The slippery slope of bombing Iraq
(Image credit: Warrick Page/Getty Images)

The American military effort in Iraq — which officially ended years ago — has begun once again, with today's bombing of ISIS artillery equipment near the Kurdish capital of Erbil in northern Iraq. President Obama has tried to limit the scope of this mission — saying that airstrikes may be necessary to protect U.S. personnel in Erbil, and invoking the humanitarian imperatives of aiding the 40,000 Yazidi Iraqis who face slaughter at the hands of the Sunni jihadist group ISIS.

Still, as John Cassidy writes at The New Yorker, it's not clear when and how the U.S. can declare this mission completed.

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Ben Frumin

Ben Frumin is the former editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com.