How to Fight the Islamic State

[webfact]

How to Fight the Islamic State

By Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Khaosod English

CAMBRIDGE – The Islamic State has captured the world’s attention with gruesome videos of beheadings, wanton destruction of antiquities, and skilled use of social media. It has also captured a large part of eastern Syria and western Iraq, proclaimed a caliphate based in Raqqa, Syria, and attracted foreign jihadists from around the world.

US President Barack Obama says that the Islamic State must be degraded and ultimately defeated. He has appointed General John Allen to lead a coalition of some 60 countries in the task, relying on air strikes, special forces, and training missions. Some critics want him to send more American troops; others say that the United States should settle for a doctrine of containment.

In the current US presidential campaign, some candidates are calling for “boots on the ground.” They are right: boots are needed. But the soldiers who wear them should be Sunni Arabs and Turks, not Americans. And that says a lot about the nature of the triple threat that the US and its allies now face.

The Islamic State is three things: a transnational terrorist group, a proto-state, and a political ideology with religious roots. It grew out of al-Qaeda after the misguided US-led invasion of Iraq; and, like al-Qaeda, it appeals to extremist Sunni Islamists. But it has gone further, by establishing a caliphate, and is now a rival to al-Qaeda. Its possession of territory creates the legitimacy and capacity for offensive jihad, which it wages not only against infidels but also Shia and Sufi Muslims, whom it considers “takfir,” or not true Islamic monotheists.

The Islamic State extols the purity of seventh-century Islam, but it is extremely adept at using twenty-first-century media. Its videos and social-media channels are effective tools for attracting a minority of Muslims – primarily young people from Europe, America, Africa, and Asia – who are struggling with their identity. Disgruntled, many are drawn to “Sheikh Google,” where Islamic State recruiters wait to prey upon them.

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1442852185&section=0200


-- Khaosod English 2015-09-22

[ezzra]

Had Mr Obama did his job when he had to, did not procrastinated, hesitated and turned a blind eye to what is going on

in the Syria, by first arming militias and the free Syrian army to dislodge Assad from power, drawing a line in the sand saying

that he will act decisively if chemical were to used, they have been used several times, and still nothing from Obama,

meanwhile some of the militias fighting Assad has joined the Taliban and other , soldiers of fortune extreme rouge factions

type and you have ISIS,

Assad on his part bombed his own cities and people killing hundreds of thousand, and causing millions to flee to a neighbouring

countries inflecting untold misery and destructions on the region that now resulted in the mass migrations of all those refugees,

I wonder what Mr. Obama narrative to all of this follies of his when he will sit down one day to pen his memoirs....

Edited September 21, 2015 by ezzra

[trogers]

Some genius once suggested dropping tens of thousands of origami paper cranes...

[pitrevie]

Had Mr Obama did his job when he had to, did not procrastinated, hesitated and turned a blind eye to what is going on

in the Syria, by first arming militias and the free Syrian army to dislodge Assad from power, drawing a line in the sand saying

that he will act decisively if chemical were to used, they have been used several times, and still nothing from Obama,

meanwhile some of the militias fighting Assad has joined the Taliban and other , soldiers of fortune extreme rouge factions

type and you have ISIS,

Assad on his part bombed his own cities and people killing hundreds of thousand, and causing millions to flee to a neighbouring

countries inflecting untold misery and destructions on the region that now resulted in the mass migrations of all those refugees,

I wonder what Mr. Obama narrative to all of this follies of his when he will sit down one day to pen his memoirs....

Yes I agree he should have moved on Syria after all American intervention in Iraq has proved such a resounding success with the contagion now spreading to other countries that another adventure is just what we need. Still if some of those GOP candidates get their way we can also add Iran, that should be fun.

[happy Joe]

We are at the dawn of a new US tactical error. Such action will only result to weld a little more Muslims against them and by extension against all the West.

This conflict is not ours. It pits two factions of Islam in a land already destabilized by the American military intervention, coming after the painful rout in Vietnam and also before the same in Afghanistan.

It should be time for this great country to finally learn the lessons of the past ...

