a drone missile campaign—which looks eerily like
war from the receiving end—in Pakistan and Yemen.

The war on Islamic State is rife with uncertainty, because so
many of its enemies are our enemies, writes Steve Chapman. If we do
damage to it, we are indirectly strengthening the mullahs in
Tehran, al-Qaida and Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. We’re also
bolstering the irresponsible Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad
whose persecution of Sunnis gave rise to the group.

View this article.