ISIS Needs to be Stopped.
ISIS won’t be defeated unless the U.S. or its allies take on ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
“While American air power appears to have been relatively successful in those limited missions, some military officials say that the only way to deal a major setback to such a mobile adversary is to attack ISIS fighters throughout the battlefield.” I think the US needs to take out ISIS on the battlefield before they get any bigger and become a world threat.
"It requires a variety of instruments, only one small part of which is airstrikes," he said. "I'm not predicting those will occur in Syria, at least not by the United States of America. But it requires the application of all of the tools of national power -- diplomatic, economic, information, military." I think the US and our allies will have to step up and do more than airstrikes to stop ISIS. The airstrikes would save the troops lives.
"Any use of air power involves risk, including the possibility that innocent civilians may be hurt or killed, or that a piloted aircraft might be shot down. Airstrikes in Syria would also draw the White House more deeply into a conflict from which it has sought to maintain some distance. But there is also risk in not acting, because it is very difficult to defeat a militant group that is allowed to maintain a sanctuary." I think airstrikes would be more helpful if the US had people locate ISIS before using the airstrikes.
Why Counterterrorism Won't Stop the Latest Jihadist Threat.
“If ISIS is purely and simply anything, it is a pseudo-state led by a conventional army. And that is why the counterterrorism and counterinsurgency strategies that greatly diminished the threat from al Qaeda will not work against ISIS.” I don’t think counterterrorism will work against ISIS because they are keeping control of the territory they conquer.
“Washington has been slow to adapt its policies in Iraq and Syria to the true nature of the threat from ISIS. In Syria, U.S. counterterrorism has mostly prioritized the bombing of al Qaeda affiliates, which has given an edge to ISIS and has also provided the Assad regime with the opportunity to crush U.S.-allied moderate Syrian rebels.” The U.S. needs to do more than counterterrorism and bombing because ISIS is conquering more territory.
“Such tactics, however, don't hold much promise for combating ISIS. The group's fighters and leaders cluster in urban areas, where they are well integrated into civilian populations and usually surrounded by buildings, making drone strikes and raids much harder to carry out. And simply killing ISIS' leaders would not cripple the organization. They govern a functioning pseudo-state with a complex administrative structure.”I think the U.S. or their allies need to send in ground troops to stop ISIS because airstrikes and counterterrorism haven’t work the best.
The government needs to do more politically to defeat ISIS.
"It is clear that the U.S. can achieve military success against ISIS." I think US would be able to have success against ISIS because of the success the US has had in the past. "This is a war we can and must win. Let us build a strategy - political and military- that can truly do so. It is what Iraq needs and our troops deserve." I think the troops deserve a break but we still need to defeat ISIS. “ISIS is a serious national security threat and has brutally killed Americans.” I think ISIS will become a bigger threat if no one steps up and takes care of ISIS now.