Yes, ISIS has a theology out of the Middle Ages, but it's also very hip and cutting edge in terms of social media and selling itself to potential recruits the world over.
It's also very good at manipulating Western and US media. One thing to remember is that the goal of terror is to terrorize which is why it was discouraging to see even Congressional Democrats take the bait this week on the refugees.
ISIS no doubt watches CNN, but their favorite channel is Fox News.
"CNN's Fareed Zakaria inserted a thinly-veiled shot at Fox News Channel during his Monday special on ISIS. Zakaria underlined that "the angry rhetoric of cable news fits right into the script [of ISIS]." He continued that "CNN makes an occasional appearance" in the Islamist terrorist group's propaganda, but then played up that "Fox News is a favorite of ISIS, with commentators who demand boots on the ground – playing into ISIS's dreams of a grand battle against America."
- See more at: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2015/05/12/cnns-fareed-zakaria-hypes-fox-news-favorite-isis#sthash.NtPFPpu8.dpuf
US boots on the ground is exactly what we don't want to do. But since Paris, we already have calls for just that. Jeb now wants boots on the ground.
"It’s not officially a Bush presidency until thousands of U.S. combat troops are in the field in the Middle East. Per Tim Alberta, sounds like the foreign policy of Bush 3.0 might actually be the sum of Bushes 1.0 and 2.0"
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/11/19/bush-3-0-its-time-to-put-american-boots-on-the-ground-to-take-out-the-isis/
If you notice, Trump gets where the base is. He might talk about a database for Muslims but he doesn't talk about sending boots on the ground.
As Zakaria says the key to the US defeating ISIS is
1. Patience, not panic
2. A light footprint-rather than boots on the ground.
"What explains the success against al-Qaeda? Many experts point to the genuinely global counterterrorism operations, especially the sharing of intelligence. Others note that the group overplayed its hand in Iraq."
"In one of the best books on the topic, “Hunting in the Shadows,” Seth Jones concludes that whenever the United States adopted a “light-footprint strategy” — Special Operations forces, covert intelligence and law enforcement — it did well. Whenever the United States and its allies sent troops into Muslim countries, he notes, “al-Qaeda has benefited through increased radicalization and additional recruits.” This is why from the start, the Islamic State has sought to bait Western countries into sending troops to Syria."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lessons-from-the-war-against-al-qaeda/2015/11/19/cc4dcedc-8ef1-11e5-acff-673ae92ddd2b_story.html
It's also very good at manipulating Western and US media. One thing to remember is that the goal of terror is to terrorize which is why it was discouraging to see even Congressional Democrats take the bait this week on the refugees.
ISIS no doubt watches CNN, but their favorite channel is Fox News.
"CNN's Fareed Zakaria inserted a thinly-veiled shot at Fox News Channel during his Monday special on ISIS. Zakaria underlined that "the angry rhetoric of cable news fits right into the script [of ISIS]." He continued that "CNN makes an occasional appearance" in the Islamist terrorist group's propaganda, but then played up that "Fox News is a favorite of ISIS, with commentators who demand boots on the ground – playing into ISIS's dreams of a grand battle against America."
- See more at: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2015/05/12/cnns-fareed-zakaria-hypes-fox-news-favorite-isis#sthash.NtPFPpu8.dpuf
US boots on the ground is exactly what we don't want to do. But since Paris, we already have calls for just that. Jeb now wants boots on the ground.
"It’s not officially a Bush presidency until thousands of U.S. combat troops are in the field in the Middle East. Per Tim Alberta, sounds like the foreign policy of Bush 3.0 might actually be the sum of Bushes 1.0 and 2.0"
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/11/19/bush-3-0-its-time-to-put-american-boots-on-the-ground-to-take-out-the-isis/
If you notice, Trump gets where the base is. He might talk about a database for Muslims but he doesn't talk about sending boots on the ground.
As Zakaria says the key to the US defeating ISIS is
1. Patience, not panic
2. A light footprint-rather than boots on the ground.
"In one of the best books on the topic, “Hunting in the Shadows,” Seth Jones concludes that whenever the United States adopted a “light-footprint strategy” — Special Operations forces, covert intelligence and law enforcement — it did well. Whenever the United States and its allies sent troops into Muslim countries, he notes, “al-Qaeda has benefited through increased radicalization and additional recruits.” This is why from the start, the Islamic State has sought to bait Western countries into sending troops to Syria."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lessons-from-the-war-against-al-qaeda/2015/11/19/cc4dcedc-8ef1-11e5-acff-673ae92ddd2b_story.html
So we want to not be overplaying our hand in Syria either. President Obama's basic strategy of strategic patience is on the money.
One major piece of GOP revisionism you hear is that Obama let ISIS happen, that the mistake was leaving Iraq in 2011. This forgets that this was per an agreement that Bush came to in 2007. And the Iraqis were ready for us to go at that point.
One major piece of GOP revisionism you hear is that Obama let ISIS happen, that the mistake was leaving Iraq in 2011. This forgets that this was per an agreement that Bush came to in 2007. And the Iraqis were ready for us to go at that point.
