ISIS and Terrorism

8/10/2019 ISIS and Terrorism

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ISIL/Terrorism Update

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Dont Cooperate With Syria ........................................................................................................................................ 2Need Syrian Cooperation............................................................................................................................................ 3" Terrorism is a Threat ................................................................................................................................................ 4A2: No Al Qaeda Threat .............................................................................................................................................. 6

ISIS is a Threat ............................................................................................................................................................. 7ISIS A Threat CBW .................................................................................................................................................. 11ISIS A Threat Iraq ................................................................................................................................................... 12ISIS Threat - Genocide .............................................................................................................................................. 13ISIS Not a Threat ....................................................................................................................................................... 14Military Attacks on ISIS Wont Stop Terrorism ......................................................................................................... 19Military Attack on ISIS Good ..................................................................................................................................... 20Should Strike in Syria ................................................................................................................................................ 22Should Not Strike in Syria ......................................................................................................................................... 23Should Strike ISIS ...................................................................................................................................................... 26Air Strikes Alone Wont Solve ISIS in Syria ................................................................................................................ 27International Coalition Needed ................................................................................................................................ 28US Leadership Necessary to Build an International Coalition .................................................................................. 32A2: A Political Resolution Will Save Iraq ................................................................................................................... 35US Leadership Good -- Terrorism ............................................................................................................................. 38Proposals to Fight ISIS in IRaq................................................................................................................................... 39


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Dont Cooperate With Syria

Asad hasnt fought ISIS and even buys oil from them

Adam Taylor, Washington Post Blogs, August 27, 2014, The Islamic State or Assad? Isn't there another choice?;Looking for the 'good guy' in the Syrian fight.

Shahbandar sees intervention with Assad as absurd. "Assad was a key ingredient in the rise of the Islamic State," hesays. "He and his regime turned Syria into a launching pad for terrorism over the years and fostered theenvironment in which transnational terrorist forces grew in the country." The argument is persuasive. Writing forthe New York Times, Syrian journalist Hassan Hassan points out that the Syrian state didn't attack Islamic State-heldcities with the same intensity saved for other rebel cities, and that the regime has bought oil from the group.Assad's decision to avoid fighting the group may have been driven by a desire for it to overtake the more seculargroups, such as the Free Syrian Army, that were more palatable to the west.


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Need Syrian Cooperation

Syrian cooperation critical for strikes


Right now, however, its not clear exactly how plausible U.S. strikes against Islamic State within Syria would bewithout some kind of approval, tacit or otherwise, from Assad. The Syrian government has warned that unilateralstrikes against Islamic State on Syrian soil would be seen as an act of "aggression," though it has indicated it is open tosome kind of cooperation. Assad's regime has anti-aircraft capabilities and an air force which could be used tohinder any U.S. intelligence gathering or strikes in Syria. Another factor is Russia, a prominent supporter of theAssad regime, which has also voiced criticism.Joshua Landis, director of Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, argues that a key problem isthat the more secular rebel groups don't have the support they would need to actually control Syria.


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" Terrorism is a Threat

ISIL and other terror groups present and imminent threat to the US

Bluefield Daily Telegraph (West Virginia), August 26, 2014, President needs to acknowledge the waron terror is not finished

Early in 2012, a State Department official commented that the war on terror was over, and about a year laterPresident Barack Obama repeated that idea.With that declaration began an active effort to cleanse the national dialog of the idea of Islamic terrorism and the useof any words used to describe it. The term "War on Terror" was replaced with the euphemism "Overseas ContingencyOperations," and the murder of 13 people at Fort Hood by a Muslim U.S. Army doctor was termed "workplaceviolence."Since terrorism was no longer a threat, Mr. Obama removed our troops from Iraq, and reiterated his pledge to close

our terrorist detainment facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and do something with the accused terrorists being heldthere. In fact, five of them were traded not long ago for the suspected Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl.

But now reality again rears its ugly head. ISIS or ISIL, Hamas, Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda, Ansar al-Islam... names thatare synonymous with brutality, mayhem and murder, are prominent in the news, and we frequently hear aboutcutting off fingers and hands, and mercy killings of people for their crimes, or beheadings and mass executions forthe indiscretion of not believing as the members of these organizations insist that you must believe.Recent events in the Middle East and Africa have shown the brutal, uncivilized acts committed by the savages in these

organizations more frequently than ever before. The war on Christians and against Israel reached levels that brokethrough the administration's well-developed immunity against the reality of Islamic atrocities and terrorism, and hasrefocused their attention on it again, at last.Hamas dug tunnels from Gaza into Israel to murder Israelis with rocket-propelled grenades, it fires rockets

deliberately aimed at civilian areas and protects its rockets by hiding them in schools and other public structures,resulting in the deaths of more than a thousand Palestinians when Israel targets places from which attacks have beenlaunched. USA Today reported that Hamas firing squads publicly executed 18 Gaza Palestinians suspected ofcollaborating with Israel. Later, gunmen in black Hamas garb lined up seven hooded men and shot them dead as

hundreds watched."Northern Nigeria's riot police training academy has been overrun by Boko Haram Islamist militants," a witness in

Borno state told the BBC. "Boko Haram is blamed for the killing of more than 10,000 people since the start of itsmilitant Islamist offensive in 2009 across northeastern Nigeria," said the Daily Kos online.CNN reports that in the areas of Syria "controlled by ISIS, public floggings and executions have become commonplace.

