Will the Obama administration’s military intervention in Iraq be “discreet” or “discrete”? That is, does it mean to keep a low profile to avoid offending anti-interventionism at home, or is it simply making a limited show of force? Vice President Joe Biden and other administration big shots used “discrete” to describe the president’s decision to order air strikes against the jihadists in northern Iraq. Yet many Iraqi leaders at first assumed Washington meant “discreet.” They thus assumed Washington would remain committed to Iraq at least until the Islamic State (or Daesh) forces had been flushed out of Mosul, the country’s third largest city.
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