IS threat grows as Obama and Cameron prevaricate

Can 'coalition of the willing' come together to deal with Islamic State? Not if Cameron can help it

Robert Fox

Barack Obama and David Cameron seem united in their indecision about what to do about the Islamic State (formerly Isis) in Syria and Iraq. Their technique to date appears to be to blow hard with the rhetoric and then do the minimum required by public and press opinion.

Obama was advised in straight terms last week by a senior general and his Defence Secretary, Chuck Hagel, that he needed to carry the air war into Syria if there is to be a realistic chance of the advance of IS being checked this summer. Hagel suggested that a deal must be done with Bashar al-Assad’s military regime in Damascus to facilitate a successful operation.

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is a writer on Western defence issues and Italian current affairs. He has worked for the Corriere della Sera in Milan, covered the Falklands invasion for BBC Radio, and worked as defence correspondent for The Daily Telegraph. His books include The Inner Sea: the Mediterranean and its People.