Most recently ISIS has battled other opposition groups in fighting that has left well more than 2,000 people dead.""The militant Sunni group ISIS has said it is establishing a caliphate, or Islamic state, in the territories it controls in

Iraq and Syria. It also proclaimed the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph and 'leader for Muslimseverywhere,'" according to the UK Guardian online.But Iraq, Israel, Syria and Nigeria have no patent on this savagery, and our essentially non-existent southern border is

an invitation for that evil to enter the U.S. Some Islamists probably have "sneaked in" legally through airports.Members of ISIS/ISIR in Iraq have said they will raise their black flag over the White House . People in the know in

the United States believe this threat is not an idle one, and that we must take action to prevent attack from within.This threat highlights the absolute idiocy, recklessness and irresponsibility of the Obama administration's "hands-off"

policy on the southern border, and means our government has no idea who is coming across the border or how manyIslamic terrorists are here already.Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told an Oklahoma

TV station that ISIS has now set its sights on Americans and targets on U.S. soil.The chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, told a Pentagon press briefing that "because of open borders and immigration issues,"ISIS/ISIL is an "immediate threat.""We're in the most dangerous position we've ever been in as a nation," he said.A former CIA officer told CNN that ISIS is already on this side of the Atlantic. "I have been told with no uncertainty

there are ISIS sleeper cells in this country," Bob Baer said. While CNN reported that two U.S. offic ials had refuted his


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claim, the network said the officials are worried that ISIS militants with passports might travel to the U.S. to launchattacks on American soil.

Global terror threat

Monterey County Herald, 8-19(California), August 19, 2014 Editorial: Panetta: No time for isolationism

But, terrorism has "metastasized" into the newest threats, including ISIS, which wants to establish an Islamiccaliphate as a staging ground for future attacks on the U.S., said Panetta. The militants were aided by sectarianism inIraq promoted in part by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Panetta He said he supports Obama's decision tostart air strikes in northern Iraq against ISIS. Contrary to reports, he noted, the U.S. has reintroduced "boots on theground" in Iraq special forces working with Iraqi and Kurdish forces. Unfortunately, ISIS is only one of severalgrowing terrorist threats in the world, said Panetta, noting threats in Yemen, Somalia and Nigeria.3. Panetta also looked at the rogue state of North Korea and it's potential threat of mobile ICBMs aimed at U.S.territory; the continuing concerns Iran will be able to produce nuclear weapons; the chaos and carnage in Syria; thethreats to Israel from Hamas and Hezbollah; and Russia's moves to regain prevailing influence over countries formerly

in the Soviet orbit. Panetta said it's a "very real possibility" Russia will send troops into the Ukraine and that Sovietstrongman Vladimir Putin is "somebody you have to deal with through strength."As if all this wasn't scary enough, Panetta then noted the attempts to assault U.S. security through cyber terrorism,with the potential that America's electrical grid, transportation networks and financial systems could be broughtdown.The United States can hardly withdraw from such a toxic storm. Panetta is right that no other country has the will orthe way to fight back. Isolationism won't provide anything but a false sense of security that inevitably will beshattered.

Terrorists flocking to safe havens in Iraq and Syria

Senator Inhofe,Targeted News Service, August 23, 2014 Saturday 10:43 PM EST , Oklahoma GOP: Inhofe Statement

on Threat of ISIS

The Oklahoma Republican Party issued the following news release:U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), today released thefollowing statement on the growing threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the terrorist group commonly knownas ISIS:"The President's inaction over the last three years has allowed the rapid growth of ISIS, potentially the greatestterrorist threat to American citizens. Thousands of hardened fighters, including ever increasing numbers of foreignfighters with Western passports, are flocking to terrorist safe havens in Iraq and Syria and will return better trained,battle hardened, and internationally networked to spread terror in their home countries."ISIS enjoys safe haven and acts with relative impunity in large swaths of Iraq and Syria . President Obama's failure toacknowledge the reality of the threat has and will continue to endanger American lives. In the absence of a coherent

planto deal with ISIS and meaningful U.S. assistance, the direct threat to the homeland and American citizens willgrow, and the likelihood is more Americans will be savagely killed. The vicious cold-blooded murder of AmericanJames Foley is deplorable and heartbreaking. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and the families of thehostages still being held."The President's limited strikes in Iraq have not halted ISIS momentum- only temporarily redirected it. UntilPresident Obama articulates and implements a comprehensive strategy against ISIS across Iraq and Syria, we willcontinue to see more savage executions, more killing of religious minorities, more humanitarian disasters like Mt.Sinjar, and more enslavement and abuse of women and girls. Obama talks a big game but his actions tell a differentstory. ISIS has shown they're serious about killing Americans. We need to show we're serious about protecting them."


