In a change of strategy last week, President Barack Obama vowed to destroy the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. We have not yet been told how and when that will be done.
While the United States government ignored ISIS for awhile, the recent beheadings of two U.S. journalists and a British aid worker have put the organization’s gruesome tactics right in our face, with YouTube videos of the executions.
We now know that hundreds of captured Syrian troops and an estimated 1,500 Iraqi troops have been executed. Many civilian war crime abuses have been reported. Women have been raped. Many Christian and other non-Muslims ”“ and even Muslims whose practices deviate from adherents of ISIS ideology ”“ have been kidnapped or killed.
ISIS, which evolved from al Qaida, aims to control religious and political ideology as broadly as it can. ISIS has lots of money, and has military personnel skilled in guerrilla warfare. The CIA has estimated that about 20,000 to 31,000 ISIS fighters are in Iraq and Syria.
Right now, ISIS is fighting in Muslim-inhabited regions of Syria and Iraq, but unless its influence is checked, it could expand outward, threatening southern Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and other Mideast countries.
ISIS is ultimately a threat to the U.S., because it seeks to export its violence and its ideology of jihad. Sooner or later, it will threaten us through attacks on our interests abroad, or terrorist activities at home.
A recent NBC poll showed 61 percent of Americans now support our government taking military action against ISIS. President Obama originally promised not to have any ground troops used in another foreign war. In his speech last week, however, the president vowed to destroy ISIS, by more than the air strikes he previously authorized. That probably means our ground troops will be involved, too.
But how will a sustained counterterrorism strategy against ISIS actually take place? We need to know what is being planned, what our goals are, and when those goals will be attained.
The president could get leaders together from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain to cooperate by supplying capital and troops to help fight ISIS. That would be the best strategy, but some of these countries are actually helping to fund ISIS operations.
President Obama has suggested arming moderate Syrians. But identifying friendly groups in Syria has proved to be extremely difficult. There is concern that U.S. supplied military weaponry to anti-Syrian rebels in Syria could end up in the wrong hands and be used against us in the future.
America could send additional troops into Iraq to further train the Iraqi military, but they have not proven that they can defend their own country. Australia has offered to send troops to protect the United Arab Emirates. More than 40 countries have shown some support against ISIS aggression, but what is needed is their involvement to fight ISIS with sanctions and military aid.
European countries need to support this effort by supplying military manpower against ISIS. The U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Saudi Arabia have designated ISIS as a terrorist group. Other potential opponents of ISIS include France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Denmark.
The southern part of Turkey could play a vital role as a gateway to enter Syria and Iraq, but Turkey has been reluctant to get involved until the situation involving 40 Turkish kidnapped hostages is resolved.
President Obama needs to take action on ISIS, and he needs to get congressional approval before he commits our nation to what he has described as a likely three-year undertaking. He must overcome his disdain for political give and take, and work with the leaders of both parties to forge an agreement on how we are going to confront this latest threat to our citizens.
This is an election year, when politicians do not like to be forced to make difficult decisions, but as a nation, we need to call for swift action for a strategic, coordinated plan to confront ISIS. The president has vowed to destroy the ISIS militants. Now, he must put actions behind his words.
Some type of effective military action must take place now, with a well-developed plan for a time limit and a military strategy to eliminate the ISIS terrorism threats. Otherwise, we could all be in harm’s way in the very near future.
— Bernard Featherman is a business columnist for the Journal Tribune and former president of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce.
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