Obama’s efforts against ISIS criticized as ‘a PR strategy, not a geopolitical war-fighting strategy’

Six months after Obama promised to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the self- proclaimed Islamic caliphate and while ISIS vows to consolidate its rule, Obama’s plan to deal with this major security crisis is being criticized on both political and military grounds (David J. Lynch, "Obama’s efforts against ISIS criticized as ‘a PR strategy, not a geopolitical war-fighting strategy’", Bloomberg News March 11, 2015).

As the U.S. ponders its next steps, Iran is solidifying its role as the dominant influence on Iraq, joining Shiite militias in a battle for Tikrit, a Sunni-majority city about 100 miles northwest of Baghdad. [...] More than 2,600 air strikes by the U.S., and its European and Arab allies, have killed about 8,500 ISIS warriors and destroyed more than 1,000 tanks and vehicles in Iraq and Syria, according to U.S. Central Command and the administration. The Pentagon estimates current ISIS manpower at 25,000 to 31,000, with about two-thirds of that in Syria. “The military effort is chugging along; there is progress there,” said Kenneth Pollack, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst. [...] Obama’s critics say the president’s method of making decisions is compounding the difficulties of the anti-ISIS effort. [...]  “Decision-making is concentrated in a little clique around the president whose members are without profound political- diplomatic experience of their own,” said Chas Freeman, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. “They’re creatures of the Washington bubble.” That bubble has expanded over the years into a sizable bureaucracy: 

Meanwhile, the threat spreads. Groups pledging allegiance to ISIS have sprouted in Nigeria, Egypt’s Sinai province, Libya, and Afghanistan, where almost 11,000 U.S. troops remain.