We’re either at war or we’re not. if what we’re doing doesn’t have a specific end goal then the strategy is one of endless expense. It’s cheaper in the long run to shorten the war.
So with that said there are many ways to defeat ISIS without spending more money.
stop using $100,000 missiles to blow up individual trucks that may or may not be high value ISIS targets.
catch them out in the open moving from city to city and wipe them out with more conventional weapons.
put boots on the ground who can effectively leverage regional troops using air power.
The problem has always been, what constitutes the end of the war? What goals would have to be met for us to say, “Our mission has been achieved, we can go home now.” How long should we play whack-a-mole trying stamp out ISIS? Are we going bomb the shit out of Syria and go home, expecting ISIS will not reconstitute itself after we leave? The problem with taking territory from the enemy is, you have continue to hold that territory with an occupying force. Our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan should have taught us it is unlikely we can train local forces to hold off ISIS, and our coalition partners don’t want to get bogged down any more than we do. So when is enough, enough?
“Boots on the ground” would just increase the risk to Americans abroad and at home. We’d get Americans dying every month – far more Americans than ISIS could ever kill with terrorist attacks (it’s much easier to kill soldiers in your back yard than civilians on the other side of the planet). Further, it would just continue the cycle – chaos and conflict in the Middle East, America steps in militarily, the conflict and chaos might abate temporarily but comes back later with a vengeance and increased animosity towards the US. If we stay out entirely (so yes, the President is wrong to keep us involved, just a lot less wrong than the warmongers who want a ground war) then maybe the cycle can be broken, and the region will be forced to clean up its own mess.
I think we can defeat ISIS by treating Muslims with dignity and respect in Western countries and not giving into Islamophobia. When we stop having people protest the construction of mosques, when we stop harassing and intimidating people because they “look Muslim”, when Muslims feel truly welcome in western countries, ISIS will have nothing to recruit with. Anti-Muslim fear is the oxygen the ISIS needs, deny that and you dramatically reduce the threat.
Really? They would have “nothing” to recruit with? NOTHING??? I don’t know how we can measure these things , but I’d be surprised if our mistreatment of Muslims accounts for 10% of Da-esh’s recruiting power. Da-esh is primarily a regional problem, spawned by regional geopolitical imbalances and draws mainly on regional recruits. We don’t eliminate Da-esh by being nice to American muslims. The best we can do, as iiiandyiiii suggest is to stay out of the fight, and not give them a reason to attack us.
Pay them bonuses for promptness, and give them free rein to work their magic. We might even pay them off in land-carved out of the new Syrian state. I bet we could end this war in a few months.
I guess if you are really generous with your definition of “regional” that is true, but recruits are coming from 80 countries so that sounds like more than just the Middle East.
“Mainly” as in most of the recruits. But I probably should have said MENA, not just the ME. Your cite says 250 out of 30,000 came from the US, so I’m not seeing how our being nice to Muslim Americans is going to stop the other 29,750 recruits, assuming all those from America decide not to go if everyone treats them nice.
That is not to say we shouldn’t treat American Muslims nice. Of course we should. But that isn’t going to stop Da-esh from recruiting.
Being nice to Muslims is not just to reduce the number of Muslims in the US from traveling to Syria to join ISIS. It is to deprive ISIS of headlines depicting how cruel America is to Muslims to use in their propaganda recruiting jihadists from around the world. Surly you have heard how ISIS is very savvy with media to radicalize Muslims around the world against America. Setting fire to mosques here is a media bonanza for their recruiting worldwide, not just in America.
Let’s back up a minute. The claim was that if treated Muslims properly in Western Countries, then Da-esh would “have nothing to recruit with”. Are you agreeing with that? If not, what is your position?
And let’s say that’s a huge part of the problem. Just how do you propose we accomplish the goal of “treating Muslims with dignity and respect in Western countries and not giving into Islamophobia”? It’s a pipe dream, and essentially means we’ve already lost.
Oh, please. The list of grievances that radical terrorist organizations have that lead them to violence doesn’t even have room for “lookit all those rednecks who protested in front of the Texas mosque armed with AR-15s!”
The real motivating factors for terrorists is somewhere in the mash of: Israel exists/the U.S. is involved in the Middle East/the Saudi royal family doesn’t agree with us/Shiites, Alawites, Kurds, or some other group have too much power and we want some/we’re bothered by people who call themselves Muslims who don’t believe what we believe/killing civilians is an easy way to reach fame and glory/someone else is to blame for my life not turning out better.
I’m pretty sure Donald Trump’s racist speeches have nothing to do with the power ISIL currently has.
I think that to the extent the US treatment of Muslims is used as a recruiting tool, that cat’s already out of the bag, mostly. Da-esh isn’t showing videos of those rednecks in Texas-- they’re showing videos of Abu Gahareb (sp?) and past injustices during the two long wars we’ve been fighting-- one in Iraq/Syria and one in Afghanistan. Prisoners with bags on their heads being tortured, wedding parties being bombed… those sorts of things.
You have a different value of “bonanza” than I do. Convincing three hundred Muslim Americans, out of 3 million, to join ISIL is concerning, but is closer to “pathetic” than it is to “bonanza.”
On a related note: do you want to buy a ticket to my Super Mega Lotto Big Cash Huge Dollar Reward Extravaganza? The ultra mega top prize bonanza is $12.
No, let’s not back up at all. You said being nice to Muslims in the US wouldn’t prevent foreign Muslims from being recruited. I addressed that. If you want to argue about the “treating Muslims with dignity and respect…” quote, I suggest you take it up with whoever said it. Which was not me.
Well, if you want to play this silly game, then why don’t you tell us exactly how many foreign fighters have been recruited because the US isn’t nice to American Muslims.
