The problem with America’s “anti-ISIS coalition” is not a matter of poor
planning or a lack of resources. It is not a matter of lacking
leadership or military might. The problem with America’s “anti-ISIS
coalition” is that it never existed in the first place. There is no
US-led war on ISIS, and what’s worse, it appears that the US, through
all of its allies, from across the Persian Gulf to Eastern Europe and
even within Washington itself, are involved in feeding ISIS, not
fighting it.
And
of course, before many of the fighters even reach the battlefield in
Syria, they have spent time training, arming up and staging in Turkey
and Jordan. There has been a lot of talk in Washington, London and
Brussels about establishing safe havens in Syria itself for this army of
rebel-terrorists, but in reality, Turkey and Jordan have served this
purpose since the war began in 2011. All the US and its allies want to
do now is extend these safe havens deeper into Syrian territory.
But before that, a steady stream of
supplies, weapons and fighters have been pouring over the border,
provided by the Persian Gulf monarchies (Saudi Arabia and Qatar in
particular) and with the explicit complicity of the Turkish government.