On Wednesday, the eve of the thirteenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, President Obama will speak to the American people about his strategy for dealing with the rise of the Islamic State, the would-be caliphate bestriding Iraq and Syria, the most palpable and present threat to the region since Saddam Hussein invaded Iran and, later, Kuwait.

Presidential proxies have been broadcasting the outlines of the intended campaign plan for several days; aggregating the various statements, it appears the goal is to first degrade, then militarily defeat the IS armed forces, and finally destroy the organization politically.  But most of what they’ve been saying involves what they won’t do rather than what they will do, with the critical missing element being any substantial commitment of U.S. ground forces.  American “boots on the ground” are, as Secretary of State John Kerry puts it, a “red line.” Alas, this is one of the last red lines about which the administration retains credibility.