On the Paris terrorist attacks

Yes, that’s what the campaign against Islamist extremists is: A failure. Because while successful campaigns result in casualties (though not normally among dozens of innocents in the streets of Europe), they also are on the pathway to “degrading and ultimately destroying” the enemy. And we are not on track to do that by any standard. The White House will claim that the death of Jihadi John and the retaking of Sinjar are somehow signals of the success of its policy. But events in Paris last night are not ISIS thrashing out in its death throes. Far from it.  Read more