Most troubling is the implication that the president should keep his intentions about using military force a secret. Whether or not ground troops will go to Iraq is not a minor matter to be decided quietly. If American democracy is working as it should, a major deployment of that sort would be preceded by a public debate on its wisdom, followed by a Congressional vote authorizing or denying it. To keep foreign fighters guessing about whether new troop deployments will occur, you’d need to sometimes order brand new interventions without debate or a vote in Congress. The strategy isn’t viable unless you’re willing to subvert basic democratic norms. Similarly, if the president has no intention of using force, the public and the Congress ought to be told that, so that they can plausibly deploy persuasion or democratic pressure to change an imprudently dovish defense posture.

Interestingly, Rubio has also argued that President Obama should take what amounts to an almost opposite approach. Take his Senate speech on Iraq this week.