These are early days, but the campaign that Barack Obama announced almost exactly a month ago to "degrade and ultimately destroy" Islamic State is not going well. In both Syria and Iraq, is is scoring victories against the West and its Sun-ni Arab allies. The coalition's strategy is beset by contradictions and self-imposed constraints, with two of the worst offenders being the two countries that could do the most to degrade is: America and Turkey. The coalition must rise above these shortcomings, or is will end up being validated in the eyes of could-be jihadists-the very opposite of what the coalition's leaders set out to achieve.
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