[Johpa]

We are at the dawn of a new US tactical error. Such action will only result to weld a little more Muslims against them and by extension against all the West.

This conflict is not ours. It pits two factions of Islam in a land already destabilized by the American military intervention, coming after the painful rout in Vietnam and also before the same in Afghanistan.

It should be time for this great country to finally learn the lessons of the past ...

I agree. The only possible military response would be to react with extreme prejudice, an action the US public, not to mention world opinion, is not yet ready to accept. The non-military action is to accept that there is no god and thus give the Islamic argument no credence.

But the flip side of the argument that this is not our conflict but the conflict between Sunni and Shia is to not get involved in any manner, and that includes not accepting refugees. The Sunni regimes south of Syria on the Arabian Peninsula are quite capable of economically integrating the current crop of refugees into their own societies. But of course King Salam would rather spend his oil money on triflings such as booking the entire Four Seasons hotel in Washington DC while his minions crucify some hapless Saudi teenager.

[canuckamuck]

Had Mr Obama did his job when he had to, did not procrastinated, hesitated and turned a blind eye to what is going on

in the Syria, by first arming militias and the free Syrian army to dislodge Assad from power, drawing a line in the sand saying

that he will act decisively if chemical were to used, they have been used several times, and still nothing from Obama,

meanwhile some of the militias fighting Assad has joined the Taliban and other , soldiers of fortune extreme rouge factions

type and you have ISIS,

Assad on his part bombed his own cities and people killing hundreds of thousand, and causing millions to flee to a neighbouring

countries inflecting untold misery and destructions on the region that now resulted in the mass migrations of all those refugees,

I wonder what Mr. Obama narrative to all of this follies of his when he will sit down one day to pen his memoirs....

I am sure he will be proud of his important role in establishing a caliphate

[Emster23]

Those who join Islamic state do so because they believe they are following God's orders. They do not think they are doing evil, but are following their holy book. This is pounded into heads in so called "schools" where learning is turning into human parrots memorizing Koran.

The root cause that few wish to bring up is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. It is religion. "If you can believe in God, you can believe anything".

[pitrevie]

Had Mr Obama did his job when he had to, did not procrastinated, hesitated and turned a blind eye to what is going on

in the Syria, by first arming militias and the free Syrian army to dislodge Assad from power, drawing a line in the sand saying

that he will act decisively if chemical were to used, they have been used several times, and still nothing from Obama,

meanwhile some of the militias fighting Assad has joined the Taliban and other , soldiers of fortune extreme rouge factions

type and you have ISIS,

Assad on his part bombed his own cities and people killing hundreds of thousand, and causing millions to flee to a neighbouring

countries inflecting untold misery and destructions on the region that now resulted in the mass migrations of all those refugees,

I wonder what Mr. Obama narrative to all of this follies of his when he will sit down one day to pen his memoirs....

I am sure he will be proud of his important role in establishing a caliphate

“Once you got to Iraq and took it over, and took down Saddam Hussein’s government, then what are you going to put in its place? That’s a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq you can easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off. Part of it the Syrians would like to have to the west. Part of eastern Iraq, the Iranians would like to claim, fought over for eight years. In the north you’ve got the Kurds, and if the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey, then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey. It’s a quagmire.”

Mr Cheney as he then was in 1994

I think most people know who is responsible for this quagmire.

[wombat]

every bullet made should have a pig fat process added in the manufacture.

[doctor pat]

these ISIS spend more time fighting other rebel groups than Assad. and kill more muslims than infidels

the only way out would probably be to join Russia and Iran and back Assad, to end the civil war and get the country back under government control but thats a u-turn of embarrising proportions and would never happen

but we are allies with dictatorships as bad or worse than Assad right now

[maidee]

how? put all the men that fled the country on a plane or boat, give them a gun an make them fight for their country, instead of flooding christian europe ?

[gandalf12]

The USA doesnt exactly have a good record on ending conflicts does it? Starting and encouraging them yes it is world class. Maybe they are not the best country to listen to when it comes to subjects like this.

