Secretary Carter has a tough job these days.  First, he has to explain our Middle East policy to a very skeptical Congress.     Second, he must say that we're going back to the region by playing word games about "boots on the ground," "combat," etc.  This is from Kevin Sullivan: "As the Obama administration holds to the increasingly dubious claim that U.S. troops are not engaged in combat against the self-proclaimed Islamic State, the Pentagon is withholding details about its wounded that would give key insights into the kind of fight American troops are facing in Iraq. "Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter repeatedly said the U.S. is in the region to ‘combat ISIS' but stopped short of saying the troops themselves are engaged in combat, even after senators repeatedly asked for clarity. Rather, Carter said Wheeler died in...(Read Full Post)