Gen. John Allen Carries a Heavy Rucksack in Fight Against the Islamic State by David Ignatius, Washington Post
Gen. John Allen must sometimes feel as if he’s navigating a maze as he organizes the coalition to defeat the Islamic State: Iran is a silent partner in Iraq but a potential adversary in Syria and elsewhere; Turkey and Saudi Arabia are crucial allies but skittish and self-interested ones; the very map of battle is uncertain, as boundaries in the region begin to blur.
When Allen took the job in September, Islamic State fighters had overrun much of Iraq and Syria, and President Obama was worried that Jordan and Saudi Arabia might be next. Allen’s appointment signaled a policy decision by Obama but not yet a strategy. It could be said of Allen’s effort, as Rick Atkinson wrote in “An Army at Dawn” of Allied forces in North Africa in 1942: “Only seers or purblind optimists could guess that these portents foreshadowed victory.” …