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Time to rethink strategy

U.S. officials should rethink how military assets are being used in the fight against Islamic State terrorists, President Barack Obama said Monday. A first step in being more effective that way will be giving Iraq more powerful anti-tank weapons, the White House revealed.

Really? Iraqi forces need better anti-tank weapons because they have allowed the Islamic State to capture so many armored vehicles. At Ramadi alone, Iraqi forces ran away and left more than 100 U.S.-provided vehicles, including a half-dozen sophisticated M1A1 tanks, for the terrorists.

At this point, a key question is how much of the better weaponry being provided to Iraq will fall into Islamic State hands – strengthening, rather than harming, the terrorist army.

Meanwhile, basic U.S. strategy of relying on Iraqi forces to beat the Islamic State will not change, a White House spokesman said. Even that may have to be re-examined, unless Iraqi forces win some victories against the terrorists – soon.

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