Edited September 22, 2015 by gandalf12

[spidermike007]

PR. Get the word out there that these guys are in reality gang rapists, thieves and marauders. Help people to understand there is absolutely no connection to religion. That this is used only as a justification for the atrocities these peanut heads are committing. Also, get the word out there, that once you join, you cannot leave. Disobedience is not tolerated by these small minded twerps. It is especially the responsibility of the nations in that region to get the word out. Their silence is deafening. The King of Jordan is one of the only courageous leaders in the region, who is forcefully and consistently speaking out on this issue.

Edited September 22, 2015 by spidermike007

[Pakboong]

They would likely quit if we skip a couple of pay checks.

[ABCer]

It is very encouraging that we, the broader public hopefully including(?) TV members are asked to discuss the matters related to IS.

Here are my considerations on the matter.

- calling it a 'proto-state' is semantics; ... it is a state with territory, money, religion, ideology, arms, laws, order; ... the fact that it is different, not recognized means little;... sayings of President Obama on the matter mean even less.

- nobody knows how to fight these people (although everybody I'm sure has some bright ideas); ... but everybody can see how not to fight them:

* not from the air - at a cost on average of $175,000 per person

* not by supporting anybody who proclaims to be fighting Assad

* not by rejecting allies influential in the region because they arm Assad ( yes, I mean Russia)

* not by excluding Assad and his forces who are the only 'friendly' boots on the ground

* not by accepting millions of deserters who logically and legitimately are supposed to be the 'friendly' boots on the ground .

- before we, the World decide how and whether to fight IS we all simply must analyze why did it appear and decide what is our end goal :

* without going into fine details ( like Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Palestine ) my analysis says - Jihad is the result of the World meddling in Islam affairs!

* with US economy being #1 in the World, with US military budget being almost half of the World's and with US obsessive idiotic push for American style 'democracy' everywhere we should blame the White House.

* IS embodies not only a State, not only politics, economics, laws and order (however different from ours) but ideology!

* unless White House recognizes the true reason of phenomenon like IS - I am not morally supporting US just as their lesser allies (GB, France, Germany, Australia etc.) should not. And neither should any of us - it is pointless.

* unless Islam is recognized as the roots of the IS extremist, Jihadist and Terrorist nature - I have no moral grounds to approve the fight against it and neither have any of you.

* since the World has not a slight chance of killing the ideology of IS by military means - I and any one of you - must decide " to fight or not to fight?" Make no mistake - it will be a fight to the death! IS are prepared to die...

Are you?... This is a very serious question. Suppose tomorrow we killed them all... But the idea lives!

Therefore, being an old man, I ask you, please! - THINK!!! Think of the end goal of this bloody cruel battle to the point of extermination.

If you are told that the IS fighters will be captured, imprisoned and re-educated (at your expense) - it is bullshit!

If you are told that Assad will step down and a true democracy will come to Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon ... wherever ... - it is bullshit!

( of course Assad can step down, or can be pulled down, or can be killed like Qaddafi ... but the true democracy part is bullshit! And in any case, do you want to die for this?)

Any potential fighter against IS can go into battle and must be prepared to die on one condition only: - Never Again! Governments of the World must guarantee it will never happen again!

This and only this can justify anybody's death in fighting IS! Unless this is the end goal of this war - it is not worth fighting and dying for...

And the only way this can be guaranteed is

- Obama, Cameron, Merkel, Hollande & Co stop telling us how good is Real Islam! We can see ourselves. Or they can opt to go to IS and tell this to the Jihadis.

- All Muslims, good, bad, young, old, legal, illegal, poor, rich, - all must be expatriated to their countries of origins. No exceptions!

- Islam, Mosques and any Muslim attributes as well as teachings must be banned in the West. No Muslim must be allowed to buy Real Estate in the Western world.

- Under no circumstances should Western Governments partake, sell arms, take sides or participate in resolution of any conflicts between Muslims.

- Any Politically Correct Conscientious Objectors to this policy can relocate to the Muslim country of their choice.

- This is not Racism. This is Isolationism. It worked for many Centuries and there were no Religious wars.

