How far are we from sending our soldiers in to the battlefield in Iraq again? It is a question which comes to the mind of every American. First, we admitted we had no business to be in Iraq. We should not have entangled ourselves in a war that was never ours, we said. And we said we will withdraw all our troops and will expect Iraqis to manage their affairs.

We were really tired of “a stupid involvement”. We were equally tired of the prolonged and unyielding struggle in Afghanistan. And we realized we were losing American lives for a failing cause. We said that the civilian government in Afghanistan must take care of the security aspect of the nation and that US soldiers will be withdrawn by the end of 2014. However, we seem to have all wrong stars on our side. We are back in action in Iraq, with one more nation added-Syria. This time, the threat is from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). ISIS has challenged American might and the US has accepted the challenge.

Obama said the other day that the ISIS terrorists must know what we did to Al Qaeda. They must know they will not get safe haven anywhere in the world. They must know we will find them and deal with them. The US and its allies have vowed to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the ISIS, the terrorist organization that now calls itself Islamic State. The US has got an endorsement from 40 countries for its campaign of air strikes and what it promises as a “comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy.”

What is also obvious is that other countries have shown reluctance to commit their military resources to the operation, and thus boots on the ground are going to be a problem even in Iraq, let alone Syria, where their writ does not run. President Obama’s top military adviser, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate that he would recommend deploying troops to serve as ground forces providing tactical and targeting advice if the current air strikes were not sufficient to vanquish the militant group, the Islamic State.

But, a day later, on September 17, President Obama promised a military audience in Tampa, Florida that he would not send troops into combat in the campaign against Islamic militants in Iraq, an attempt by the White House sought to dispel growing confusion over exactly what role American soldiers are going to play on the battlefield in the unfolding operation.