Because that is who this advice is aimed at.
The United States will need combat troops on the ground to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), former President George W. Bush suggested in a new interview
“The president will have to make that determination,” Bush said in an interview published Friday with the Israel Hayom newspaper when asked if ISIS could be defeated without ground troops.
“My position was that you need to have boots on the ground,” he said.
Left politely unsaid there that Boots on the ground is generally considered by most intelligent, or even mildly self-aware, observers to be a prerequisite for successfully prosecuting a war. Certainly it was a prerequisite to George W Bush’s successful prosecution of the GWOT; and anyone taking umbrage at the suggestion that GWB won that war should contemplate that under Bush, Iraq went from torture rooms to election halls. Under Barack Obama Iraq went from election halls to slave auctions and sacrificial altars.
Sorry, but this is a thing that happened. This is a thing that people warned this administration about. But Barack Obama has spent far too much of his life being told that he is a beautiful and unique snowflake, which means that he lacks the mental toolkit necessary to learn from his mistakes. Or even recognize them, sometimes.
(Via Instapundit)
Moe Lane (crosspost)
PS: It’s a very interesting interview, by the way. You should read it. Not least because it’s starting to get to the point where Barack Obama maybe kind of needs to have GWB seen as being more publicly on his side. …And wasn’t that a weird thing to write? True, though.
“boots on the ground” = “you have to occupy territory* to actually win”.
*You know, land – places where people actually are. All of the bombing of Japan and Germany would not have defeated them without the presence of invading armies. Heck, even as weak a power as Italy required an invasion to get it to stop fighting the Allies.
Well, Japan was helped by the threat of total annihilation. But that point is moot, and you’re right, because we have lost the stomach for either.
… under Bush, Iraq went from torture rooms to election halls. Under Barack Obama, Iraq went from election halls to slave auctions and sacrificial altars.
And that, gosh darn it, should be a campaign theme in 2016.
Are you kidding? The RNC should be running ads that have that exact text (over graphic imagery) in every swing district in the country…. Hell, they ought to target any shaky blue districts, too. They won’t do it though.
They won’t do it though.
They won’t do it though. Wouldn’t be gentlemanly. And in the Combine, we all have to get along and know our places.