ISIS/ISIL IS NOT THE US'S ENEMY. YET WE ATTACK ANYWAY.

Praised for ending wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, now he's going back in. In a sneaky way. For bad reasons. And ever-changing positions. The fact is, the US creates terrorists. We trained Osama Bin Laden before he turned against us. Bush destroyed Iraq and deposed Saddam which helped get ISIL or ISIS started. I'm glad this author is calling Obama and the Pentagon out on it, because most of you look at a beheading and think "Oh, America to the rescue!" When you're really rescuing oil companies' interests in the region and military contractors. Using US soldiers to die for their greed. Yet you'd rather look at a beheading as a reason to attack when so few of us comprehend the complex situation. And to take advantage of our confusion, Obama chooses war, which we praised him for ending. A mis-leader who rarely gets foreign policy right.

Barack Obama Is Fourth President to Put Americans At Risk In Iraq: Let Those Threatened by the Islamic State Fight It

HUFFPO: ISIL's rise is both a geopolitical failure and humanitarian disaster. However, so far the organization threatens the security of other nations, not America. Nor does the president have legal authority, necessary from Congress under the Constitution, to go to war again in Iraq.

Yet President Obama plans to unveil a detailed new war plan on Wednesday. The temptation to act is strong. After all, the Islamic State exists because of prior misbegotten U.S. actions. And the usual Greek Chorus is singing ever more loudly one of its many paeans to war. Just give war another chance.

Originally President Obama defended limited airstrikes "to protect American personnel" involved in "a humanitarian effort" to help Yazidis trapped by ISIL forces. Even then the initial strikes were suspiciously broad -- not on forces attacking U.S. personnel, but on artillery firing on Kurdish forces defending the Kurdish city where U.S. personnel were located. Then the president gave another address promising more attacks if ISIL "attempted to advance further." Since then airstrikes have been used to support more general Iraqi and Kurdish military operations.

The president did insist that he would "not allow the United States to be dragged in fighting another war in Iraq." He later reiterated that commitment, stating that "there's no American military solution to the larger crisis."

However, Pentagon officials referred to ISIL as "the enemy" and in a New York Times interview last month President Obama indicated his willingness to consider joining a refashioned Iraqi government in "pushing back" the group. Now the administration is vowing to "crush" the organization.

There still are well-founded humanitarian desires to help in Iraq and elsewhere. Unfortunately, however, options today are limited. Instead of jumping into another unnecessary and counterproductive war, Washington should step back, temper its ambitions, and place responsibility on regional players with more at stake in the conflicts and greater ability to solve the problems. The third time definitely isn't the charm for war in Iraq.

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