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A2: No Al Qaeda Threat

Al Qaeda threat has morphed into threats from other groups

RTT News(United States), August 22, 2014, Al Qaeda Threat Has Changed And Morphed, Mainly As ISIS: US MilitaryChief

LENGTH: 393 words

(RTTNews) - The threat from Al Qaeda has changed and morphed into a number of loosely connected terror groups,according to the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.The threat from ISIS is a serious representation of the threat from terror groups, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey saidduring a Pentagon news conference Thursday.In the aftermath of 9/11, the United States focused on al-Qaida, and the nation made significant progress against thegroup that killed 3,000 Americans that day.

But the threat has changed and morphed, said the chairman, noting the Arab Spring and the problems in Syria andIraq are part of this threat. In many places there is a lack of governance."We actually have groups that now kind of are loosely connected, in some cases affiliated, that run fromAfghanistan across the Arabian Peninsula into Yemen to the Horn of Africa and into North and West Africa,"Dempsey said.Some of those groups are local, some are regional, and some are global threats and that means it is "going to be a verylong contest," he told reporters."It's ideological. It's not political. It's religious, in many cases," the chairman added.Dempsey said the ISIL terror group, which he prefers to call ISIS, has an "apocalyptic, end-of-days" vision that willeventually have to be defeated.The United States must take the leadership role in this long contest, Dempsey said.


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ISIS is a Threat

ISIS has a 30,000 person army and a billion dollars in cash

The Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio), August 26, 2014 , US must present united front on ISIS, p. A7, FredKundrata, RetiredAir Force Lt. Col. Fred Kundrata is the Democratic nominee for Congress in Ohio's 1st District.

Having served in the Air Force for 28 years, including combat time in the Persian Gulf War, I know that decisions topursue military action should never be taken lightly. But ISIS presents a new kind of threat, a terrorist army withmore than 10,000 fighters, American-made weapons and billions in cash.The United States must present a united front to the world on this critical national security issue.

Congress should put partisanship aside and pass a resolution that gives President Barack Obama the authority heneeds to take on ISIS.In addition, Congress should fast-track funding for Kurdish and moderate Syrian forces, as requested by DefenseSecretary Chuck Hagel, that won't be available until Oct. 1. With the backing of Congress, the president will have clearauthority to expand the mission, within defined parameters, and pursue the objective of destroying ISIS wherever itexists.

ISIS aligning with Al Qaeda

John Hayward, August 25, 2014, Human Events Online,How much of a threat is ISIS to the West?

McCaul noted that ISIS recently announced a new partnership with the branch of al-Qaeda that haunts Yemen ,giving them access to "the premier al-Qaeda bomb maker,"and it's got a massive number of foreign fighters with

international travel papers ready to deploy. The Islamic State is also very aggressive at using social media to gatherrecruits, not all of which have climbed onto airplanes and headed to Caliphate HQ. McCaul said that some general"be on the lookout" advisories have been issued from the Department of Homeland Security to local law enforcementin the United States.The United Kingdom seems to have gone on elevated alert for homegrown terror operatives aswell. The prime suspect for the masked terrorist who appeared in the James Foley beheading video is none otherthan Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, a 23-year-old UK rap singer who gained international notoriety a few weeks ago byposing for photos with a severed human head in Syria. ("Chillin with my other homie, or what's left of him," hecheerfully captioned the photo.)As the UK Daily Mail reports, Bary's father, who he has praised in the rap musicthat somehow didn't tip anyone off that he might be a budding terrorist himself, is currently working his way throughthe American criminal justice system for his role in the 1998 Kenyan and Tanzanian embassy bombings. The elderBary also served as head of Islamic Jihad in London, appointed to the position by al-Qaeda honcho Ayman al-Zawahiri. His duties included running what his UK indictments called "bin Laden's media information office," purchasingterrorist equipment, and recruiting new members for the organization. The Brits are obviously worried about howmany of those recruits might still be hanging around London, awaiting orders.The list of other top suspects for "JihadJohn" related by the New York Post isn't exactly comforting evidence of British social unity:

ISIS a threat to the homelandJohn Hayward, August 25, 2014, Human Events Online,How much of a threat is ISIS to the West?


