Thirteen years after the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and on the Pentagon, U.S. President Barack Obama has revealed his strategy for fighting the extremist Islamic State (ISIS) Sunni terrorist group. Obama's plan coincided with the release of Apple's iPhone 6. It's hard to decide which created the bigger sensation: Apple's sixth, or Obama's first? Obama was elected so that America wouldn't have to fight any more wars. At least, that was the dream of the 44th president. Ahead of the 2008 presidential elections, it was clear to Obama that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had been failures, traumatic events. His aspiration was to end them as quickly as possible, bring the soldiers home and show the Muslim world that a new age had dawned between it and America. On the way, U.S.-Russian relations also got a "reboot," because then-President George W. Bush had, in the eyes of the world, led the U.S. into undesirable situations everywhere on the globe. When Obama entered the White House in January 2009, he did everything short of singing "Kumbaya." Who was more worthy than he to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? And sooner rather than later. Nearly six years have passed since Obama was voted into the White House and the diseases of the past that forced the vilified Bush to launch military and diplomatic battles have not. Islamic terrorism has new names but not new methods or ideology, and continues to preach to its believers that the only good infidel is a dead one. Even Russia, under President Vladimir Putin, continues to get in America's way everywhere, despite the conciliatory slogans out of Washington. Bush is gone, but the wars and the conflicts are not. They were there before him and continue without him. In the age of Obama, who would have thought? Today, if there are no surprises, Obama is expected to officially present his three-year plan to eventually defeat ISIS. In 2012 Obama promised that al-Qaida had been beaten. That wasn't exactly true. Terrorism metastasizes, and all the cells are still alive and kicking. The battle has not yet begun and the coalition still is not finalized, but even now we can see the major problems facing the administration: Obama intends to use air power alone, and it is still unclear whether he will operate in Syria as well as Iraq. The White House is very concerned about Syria's anti-tank capabilities, but cannot work with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is making cooperation with his forces a condition of letting U.S. planes use his air space. Morally, America can't agree to that. This is the first landmine, but not the last, Washington will have to avoid. How can ISIS be defeated without operating in Syria? Maybe this is why the Washington Post hinted on Tuesday that the president was showing signs that he intended to take action against the group in Syria as well. Putin's Russia, with which the U.S. is in conflict over Ukraine, is also vital to Obama in dealing with Middle Eastern crises, including Syria and Iran -- the latter being a problem in and of itself. Washington and Tehran are arguing about Iran's nuclear program while practically in lockstep on ISIS. It doesn't look good. This whole battle, like every military campaign, is complicated and problematic. History could still change its verdict on both Obama and Bush. Obama wanted so badly to write a modern version of "War and Peace," with Bush in the former role and himself in the latter, but instead he is ending his second term with a new version called "War and War." And yes, Mr. President, there is such a thing as a just war, and this does not mean you have to give back your Nobel Prize for Peace Theory. Maybe "Obama's first war" will be the most successful accord of his presidency. How ironic that would be.
