In recent White House "debates" over a disastrously deteriorating situation in Iraq, President Obama's top military officials were dragging their feet on the question of what more the U.S. should do. No, they didn't want to put American boots on the ground inside Iraqi army units as spotters for U.S. air power or bring in the Apache attack helicopters, which are "lethal in urban combat but vulnerable to enemy ground fire." Clearly, they weren't ready to swallow the idea of more U.S. casualties in a spreading conflict leading nowhere fast. As one unnamed senior Pentagon official put it, "We have become very sensitized to the idea that we don't want to risk lives and limbs if there isn't a high probability of a payoff." According to Jaffe and Ryan, State Department representatives, in private, proved more eager than Pentagon officials to up the military ante in Iraq – and that's not been everyday fare in Washington.

At a moment when the capital is full of calls for strengthening U.S. forces in that country and many Republican presidential candidates – figures who are ready to back the military until death do us part – are criticizing the Obama administration for not doing enough against the Islamic State, consider this news about a significant change in the mindset of the high command.