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President Obama told the American public on Wednesday night that he will order significantly expanded military operations against the Islamic State in the Middle East, including more U.S. troops to Iraq and a bombing campaign in Syria. Anti-war voices and progressive critics were thoroughly unimpressed with the announced strategy as they issued warnings of the disaster to come. (Photo: Public domain)  

President Obama delivered a national televised address on Wednesday night and told the American public that he now plans, with or without Congressional approval, to dramatically expand U.S. military operations against the militant faction known as the ‘Islamic State’ (aka ISIS and ISIL) by sending more U.S. combat troops to Iraq and initiating a bombing campaign in neighboring Syria. 

In the fourteen-minute speech, Obama vowed to “degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL,” but progressive and anti-war critics were immediate and scathing in their denouncement of Obama’s plans with many expressing outrage that the president who once vowed to end the era of perpetual war-and was first elected in large part for his criticisms of the Bush Administration’s illegal and ultimately disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003-continues to make such misguided and increasingly reckless foreign policy decisions.

Watch the speech (read it): 

Writing for The Progressive in the wake of Obama’s announcement, Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC challenged the entire premise of the president’s plan by saying, “Escalating military actions against this violent extremist organization is not going to work.”

She continued, “A military strike might bring some immediate satisfaction, but we all know revenge is a bad basis for foreign policy, especially when it has such dangerous consequences.”