Libya

The Pentagon is drawing up plans for a large scale air assault on ISIS forces in Libya based on faulty and overestimated intelligence reports. Top Washington officials and analysts warn against military escalation in Libya, saying that it is based on overblown estimates of the Islamic State’s strength and would in fact add more fuel to the jihadists’ fire. They say it is reminiscent of the disastrous decision to invade Iraq in 2003 which was based on faulty intelligence. That decision consequently led to the birth of ISIS in the Middle East and its expansion into north Africa.

Britain says it has sent troops to Tunisia to help stop ISIS from crossing the border from neighboring Libya.

A small number of UK military advisers are secretly operating in Libya along with US special troops. The ‘low key’ operation is apparently to build an army to fight ISIS militants in the conflict-ravaged country. Analysts with close connections to Western governments also revealed that “low level training” of rebels has recently taken place.

Submitted by Joao Peixe via OilPrice.com,

The Islamic State (ISIS) is taking on recruits faster than anyone can keep up with, and it’s heading towards Libya’s oil crescent, eyeing billions of barrels that a country at war with itself cannot protect - even with U.S. air strikes.

Presidents have more latitude in foreign affairs than in domestic policy, and the trend over the past two administrations has been for presidents to be more hawkish than their campaign pledges led voters to expect. George W. Bush promised a “humble foreign policy.” Instead, he gave us the Iraq War. Barack Obama was elected in part to end Bush’s wars. But he too pursued regime change, with Pyrrhic success in Libya and abortively in Syria.