#p21 #tlot #tcot #teaparty #union #iww #occupy #ows #p2 The U.S. needs a comprehensive plan for combatting the Islamic State http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-us-needs-a-comprehensive-plan-for-combatting-the-islamic-state/2014/08/14/2618b2f2-23d6-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html THE NEW U.S. military operation in Iraq appears to have been successful thus far in its limited aims. President Obama announced Thursday that the siege of a mountainous area where thousands of members of the Yazidi minority were stranded had been broken, and “we helped save many innocent lives.” U.S. airstrikes also appear to have turned back an Islamic State advance toward the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, and Kurdish forces have received fresh supplies of arms. The U.S. mission nevertheless remains both open-ended and lacking in clear strategic objectives. Mr. Obama said air strikes would continue to defend Irbil and Baghdad, where U.S. personnel are stationed; he also said additional operations not involving combat troops could be undertaken to protect vulnerable populations. But he gave no indication of a broader campaign to reduce the reach of the Islamic State, which now controls a New England-sized territory across Iraq and Syria, including the major city of Mosul, five oil fields and Iraq’s largest dam...