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In this Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014, file photo, Army Lt. Gen. William Mayville, Jr., Director of Operations J3, speaks about the operations in Syria during a news conference at the Pentagon. According to current and former U.S. officials, the Pentagon is grappling with significant intelligence gaps as it bombs Iraq and Syria, and it is operating under less restrictive targeting rules than those President Barack Obama imposed on the CIA drone campaign in Pakistan and Yemen. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

Airstrikes launched in Iraq and Syria amid intelligence gaps

By Ken Dilanian - Associated Press

Illustration by Clement, National Post, Toronto, Canada

HANSON: Bomb or occupy — or neither?

By Victor Davis Hanson

Secretary of State John Kerry, center, and US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, left, listen as President Barack Obama speaks during a bilateral meeting to discuss the Ebola epidemic with Ethiopian President Hailemariam Desalegn, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014 in New York. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) **FILE**

LYONS: A coherent strategy for the Middle East

By James A. Lyons

An Iraqi Christian woman lights candles before a Christmas mass at the Mother Teresa Catholic Church in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec 25, 2013. Militants on Wednesday launched two separate attacks against Christians in Baghdad, killing more than a dozen people, officials said. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani))

Iraqi couple finds courage in a Pope who suffers with them

By Elise Harris - Catholic News Agency

Marine Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, listens March 26, 2012, during a news conference at the Pentagon. (Associated Press)

U.S. pushing for new ‘Sunni Awakening’ in Iraq

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

Illustration on options dealing with the Islamic State by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times

BABBIN: How to play the ISIS card

By Jed Babbin

In this Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014 photo released by the U.S. Air Force, a formation of U.S. Navy F-18E Super Hornets leaves after receiving fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker over northern Iraq, as part of U.S. led coalition airstrikes on the Islamic State group and other targets in Syria. U.S.-led airstrikes targeted Syrian oil installations held by the militant Islamic State group overnight and early Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, killing nearly 20 people as the militants released dozens of detainees in their de facto capital, fearing further raids, activists said. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force, Staff Sgt. Shawn Nickel)

Pentagon: Most of ISIS’ oil refineries in Syria have been destroyed

By Maggie Ybarra - The Washington Times

FILE - This Sept. 14, 2012, file photo shows carry teams at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. moving flag draped transfer cases during the Transfer of Remains Ceremony of the four Americans killed in an attack on a diplomatic outpost and CIA annex Benghazi, Libya. The testimony of nine military officers severely undermines claims by Republican lawmakers that a &#8220;stand-down order&#8221; held back military assets who could have those killed in the attack. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

GALLAGHER: Foreshadowing Benghazi in Iraq in 2004

By Frank Gallagher

Illustration on the persecution of Christians by Islamists in the Middle East by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

ZAKHEM: Christians under siege in the Islamic Middle East

By Sam H. Zakhem

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2014 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. By President Barack Obama&#8217;s own admission, the U.S. bombing campaign against militants in Syria could help President Bashar Assad cling to power. Critics say Obama&#8217;s strategy does little to address the conditions that have allowed the Islamic State group to thrive and could leave Syria a hotbed for extremism. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Obama knew for months of intel community’s concerns about Islamic State

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014, during a House Foreign Affairs committee hearing. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) ** FILE **

Ed Royce: Circumvent Baghdad if necessary to arm Kurds, religious minorities

By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times

Turkish Kurds watch clashes between Syrian Kurdish fighters and militants of the Islamic State close to Turkey-Syria border near Suruc, Turkey, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014. (AP Photo)

U.S.-led airstrikes hit 4 Syrian provinces

By Ryan Lucas - Associated Press

In this Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014 photo, Brandon Bryant, 28, poses for a photo, in Caras Park in Missoula, Mont. Bryant, a former sensor operator, manned the cameras for drone pilots at Air Force bases in Nevada and New Mexico for about five years. Bryant said he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and that he still suffers from insomnia, depression and nightmares three years after he participated in his last mission. (AP Photo/Lido Vizzutti)

Emotional toll taxes military drone operators too

By JULIE WATSON - Associated Press

Casey Stengel (right) won seven World Series titles as manager of the Yankees, but none with the Mets. Bruce Fein compares those losing seasons with the CIA: "The intelligence community's chronic blunders bring to mind Casey Stengel's exasperation with the New York Mets: 'Can't anybody here play this game?' "

FEIN: Intelligence community blunders

By Bruce Fein

Prison records indicate that Alton Nolen, the suspect in the beheading of a coworker at an Oklahoma food processing plant, had spent time in prison and was on probation for assaulting a police officer. (AP Photo/Oklahoma Department of Corrections)

Algeria, Oklahoma beheadings suggest Islamic State reach extends beyond Mideast

By Maggie Ybarra - The Washington Times

Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said the Obama policy on Syria will be nothing like Bush-era war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP Photo)

Obama says administration may have misjudged Islamic State

By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times

Capts. Andrew Glowa, left, and William Piepenbring launch flares from two A-10C Thunderbolt IIs Aug. 18, 2014, over southern Georgia. Both pilots are with the 74th Fighter Squadron, Moody Air Force Base, Ga. Pilots, maintainers and support Airmen ensure Moody AFB’s A-10s stay mission ready for daily training sorties and deployments downrange. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jamal D. Sutter/Released) ** FILE **

U.S. military limits warplanes used for ISIS bombing in Iraq, Syria

By Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times

This image taken from the Parliamentary Recording Unit via Associated Press shows Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, front centre, speaks during a debate to decide on approval for air strikes in Iraq, in the Houses of Parliament, London, Friday, Sept. 26, 2014. David Cameron told lawmakers "there is no more serious issue than asking our armed forces to put themselves in harm's way to protect our country" as he set out the case for British participation in air strikes against Islamic State group militants in Iraq. British lawmakers have voted Friday to join the U.S.-led coalition of nations launching airstrikes on Islamic State group militants in Iraq, committing warplanes to the struggle against the extremists. (AP Photo/Parliamentary Recording Unit via Associated Press) TV OUT

Britain joins fight against Islamic State group

By Danica Kirka - Associated Press

Image: The Economist

White House pans ‘unfair’ The Economist cover with Obama in Bush’s flight suit

By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times