WH Says There’s No Military Solution in Iraq – Meanwhile, US Airstrikes Have Begun In Iraq

Today, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters there was no military solution in Iraq.

None:

“There are no military solutions to the very difficult problems that exist in Iraq now,” Earnest said. “The American people cannot solve this problem for the Iraqi people. The only solution that exists is an Iraqi political solution.”

That’s pretty cut and dry.

Hard to argue with that. No military solutions.

None.

Meanwhile, in Iraq:

Airstrikes on towns in northern Iraq seized by Islamist militants began late Thursday in what Kurdish and Iraqi officials called the first stage of an American-led intervention to blunt the militants’ advance and provide emergency aid to tens of thousands of refugees.

Seems like there might have been at least one military solution.

Kurdish and Iraqi officials attributed the bombing campaign to American forces. An announcement on Kurdish television of what was described as an American intervention prompted street celebrations and horn-honking by residents of towns under seige by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Kurdish officials said the bombings had initially targeted ISIS fighters who had seized two towns, Gwer and Mahmour. A top Iraqi official in Baghdad close to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq said that the Americans had consulted with the Iraqi government Thursday night about starting the campaign, the government had agreed and the bombing had begun.

If this is true, good.

Right now I can’t think of more deserving target in the world than ISIS.