Barack Obama, Syria, and the Exertion of American Military Power

David Jervis

doi:10.17951/teka.2017.12.1.41

Abstract

This article reviews American policy toward Syria since the onset of its civil war there. It concentrates on debates and decisions about the use of American military power to influence events there. Before 2014, President Barack Obama consistently refused to use military power and, while he did initiate military action against the Islamic State in the summer of 2014, many in and out of the administration thought he should do more. This article identifies reasons for Obama’s hesitance and argues that some of his pre-2014 fears about using military power have been realized in later years.

Highlights

This article reviews American policy toward Syria since the onset of its civil war there. It concentrates on debates and decisions about the use of American military power to influence events there
This article identifies reasons for Obama’s hesitance and argues that some of his pre-2014 fears about using military power have been realized in later years
Wicked problems rarely have a right answer; part of what makes them wicked is that every option appears worse than the next.’[1]. A central question for the Obama administration over the course of the war has been whether the United States should employ the military option in Syria as a means to influence events there

Summary

Slippery Slope

A perennial American fear is that the initial exertion of military force will be followed by others and eventually large numbers of combat troops will be sent, as happened in Vietnam. Obama had often cited his concern about ‘mission creep’ or of a ‘slippery slope’ as a reason to avoid the use of American force Those concerns were obviously overcome with the September 2014 decision to initiate military action against ISIS. Fifty commandos arrived in Syria, itself, in December 2015 Their mission was to embed themselves with Syrian opposition groups to gather intelligence, order air strikes, and plan logistics.[49]. Even with these actions, the U.S has taken only a few steps on the slippery slope to sending large numbers of combat troops. “New York Times” (7 October 2014) available at www.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/opinion/will-syria-be-obamas-vietnam.html (accessed on 29 August 2014). Because no one in the West contemplates such an effort, ‘we’re not going to solve the problem,’ so the best the U.S can do is to try to contain the Islamic State and not defeat it.[51]

Risks of Relying on Irregular Local Forces

Weapons Going to The Wrong Hands

Findings

Conclusions