Fortunately for President Obama, the world he described Wednesday as being “at a crossroads between war and peace” started its descent into chaos before the full effect of his dramatic cuts to American defenses could be implemented.

A fact not loss on administration critics and military planners is that at least two key weapons programs cancelled by President Obama to much fanfare have proven central, even vital, to the American-led campaign to “degrade and destroy” the Islamic State and other terror targets inside Syria.

The first night’s assault wave against terror targets in Syria included the firing of at least 47 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the state-of-the-art Aegis class guided missile destroyer USS Arleigh; part of the George H.W. Bush carrier task force.

It was just last March that President Obama ordered the Defense Department to phase out new purchases of Tomahawk cruise missiles, forcing the Navy to…