Jordan's King Abdullah flew home from the U.S. and answered the ISIS murder of Jordan's pilot by executing two ISIS prisoners and mobilizing his army. Reaction was twofold. ISIS announced its forces are withdrawing from northernmost Syria and King Abdullah is leading all Republicans in Iowa. Comedian Argus Hamilton
Charles Krauthammer
"Why did they do it? What did the Islamic State think it could possibly gain by burning alive a captured Jordanian pilot?
"I wouldn’t underestimate the absence of logic, the sheer depraved thrill of a triumphant cult reveling in its barbarism. But I wouldn’t overestimate it either. You don’t overrun much of Syria and Iraq without having deployed keen tactical and strategic reasoning.
. . . The savage execution has mobilized Jordan against the Islamic State and given it solidarity and unity of purpose.
"Yes, for now. But what about six months hence? Solidarity and purpose fade quickly. Think about how post-9/11 American fervor dissipated over the years of inconclusive conflict, yielding the war fatigue of today. Or how the beheading of U.S. journalists galvanized the country against the Islamic State, yet less than five months later, the frustrating nature of that fight is creating divisions at home." . . . Full article here.
But even they are mortified by Obama’s blind pursuit of detente with Tehran, which would make the mullahs hegemonic over the Arab Middle East. Hence the Arabs, the Saudis especially, hold back from any major military commitment to us. Jordan, its hand now forced by its pilot’s murder, may now bravely sally forth on its own. But at great risk and with little chance of ultimate success.
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