Thus The Wall Street Journal today. “President Barack Obama’s secret plan to aid Iraqi troops in their fight against Sunni extremists involved sharing intelligence on the militants’ desert encampments, but the administration devoted only a handful of US specialists to the task,” explains the newspaper. Surprise, surprise. Any military operation of any complexity rests on trust, but Iraqis have all the reasons in the world to distrust America after two wars in three decades. The only mystery in this case is Obama’s ostensible secret plan. Is it possible that he and his advisors do not understand the military at all? Judging by his recent announcement that American troops will not touch the Iraqi soil, this indeed seems to be the case. The best advice to the American president is to shut up and do what needs to be done. In particular, secret plans should be kept secret until the military operations are over. Talking too much is the recipe for distrust.