But what do the Republicans want? How open-ended a commitment do they want in Iraq? The fallacy here is that ISIS can be solved militarily.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/13/paris-proves-we-ll-never-kill-enough-jihadists-to-stop-terror.html
"Defeating the group militarily would not be difficult. But to keep it defeated, someone would have to rule its territories or else it, or a variant, would just come back. The Islamic State draws its support from Sunnis in Iraq and Syria who feel persecuted by the non-Sunni governments in both countries. In addition, the group has created a functioning state that provides some measure of stability for a population that has been battered over the past decade."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lessons-from-the-war-against-al-qaeda/2015/11/19/cc4dcedc-8ef1-11e5-acff-673ae92ddd2b_story.html
Let's just never forget what got us here. W's wrongheaded war and Donald Rumsfeld's violently wrongheaded occupation once we took out Saddam.
He literally followed the worst option in disbanding the army and de-Baathificizing way too quickly and abruptly. This made it impossible to maintain security and disenfranchised a lot of highly skilled and knowledgeable Sunnis who dominated the military.
These former military and Baath members were easy pickings for ISIS. While, we keep hearing all the hysteria that Obama's plan isn't working-I guess to prove it is working you'd literally never see any act of terror ever. Yet the same people always claim that no matter what we do there will be more terrorist attacks in the US.
"In this sense, the Islamic State is more akin to the Taliban than al-Qaeda, which was a gang of foreigners lodged in Afghanistan as guests of the Taliban. But the Taliban itself is a local group, with support in the Pashtun communities of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This explains why the United States has not defeated it, after 14 years of warfare and tens of thousands of American soldiers and now many more Afghan troops. Keep in mind that in Afghanistan, the United States has a decent local ally that has considerable legitimacy. In Syria, it has none. The Kurds are a crucial ally and should become even more important in the months ahead. Still, as an ethnic minority, they cannot govern Arab lands."
"Politicians call on the United States to build up an army of moderate Syrians. It is a worthwhile endeavor. But historically, when foreigners have helped put together local forces, those forces have usually lacked legitimacy and staying power — think of the Cubans who landed at the Bay of Pigs, the South Vietnamese regime or Washington’s favored Iraqi exiles. This essential problem — the lack of a credible local ally — makes ground operations in Syria harder than in Iraq, Afghanistan or Vietnam."
"This is not to counsel despair but to suggest “strategic patience,” as President Obama rightly says. The Islamic State is not nearly as strong as the hysteria of the moment suggests. It is surrounded by deadly foes. Many countries are fighting it — Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, the United States and Vladimir Putin’s Russia, neighboring Jordan and faraway France. Its territory is shrinking, and its message is deeply unpopular to most in its supposed “caliphate” — witness the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing its barbarism."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/13/paris-proves-we-ll-never-kill-enough-jihadists-to-stop-terror.html
"Defeating the group militarily would not be difficult. But to keep it defeated, someone would have to rule its territories or else it, or a variant, would just come back. The Islamic State draws its support from Sunnis in Iraq and Syria who feel persecuted by the non-Sunni governments in both countries. In addition, the group has created a functioning state that provides some measure of stability for a population that has been battered over the past decade."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lessons-from-the-war-against-al-qaeda/2015/11/19/cc4dcedc-8ef1-11e5-acff-673ae92ddd2b_story.html
Let's just never forget what got us here. W's wrongheaded war and Donald Rumsfeld's violently wrongheaded occupation once we took out Saddam.
He literally followed the worst option in disbanding the army and de-Baathificizing way too quickly and abruptly. This made it impossible to maintain security and disenfranchised a lot of highly skilled and knowledgeable Sunnis who dominated the military.
These former military and Baath members were easy pickings for ISIS. While, we keep hearing all the hysteria that Obama's plan isn't working-I guess to prove it is working you'd literally never see any act of terror ever. Yet the same people always claim that no matter what we do there will be more terrorist attacks in the US.
"In this sense, the Islamic State is more akin to the Taliban than al-Qaeda, which was a gang of foreigners lodged in Afghanistan as guests of the Taliban. But the Taliban itself is a local group, with support in the Pashtun communities of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This explains why the United States has not defeated it, after 14 years of warfare and tens of thousands of American soldiers and now many more Afghan troops. Keep in mind that in Afghanistan, the United States has a decent local ally that has considerable legitimacy. In Syria, it has none. The Kurds are a crucial ally and should become even more important in the months ahead. Still, as an ethnic minority, they cannot govern Arab lands."
"Politicians call on the United States to build up an army of moderate Syrians. It is a worthwhile endeavor. But historically, when foreigners have helped put together local forces, those forces have usually lacked legitimacy and staying power — think of the Cubans who landed at the Bay of Pigs, the South Vietnamese regime or Washington’s favored Iraqi exiles. This essential problem — the lack of a credible local ally — makes ground operations in Syria harder than in Iraq, Afghanistan or Vietnam."
"This is not to counsel despair but to suggest “strategic patience,” as President Obama rightly says. The Islamic State is not nearly as strong as the hysteria of the moment suggests. It is surrounded by deadly foes. Many countries are fighting it — Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, the United States and Vladimir Putin’s Russia, neighboring Jordan and faraway France. Its territory is shrinking, and its message is deeply unpopular to most in its supposed “caliphate” — witness the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing its barbarism."
Strategic patience rather than nonstrategic panic.
No comments:
Post a Comment