ISIS in Retreat in Iraq, Maybe, May Be Moving to Unite With Al Qaeda Components in Syria

Last week President Obama said he wanted an
authorization for the use of military force against ISIS, the
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria,
after all. Up to then the White House argued the U.S.-led
campaign against ISIS in Iraq and in Syria fell under the
authorization for the use of military force against Al Qaeda and
its affiliates passed in September, 2001. The president continues
to maintain he doesn’t need explicit authorization from Congress
for the war against ISIS but since the elections are over he
thought it was a good time to ask for it anyway.

While the U.S.-led coalition is seeing some successes—the Iraqi
army
claims to have critically injured Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the
leader of ISIS, and to have
driven ISIS out of Beiji, a major oil refinery town—it has also
galvanized support for ISIS among the region’s population. More
fighters than ever before are
reportedly going to join ISIS since U.S. airstrikes started.
And now, The Daily Beast
reports, representatives from Al Nusra, the Al Qaeda affiliate
in Syria, ISIS, and the Khorasan group, another Al Qaeda offshoot
few people heard of before it was targeted during U.S. airstrikes
in Syria, are meeting to discuss re-uniting with the aim of driving
more “moderate” U.S.-backed rebels out of Syria, groups whose
members nevertheless
condemned U.S. airstrikes in Syria, and not just because of the
claim that civilians were killed.

After the “thumping” in the 2006 elections, President George W.
Bush announced a surge in Iraq, one that ended up being used in
part to negotiate the eventual end of the Iraq war. After the 2014
elections, President Obama insisted he heard the American people,
following it up a few days later by sending
1,500 more troops to Iraq, who he claims won’t be in combat
roles.