Whose boots on the ground?

After a weekend of round-the-clock news coverage of the terrorist attacks in Paris, I am appalled by the depravity of the terrorists and dismayed by the reaction of politicians and pundits.

We’re seeing some stark contrasts. At the same time the president of France was calling the attack an act of war, Democratic presidential candidates were refusing to use the term “radical Islam.” Sen. Bernie Sanders’ claim that climate change is still the greatest threat to national security was downright bizarre.

A more hopeful sign, which received practically no news coverage, is that Muslim leaders around the world also condemned the Paris attacks.

I hope President Obama resists the pressure to commit American ground troops to the conflict in the Middle East. That would play into the apocalyptic ISIS narrative of a great battle with a Crusader army.

The greater danger is that President Obama has an unfortunate habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. If shamed into sending troops, he is likely to deploy an insufficient force with inadequate support. His aversion to waging war will hamstring our troops with restrictive rules of engagement and political micromanagement. The result will be needless loss of American lives.

More air strikes in Syria won’t solve the problem. ISIS will have to be defeated on the ground, preferably by pissed-off Sunni Muslim soldiers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey. The model for this is the coalition we saw in the Persian Gulf war in 1991-91, minus the massive commitment of American ground forces. The U.S. needs to lead this coalition because nobody else has the military capability to coordinate and support multinational warfare.

Middle Eastern ground forces have limitations on their own, but can be highly effective if they’re backed up by American and NATO air power, technology and support. The role of U.S. and European forces should be to provide close air support, advisers, search and rescue, logistics, special operations and coordinated communication and intelligence.

The Paris attack is motivating the world to undertake what is likely to be a generational campaign to eliminate the threat of radical Islam. Our allies in Europe and the Middle East appear to be willing and ready to join the fight.

All that’s missing is leadership.