- It will be not easy. It may be not fair. But it is the only way not only to win the end goal, but to survive!

Peace! Peace to the West. Peace to Muslims. No more killings, rape, terrorism.

Edited September 22, 2015 by ABCer

[noitom]

This writer an others, politicians and world leaders should adopt the term "daesh" when referring to the islamic state.

[smedly]

IS are nothing more than paedophiles and dropout wasters with nothing to lose, the only answer is give them something to lose and play extreme hardball

and make no mistake, I'd guess quite a few of the so called refugees are IS activists who will form up wherever they end up and start murdering people.

Edited September 22, 2015 by smedly

[Loptr]

Had Mr Obama did his job when he had to, did not procrastinated, hesitated and turned a blind eye to what is going on

in the Syria, by first arming militias and the free Syrian army to dislodge Assad from power, drawing a line in the sand saying

that he will act decisively if chemical were to used, they have been used several times, and still nothing from Obama,

meanwhile some of the militias fighting Assad has joined the Taliban and other , soldiers of fortune extreme rouge factions

type and you have ISIS,

Assad on his part bombed his own cities and people killing hundreds of thousand, and causing millions to flee to a neighbouring

countries inflecting untold misery and destructions on the region that now resulted in the mass migrations of all those refugees,

I wonder what Mr. Obama narrative to all of this follies of his when he will sit down one day to pen his memoirs....

Yes I agree he should have moved on Syria after all American intervention in Iraq has proved such a resounding success with the contagion now spreading to other countries that another adventure is just what we need. Still if some of those GOP candidates get their way we can also add Iran, that should be fun.

Not to mention the other US successes in Libya, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq... More toppled regimes, followed by failed states and the current refugee crisis... Rand Paul this week blamed Hillary Clinton directly for these US foreign policy failures and the refugee crisis due to her actions as Sec of State...

The story of ISIS and Syria goes much deeper though if you scratch the surface, such as the Pentagon admitting to funding, training and arming ISIS in an attempt to overthrow Assad and the mysterious Sarin gas attacks that were traced to US weapons labs, then to Turkey, then to Syrian rebels... All of which is documented fact that you won't hear it from western media... The only evil here is Uncle Sugar...

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/us-isis-syria-iraq

http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Pg.-291-Pgs.-287-293-JW-v-DOD-and-State-14-812-DOD-Release-2015-04-10-final-version11.pdf

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2014/05/06/seymour-hersh-links-turkey-to-benghazi-syria-and-sarin/

[gandalf12]

IS are nothing more than paedophiles and dropout wasters with nothing to lose, the only answer is give them something to lose and play extreme hardball

and make no mistake, I'd guess quite a few of the so called refugees are IS activists who will form up wherever they end up and start murdering people.

Totally agree. If you want to be the ruler of the world you put your people in every country and they will do the deed on your behalf. Europe has basically given up and is letting them do as they want. What a load of useless ball less pricks we have in the governments of Europe.

Send them all home and let them apply through the normal channels if they want to come to Europe then proper checks can be made and they will be acccepted or rejected accordingly.

[Ulic]

Had Mr Obama did his job when he had to, did not procrastinated, hesitated and turned a blind eye to what is going on

in the Syria, by first arming militias and the free Syrian army to dislodge Assad from power, drawing a line in the sand saying

that he will act decisively if chemical were to used, they have been used several times, and still nothing from Obama,

meanwhile some of the militias fighting Assad has joined the Taliban and other , soldiers of fortune extreme rouge factions

type and you have ISIS,

Assad on his part bombed his own cities and people killing hundreds of thousand, and causing millions to flee to a neighbouring

countries inflecting untold misery and destructions on the region that now resulted in the mass migrations of all those refugees,

I wonder what Mr. Obama narrative to all of this follies of his when he will sit down one day to pen his memoirs....

