# why can't ISIS be taken out by denying the oilfields? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2014, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241 "2014-11-10T14:43:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/1 "2014-11-10T14:43:47Z")
Surely the locations of all ISIS controlled oil wells are well known and theres not that many of them. Why can’t the US just airstrike them every time someone tries to collect oil. Or even keep drones permanently circling them and Hellfire every time collection is attempted. Supposedly they are not getting much foreign funding so they’d collapse in a few months if the money from oil was cut off. Seems too obvious? What’s missing? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/2 "2014-11-10T14:49:09Z")
Presumably some non-ISIS civilians work in these oilfields and you want to avoid unnecessary civilian deaths. Also, you want to keep to keep the oilfields for use after ISIS is defeated. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/3 "2014-11-10T14:50:44Z")
Has it occurred to anyone that the arms manufacturers and the military will want to keep the conflict going. Without ISIS, they won’t have much to do. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/4 "2014-11-10T15:02:33Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Has it occurred to anyone that the arms manufacturers and the military will want to keep the conflict going. Without ISIS, they won’t have much to do. Correct answer. See E; Salvador and Nicaragua for earlier examples. Not to mention the entire Cold War. And the Emmanuel Goldstein book in Orwell’s “1984”. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/5 "2014-11-10T15:38:47Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Has it occurred to anyone that the arms manufacturers and the military will want to keep the conflict going. Without ISIS, they won’t have much to do. > [@jtur88](#): > > Correct answer. See E; Salvador and Nicaragua for earlier examples. Not to mention the entire Cold War. **Moderator Note** Let’s keep the off-topic political commentary out of this. If you want to propose a conspiracies on the part of the military-industrial complex take it to Great Debates. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/6 "2014-11-10T17:00:54Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Surely the locations of all ISIS controlled oil wells are well known and theres not that many of them. Why can’t the US just airstrike them every time someone tries to collect oil. Or even keep drones permanently circling them and Hellfire every time collection is attempted. > > Supposedly they are not getting much foreign funding so they’d collapse in a few months if the money from oil was cut off. > > Seems too obvious? What’s missing? Do you have a cite that ISIS are getting a significant amount of money from oil wells in the areas they control? This is the first time I have seen any such suggestion. Who would be buying oil from them? I would have assumed that, like most irregular armies on the move (or groups of brigands, and, really, from all I hear, they are more like a particularly large and vicious group of brigands than a regular army), they get most of their ‘income’ from pillaging. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/7 "2014-11-10T17:06:54Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Do you have a cite that ISIS are getting a significant amount of money from oil wells in the areas they control? This is the first time I have seen any such suggestion. Who would be buying oil from them? [How black market in oil funds ISIS](http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/18/business/al-khatteeb-isis-oil-iraq/) ($ 2 millions/day according to the article) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/8 "2014-11-10T17:09:38Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Do you have a cite that ISIS are getting a significant amount of money from oil wells in the areas they control? This is the first time I have seen any such suggestion. Who would be buying oil from them? I would have assumed that, like most irregular armies on the move (or groups of brigands, and, really, from all I hear, they are more like a particularly large and vicious group of brigands than a regular army), they get most of their ‘income’ from pillaging. Zillions of cites. [Struggling to Starve ISIS of Oil Revenue, U.S. Seeks Assistance From Turkey](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/world/middleeast/struggling-to-starve-isis-of-oil-revenue-us-seeks-assistance-from-turkey.html?_r=0) > [@](#): > > The Obama administration is struggling to cut off the millions of dollars in oil revenue that has made the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria one of the wealthiest terror groups in history, but so far has been unable to persuade Turkey, the NATO ally where much of the oil is traded on the black market, to crack down on an extensive sales network. > > Western intelligence officials say they can track the ISIS oil shipments as they move across Iraq and into Turkey’s southern border regions. Despite extensive discussions inside the Pentagon, American forces have so far not attacked the tanker trucks, though a senior administration official said Friday “that remains an option.” [ISIS Makes Up To $3 Million a Day Selling Oil, Say Analysts](http://abcnews.go.com/International/isis-makes-million-day-selling-oil-analysts/story?id=24814359) [Cutting off ISIS’ Cash Flow](http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/iran-at-saban/posts/2014/10/24-lister-cutting-off-isis-jabhat-al-nusra-cash-flow) > [@](#): > > ISIS’ principal source of finance is still derived from its control and sale of oil, which he assessed was still bringing in $1 million a day. Additional funds come from kidnap for ransom, extortion networks, criminal activities, and donations from external individuals, the latter being of least significance in terms of scale. In order to counter this broad base of financial incomes, Cohen explained that U.S. strategy is focused on disrupting ISIS revenue streams, restricting ISIS access to the international financial system, and targeting ISIS leaders, facilitators and supporters with sanctions. [US aims to wipe out Isis funding with air strikes on oil wells in Syria](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/25/analysis-syria-us-air-strikes-oil-wells) > [@](#): > > US central command said 13 air strikes were launched against refineries in the east of the country. They included at least four oil installations and three oil fields around the town of Mayadeen. Also hit were targets near Al Hasakah, Abu Kamail and Deir el-Zour, on the Euphrates river. > > The US said that these “small-scale refineries” provided fuel for Isis’s military operations as well as money to finance “continued attacks throughout Iraq and Syria”. