“Chronically incapable.”

“Chronically incapable.”  That's Sir Hew Strachan, one of the U.K.'s most respected military advisers, on That One.  More:

Strachan is currently a member of the United Kingdom's Chief of Defence Staff's Strategic Advisory Panel and claims that the 'crazy' mismanagement of the Syrian crisis at the end of the summer was the worst example of the military planning in evidence since 9/11 and that at least President George W. Bush had a plan and stuck to it.

Stern views: Professor Sir Hew Strachan of Oxford University has been sharply critical of the United States, President Obama and Britain's strategic planning since 9/11 in his new book The Direction of War.

'If anything it’s gone backwards instead of forwards, Obama seems to be almost chronically incapable of doing this,' said Strachan.

'Bush may have had totally fanciful political objectives in terms of trying to fight a global War on Terror, which was inherently astrategic, but at least he had a clear sense of what he wanted to do in the world.

'Obama has no sense of what he wants to do in the world,' he said according to the Daily Beast.

Even worse still, Strachan believes that Western indecision over whether or not to launch limited action against President Bashar al-Assad strengthened the Syrian leader and undermined the United States' power and reputation.

'What he’s done in talking about Red Lines in relation to Syria has actually devalued the deterrent effect of American military capability and it seems to me that creates an unstable situation, because if he were act it would surprise everybody,' he said.