The USA armed Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. The US also armed ISIS through the Iraqis,

Are you really suggesting they should have armed them directly to go into Syria. I have to go with

staying out of what you don't understand. Vietnam, (the Vietnamese wanted independence from

France so they aligned themselves with the Chinese) Iran, the Americans and British put the Shah

into power, a bigger thug and despot did not exist, he was no better than Amin, but he let the US

put up listening posts on the boarder so the US could keep watch on Russia. Is it any wonder

Iran hates the US. We see how well it has all worked out in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. It seems endless

the mistakes made. The middle east should solve its own problems. Saudi Arabia, Iran, have at it.

When the dust settles and they are both begging for peace, then help them rebuild. Until then

leave the middle east to the middle east. Of course there should be an arms embargo to all of them

but the money is just too good. USA, Britain,Russia, China plus the bit players. If only Sadam

and the Coronel were still around. Despots yes but there would have been far fewer deaths and

much more stable governments. Not politically correct but the truth.

[Loptr]

We are at the dawn of a new US tactical error. Such action will only result to weld a little more Muslims against them and by extension against all the West.

This conflict is not ours. It pits two factions of Islam in a land already destabilized by the American military intervention, coming after the painful rout in Vietnam and also before the same in Afghanistan.

It should be time for this great country to finally learn the lessons of the past ...

Unfortunately this will only lead to more war... War is the only thing that will cover up the financial malfeasance of western banksters and declining economies, plus it will rid the world of some "useless eaters"... Always remember that the winners write the history books...

[gandalf12]

Had Mr Obama did his job when he had to, did not procrastinated, hesitated and turned a blind eye to what is going on

in the Syria, by first arming militias and the free Syrian army to dislodge Assad from power, drawing a line in the sand saying

that he will act decisively if chemical were to used, they have been used several times, and still nothing from Obama,

meanwhile some of the militias fighting Assad has joined the Taliban and other , soldiers of fortune extreme rouge factions

type and you have ISIS,

Assad on his part bombed his own cities and people killing hundreds of thousand, and causing millions to flee to a neighbouring

countries inflecting untold misery and destructions on the region that now resulted in the mass migrations of all those refugees,

I wonder what Mr. Obama narrative to all of this follies of his when he will sit down one day to pen his memoirs....

The USA armed Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. The US also armed ISIS through the Iraqis,

Are you really suggesting they should have armed them directly to go into Syria. I have to go with

staying out of what you don't understand. Vietnam, (the Vietnamese wanted independence from

France so they aligned themselves with the Chinese) Iran, the Americans and British put the Shah

into power, a bigger thug and despot did not exist, he was no better than Amin, but he let the US

put up listening posts on the boarder so the US could keep watch on Russia. Is it any wonder

Iran hates the US. We see how well it has all worked out in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. It seems endless

the mistakes made. The middle east should solve its own problems. Saudi Arabia, Iran, have at it.

When the dust settles and they are both begging for peace, then help them rebuild. Until then

leave the middle east to the middle east. Of course there should be an arms embargo to all of them

but the money is just too good. USA, Britain,Russia, China plus the bit players. If only Sadam

and the Coronel were still around. Despots yes but there would have been far fewer deaths and

much more stable governments. Not politically correct but the truth.

THe USA arms these people, then they mess up if they go in to "remove" them. Why do we wait for a country with a dubious track record to take the lead?

[edwardflory]

We are at the dawn of a new US tactical error. Such action will only result to weld a little more Muslims against them and by extension against all the West.

This conflict is not ours. It pits two factions of Islam in a land already destabilized by the American military intervention, coming after the painful rout in Vietnam and also before the same in Afghanistan.

It should be time for this great country to finally learn the lessons of the past ...

I agree. The only possible military response would be to react with extreme prejudice, an action the US public, not to mention world opinion, is not yet ready to accept. The non-military action is to accept that there is no god and thus give the Islamic argument no credence.

But the flip side of the argument that this is not our conflict but the conflict between Sunni and Shia is to not get involved in any manner, and that includes not accepting refugees. The Sunni regimes south of Syria on the Arabian Peninsula are quite capable of economically integrating the current crop of refugees into their own societies. But of course King Salam would rather spend his oil money on triflings such as booking the entire Four Seasons hotel in Washington DC while his minions crucify some hapless Saudi teenager.

