‘Obama war strategy driven by politics’

A Republican US senator fears that President Barack Obama’s military campaign against ISIL terrorist group is motivated by the upcoming midterm elections.

“I’m very fearful that as we look at the current military strategy, that it is surrounding the November elections and that he won’t have the resolve to follow through with what needs to be done in a sustained effort to destroy ISIS (or ISIL),” Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”

Ayotte said she was “very concerned” that once the elections were over; Obama’s resolve against ISIL would weaken.

“We need to ensure that this isn’t just surrounding what we’re doing now,” she said. “He (Obama) has made clear that this is going to take a sustained effort, and he has to be prepared to have the resolve to engage in that sustained effort to destroy ISIS. Otherwise, we’re going to be in a situation again where we have a safe haven again where attacks can be launched against us.”

Ayotte’s comments come amid estimations by top administration officials that the military campaign to “destroy and degrade” ISIL will take years if not decades.

Last week, Vice President Joe Biden said that the US and its allies were in for a “hell of a long fight” against ISIL, while former secretary of defense Leon Panetta said Sunday that the fight might last up to 30 years.

President Obama has authorized airstrikes on the terrorist group’s positions in Iraq being carried out since August 8.

On September 22, the US and several of its Arab allies– Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, –started conducting airstrikes against ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

AN/HRJ