The midterm test

Monday, June 23, 2014

Washington Post

Midway through his second term, President George W. Bush found himself facing a foreign-policy disaster largely of his own making. Without explicitly acknowledging his miscalculations, Mr. Bush changed course. He replaced his defense secretary and his field commanders.

At the same midpoint of his second term, President Obama faces a similar challenge, and at a news conference Thursday he offered some indications of a similar willingness to rethink.

The immediate challenge for the United States is confounding. Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has put sectarian interests above national goals, so to join him in beating back the terrorist challenge might only widen the country's divide. But even if Mr. Maliki continues to ignore American advice to be more inclusive, an al-Qaida-style "caliphate" stretching from Syria into Iraq would be too dangerous for the United States and its allies. Mr. Obama is trying to square that circle, and the measures he outlined Thursday represent a judicious start.

First, and in some ways most important, Mr. Obama committed the United States to meeting the challenge. "It is in our national interests not to see an all-out civil war inside of Iraq," he said. "We also have an interest in making sure that we don't have a safe haven that continues to grow for . . . extremist jihadist groups."

Second, he ordered military and diplomatic moves to back up his words: increased intelligence operations, more aid to Iraq's military, joint operations centers in Baghdad and northern Iraq and the deployment of as many as 300 military advisers.

Mr. Obama has to take care that his judiciousness isn't overtaken by events, which have repeatedly caught U.S. officials by surprise, and he has to explain to the American people that there will be no safe outcome without U.S. engagement sustained over years, not months. But a strong declaration of American interests is a crucial beginning. Like Mr. Bush, Mr. Obama may be facing a second term very different from the one he had hoped for. History will credit him if he adjusts and responds to dangers he had hoped were in his rear-view mirror.

Editorial on 06/23/2014