Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton say they have a plan for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), but it largely consists of fighting them “over there.”
Daniel Davis explains how not to fight radical jihadism:
I have spent considerable time on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq over a 25-year period in both a military and civilian capacity. I can categorically state that short of a Nazi-like genocidal wiping out of entire populations, it is militarily impossible to go to these overseas locations and destroy the ideology of violent jihadism. Our attempts to do so since 2001 in Afghanistan, 2003 in Iraq, and the numerous places we’ve used special forces and drone strikes to kill Islamic radicals of various stripes since then has succeeded only in expanding the threat.
Our efforts have been much like trying to put out an oil fire with water. It only makes the flames bigger.
Longtime diplomat and Middle East expert, Chas Freeman, recently explanied that using military power in this way “radicalizes and creates volunteer recruits for our worst enemies. We need to halt this, not double down on it.”
from Hit & Run http://ift.tt/1W1iDC1
via IFTTT