Don’t look now, but Barack Obama is silently escalating the fight against ISIS. Remember all that talk about not having boots on the ground (at least in a combat capacity)? It’s no longer operative:
The U.S. is holding and interrogating an Iraqi man suspected of fighting with ISIS in a growing effort to gather more on-the-ground intelligence about the Islamist terrorist group . . . The detainee, who hasn’t been identified, is at least the second alleged Iraqi ISIS fighter captured and held by the U.S. since coalition airstrikes against ISIS began.
Moreover, the capture is part of an ongoing series of combat operations:
Officials said that the latest Iraqi prisoner is also being interrogated by U.S. authorities after being picked up by a U.S. expeditionary targeting force, which the U.S. military deployed to Iraq late last year to “put even more pressure” on ISIS, according to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.
These operations, combined with the recent air raid against an ISIS camp in Libya, show that Obama may be learning exactly what Carter realized near the end of his presidency — weakness doesn’t work. It’s oft-forgotten that Carter made the first baby steps towards what became the Reagan defense buildup, he did at least attempt an armed rescue of American hostages in Iran, and he authorized the creation of a Rapid Deployment Force to safeguard American interests in the Middle East.
But even a slowly-reforming President Obama is hamstrung by his ideology and past mistakes. Consider our present dilemma — after interrogating this new prisoner, where do we put him? A previous ISIS captive shows the perils of handing over detainees even to close allies:
Nine months ago, U.S. officials handed Umm Sayyaf to Iraqi Kurdish authorities for eventual prosecution. The U.S. said she’d face swift justice, likely for her role in imprisoning a pair of Yazidi women in her home, where they were sexually abused.
The move raised some eyebrows because Umm Sayyaf and her husband had also been holding prisoner a 26-year-old American aid worker named Kayla Mueller. U.S. officials said at the time that even if Umm Sayyaf weren’t prosecuted in connection with Mueller’s death while in ISIS custody, she would still be punished.
But the Kurds still haven’t filed charges against Umm Sayyaf, for Mueller’s death or the abuse of the Yazidi women.
Mark Alsalih, a Sunni lobbyist in Washington and the president of the Iraq Stability and Security Program who has close ties to Iraqi officials, told The Daily Beast that Iraqi Kurdish officials have said it’s up to the Americans what to do with Umm Sayyaf, and they’re waiting for some direction.
For the Kurds, the case against Umm Sayyaf isn’t as simple as prosecuting the ISIS widow for the abuse of the two Yazidis. “The case also involves the death of Kayla Mueller,” Alsalih said.
The result is that both sides, the U.S. and the Kurdish Regional Government, seem to be pointing the finger at the other, unsure of what to do, and uncertain of what the other is willing to do.
If only we had a facility — already built — that could hold high-value detainees not only for interrogation but for detention so long as hostilities last. It’s under-appreciated how much our irrational detainee policies have hamstrung our fight against jihadists, and despite small signs of renewed strength, Obama shows no signs of introducing strategic wisdom or even common sense to our handling of unlawful combatants.