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 14 Islamic state militants were killed in Wednesday’s attacks. Another five people who lived near one of the refineries in Hasakah province also died. The Observatory said that they were probably the wives and children of the militants. > > Washington says the refineries currently produce between 300-500 barrels of refined petroleum a day, generating as much as $2m daily for Isis. The decision to destroy production in Syria – though not in Iraq, where the government in Baghdad has asked the US not to hit oil infrastructure – flows directly from President Barack Obama’s strategic objective to “destroy and degrade” Islamic State. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/9 "2014-11-10T17:44:41Z")
ISIS is not America’s problem. They have done nothing to harm us, and I highly doubt that anything Iraq and Syria gives us in return will be worth the money and lives we will throw away. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/10 "2014-11-10T18:44:16Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > ISIS is not America’s problem. They have done nothing to harm us, and I highly doubt that anything Iraq and Syria gives us in return will be worth the money and lives we will throw away. **Moderator Note** **boffking** , this does not address the question in the OP. This being GQ, let’s keep political opinions out of this. Colibri General Questions Moderator **Moderator Instructions** The above goes for everyone. If you want to discuss policy toward ISIS in general, take it to GD. Further political opinionating may be subject to a warning. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/11 "2014-11-10T20:51:41Z")
Colibri, the OP’s question asks for the motivation of the US government. How can that motivation exclude any political or broad policy considerations? ---
**Author:** ![Ionizer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5daacb/32.png) [@Ionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ionizer)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/12 "2014-11-10T20:57:59Z")
How about a ‘report thread’ for forum change? Will that be satisfactory for mod(s)? Good OP that is being shut-down rather than automatically aligned as per SOP with Board sub-forums, IMHO. Reported for forum change, of course. HTH,\*\* coremelt\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/13 "2014-11-10T22:53:53Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Colibri, the OP’s question asks for the motivation of the US government. How can that motivation exclude any political or broad policy considerations? There is nothing in the OP regarding the motivation of the US government. And bringing in El Salvador and Nicaragua was going far afield of the OP. > [@Ionizer](#): > > How about a ‘report thread’ for forum change? Will that be satisfactory for mod(s)? > > Good OP that is being shut-down rather than automatically aligned as per SOP with Board sub-forums, IMHO. > > Reported for forum change, of course. > > HTH,\*\* coremelt\*\* The posts that I moderated were were way off the main issue of ISIS and oil fields, bringing in conspiracies by the military-industrial complex, other countries entirely, and an opinion about the general significance of ISIS. If you wish to discuss these issues, you are welcome to start another thread in Great Debates. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/14 "2014-11-11T00:54:35Z")
From the OP: > [@](#): > > Why can’t the US just airstrike them How is it possible that any answer that smacks of general policy or political will must be a digression from an analysis of this question? I understand you mission and resolve to minimize political discusion in this forum, but if an OP’s question asks for policy, what’s to be done? If there are historical parallels that illustrate the motive, they are surely admissible. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/15 "2014-11-11T01:37:22Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > From the OP: > > How is it possible that any answer that smacks of general policy or political will must be a digression from an analysis of this question? > > I understand you mission and resolve to minimize political discusion in this forum, but if an OP’s question asks for policy, what’s to be done? If there are historical parallels that illustrate the motive, they are surely admissible. **Moderating** That’s not policy, that’s strategy. And your own post not really relevant even with regard to policy. Further discussion of moderation should be taken to ATMB. If you don’t feel you can contribute to the narrower question posed in the OP without discussing broader issues, there is no requirement for you to continue to post in this thread. As I said, you are welcome to start another thread in Great Debates if you feel you must. But if you continue to disrupt this one you will receive a warning. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-isis-be-taken-out-by-denying-the-oilfields/704241/16 "2014-11-11T22:26:11Z")
Been there, did that. Sep 24, 2014: [US bombs 12 ISIS oil refineries](http://www.businessinsider.com/us-bombs-isis-oil-fields-2014-9). Foreign Policy magazine provides the answer: Attacking refineries is more environmentally friendly than bombing oil fields. (Recall Saddam’s sabotage of Kuwait fields as his army fled.) Moreover, the fields would sustain long term damage and they belong to the Syrian people. Another vulnerable target is ISIS oil tanker trucks. [http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/24/us\_strikes\_isis\_oil\_installations](http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/24/us_strikes_isis_oil_installations) More recent Bloomberg Businessweek article: [http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-14/u-dot-s-dot-air-strikes-cut-isis-oil-production-by-70-percent](http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-14/u-dot-s-dot-air-strikes-cut-isis-oil-production-by-70-percent) Pipelines are another target: > **[US Official: Bombing Oil Pipelines in Syria a 'Viable Option'](https://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/10/23/us-official-bombing-oil-pipelines-syria-viable-option)** > > Critic warns move would be 'foolhardy' and lead to civilian casualties, massive spills and environmental damage