"""But the flip side of the argument that this is not our conflict but the conflict between Sunni and Shia is to not get involved in any manner""" ,

You forgot to mention the THOUSANDS of Christians that are given the choices of....CONVERT....PAY A TAX....or DIE, I would also think the Jews MIGHT be given the same option, but I doubt it.

There was a news report about a Christian man ( Arab by birth ), had saved for years to buy a house ( around $200,000US ) for his family, 2 months before IS came to his town he bought the home. Upon the arrival of IS, he was given the 3 choices, his house is now the property of IS.

Arab, Christian, Jew, ANY religion, believe in IS way, OR, basically Pay or DIE.

The ONLY action left for the nations of the world, REACT WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE, before your country and YOU my friend are given the three choices.....CONVERT....PAY A TAX....or DIE,. where you live....

[gandalf12]

If you dont respond with extreme force they will continue to spread just like a cancer. There is no real options if this is to resolved. Governments think they can talk, they cant. These people play by their own rules. To beat them you have to play by th same rules.

Everyone thinks "it wnt happen here, we are safe" you are not but by the time you realise it the damage will be done.

Edited September 22, 2015 by gandalf12

[elgordo38]

Had Mr Obama did his job when he had to, did not procrastinated, hesitated and turned a blind eye to what is going on

in the Syria, by first arming militias and the free Syrian army to dislodge Assad from power, drawing a line in the sand saying

that he will act decisively if chemical were to used, they have been used several times, and still nothing from Obama,

meanwhile some of the militias fighting Assad has joined the Taliban and other , soldiers of fortune extreme rouge factions

type and you have ISIS,

Assad on his part bombed his own cities and people killing hundreds of thousand, and causing millions to flee to a neighbouring

countries inflecting untold misery and destructions on the region that now resulted in the mass migrations of all those refugees,

I wonder what Mr. Obama narrative to all of this follies of his when he will sit down one day to pen his memoirs....

I am sure he will be proud of his important role in establishing a caliphate

“Once you got to Iraq and took it over, and took down Saddam Hussein’s government, then what are you going to put in its place? That’s a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq you can easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off. Part of it the Syrians would like to have to the west. Part of eastern Iraq, the Iranians would like to claim, fought over for eight years. In the north you’ve got the Kurds, and if the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey, then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey. It’s a quagmire.”

Mr Cheney as he then was in 1994

I think most people know who is responsible for this quagmire.

Yes Bush, Cheney, Rove, Bolton and many others I can not think of. All warmongers the whole bunch. Faux news keeps dusting off Rove and bringing him back to make "expert comments"

[hakuho]

ISIS a creation of Western powers...but there is a Draconian solution that I proposed ten years ago: cut to the chase; NUKE THE MIDDLE EAST!. America's military forces nuked Japan to end WWII...after which Japan went on to create Anime and Lexus automobiles.....555...global Islamic insurgency control requires harsh, uncivilized action to end the uncivil insanity...got cojones?

[gandalf12]

ISIS a creation of Western powers...but there is a Draconian solution that I proposed ten years ago: cut to the chase; NUKE THE MIDDLE EAST!. America's military forces nuked Japan to end WWII...after which Japan went on to create Anime and Lexus automobiles.....555...global Islamic insurgency control requires harsh, uncivilized action to end the uncivil insanity...got cojones?

Something drastic is needed for sure, talk isnt going to do it. Neutron bombs would do a nice job

[Johpa]

Unfortunately this will only lead to more war... War is the only thing that will cover up the financial malfeasance of western banksters and declining economies, plus it will rid the world of some "useless eaters"... Always remember that the winners write the history books..

As that magnificent American pussy Smedley Butler so succinctly put it, "War is a Racket". That other American pussy, Dwight Eisenhower, also warned us about that same racket in his farewell address. But we never listen.

Edited September 22, 2015 by Johpa

[Hugh Geen]

The refugee crisis that Europe cannot escape. Particular responsibility rests with the nations that helped destabilize the Middle East in the first place.