Why Bomb Iraq?

Michael J. Totten has become one of COTTonLINE's favorite foreign affairs columnists. Writing for World Affairs Journal, his usual outlet, Totten lays out why the bombing is happening in Iraq and not Syria:

Cable news reporters have spent all weekend asking one US government official after another why we’re bombing Iraq and not Syria. (snip) It’s real simple. The US is bombing Iraq right now because the psychopaths of the Islamic State (formerly ISIS) are attacking the Kurds.

Iraqi Kurdistan is a friendly, civilized, high-functioning place. It’s the one part of Iraq that actually works and has a bright future ahead of it. Refusing to defend it would be like refusing to defend Poland, Taiwan, or Japan. We have no such obligation toward Syria.

That’s the entire answer. Washington is following the first and oldest rule of foreign policy—reward your friends and punish your enemies.

I wonder what changed? Obama prefers rewarding our enemies and punishing our friends.