If we're just bombing, it probably won't have much impact, like the NATO strikes in the former Yugoslavia didn't have much impact.
Well but 'just bombing' isn't enough for the war hawk wing is the point. They want more. Plus the Bosnian Serbs were genocidal, but they weren't beheading Americans and posting it on YouTube - and threatening more.
The options are:
1. continue Obama policy: drones and bombs + arming friendlies
2. stop bombing + disengage
3. More bombing (including in Syria) + send in the combat troops to Iraq (and maybe even Syria)
Obviously, but there is a big difference between beheading Americans in Iraq and beheading Americans in America/elsewhere.
I'm not by any means suggesting that James Foley should be blamed for his own demise, but I think if you are willingly making the decision to spend time in the Middle East as an American, as Foley did, you ought to do so with the understanding that you are not safe there. I think it's kind of unreasonable to expect the protection of the US government and the US military when you put yourself in that situation for your own reasons. He wasn't a soldier. He wasn't a diplomat. He wasn't acting in service of his country. So I personally would not have been willing to negotiate with terrorists to get him back and I think the White House did the right thing in not doing so.