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A former CIA officer told radio host Laura Ingraham that ISIS and other terror groups have been reaching out toMexican cartels; the massive new terror state in Iraq has plenty of money to pay for the smuggling services of top-shelf coyotes. Former CIA director Mike Morell noted last week that it wouldn't take a lot of sophisticatedequipment for terrorist operatives to rack up an impressive body count in urban or suburban America: "If an ISIS

member showed up at a mall in the United States tomorrow with an AK-47 and killed a number of Americans, I wouldnot be surprised."

Morale and willpower are the alpha and omega of war. ISIS claims the balance of morale is on its side, and it canshow its devotees plenty of evidence to back up that claim, including dim-witted editorials in major Americannewspapers lecturing the Western world on the "moral hazard" of referring to ISIS as "evil," because George Bushcreated them by calling them nasty names. When a terrorist reads crap like this, he's got every reason to think agood massacre in suburbia is all it will take to bring a significant fraction of the American liberal establishment to itsknees, sobbing Bush's name and gargling about "outreach" while they staple white handkerchiefs to pool cues. Also ,since ISIS thrives on its barbaric prestige, it has defensive reasons to pull off some kind of atrocity on 9/11; it willappear weakened to its followers if it doesn't prove it can draw blood from the West . The occasional murder of aWestern hostage won't be good enough to keep those fires of jihad burning.

With all of that in mind - aggressive recruiting by ISIS with a track record of success in Western nations, adeptuse of social media, weak American border security, plenty of soft targets to exploit, plus a weak and confusedWhite House headed by a disconnected President and the anniversary of 9/11 hard upon us - which of the threatassessments I mentioned at the beginning of this article sounds more plausible

ISIS creating a terrorist safe haven in Iraq and Syria

Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise (Oklahoma), August 24, 2014Inhofe warns of ISIS growth, criticizes Obama's handling of 'greatest terrorist threat' to US

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen.Jim Inhofe(R-Okla.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, warnedthisweek that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - the terrorist group known as ISIS - has set its sights on Americans andtargets on U.S. soil, as he crit icized President Barack Obama's handling of the "greatest terrorist threat" to the U.S.His comments came after militants posted a video this week showing the execution of American journalist JamesFoley."The president's inaction over the last three years has allowed the rapid growth of ISIS, potentially the greatest

terrorist threat to American citizens," Inhofe said in a statement released on Saturday. "Thousands of hardenedfighters, including ever increasing numbers of foreign fighters with Western passports, are flocking to terrorist safehavens in Iraq and Syria and will return better trained, battle hardened, and internationally networked to spreadterror in their home countries."Inhofe, who also spoke earlier this week about his concerns with the growing terror organization, urged Obama to

implement a more aggressive strategy."In the absence of a coherent plan to deal with ISIS and meaningful U.S. assistance, the direct threat to the homeland

and American citizens will grow, and the likelihood is more Americans will be savagely killed," Inhofe said.Inhofe noted that Obama's "limited" strikes in Iraq have failed to halt the momentum of ISIS, instead only

"temporarily" redirecting it."Obama talks a big game but his actions tell a different story," Inhofe said. "ISIS has shown they're serious about

killing Americans. We need to show we're serious about protecting them."

ISIS a global terror threat

James Robbins, 8-10, Daily Record (Morristown, New Jersey), Terror threat continues with ISIS, p. 5 James S. Robbins,author of "The Real Custer: From Boy General to Tragic Hero," is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors.


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Last January, President Obama dismissed the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as a mere junior varsity terroristoutfit compared to al-Qaeda. "The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate," he told the NewYorker, "is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant."Flash forward to this summer. Islamist radicals control vast swaths of land across Iraq and Syria, and this week

crossed the border into Lebanon.Their victims' heads festoon telephone wires in Raqqa, Syria, and they have posted videos online showing massexecutions of prostrate Iraqis.Other terror groups are rallying to their black banner. ISIS has been so successful that at the end of June it shortenedits name to simply the Islamic State (IS), with its leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi assuming the title of caliph. PresidentObama may think they are JV, but they clearly see themselves as big league.The Islamic State is metastasizing much the same way al-Qaeda did, but on an accelerated timeline.Osama bin Laden's network grew in the 1990s by recruiting foreign fighters who had battled the Red Army inAfghanistan in the 1980s.The Islamic State has developed its own deep bench of transnational terror talent,recruiting from countriesthroughout the Middle East, Europe, and even the United States.Franchises are reportedly opening in Libya and Tunisia.The North African terror conglomerate Al-Qaeda in theIslamic Maghreb (AQIM) has aligned with IS.Nigerian Boko Haram leader Abu Bakar Shekau has sworn allegiance to Abu Bakr, as has Abu Sayaaf leader IsnilonHapilon in the Philippines.The Islamic State currently controls more fighters, more territory, and has a vaster alliance system than al-Qaedaever did.Like bin Laden, Abu Bakr is exploiting the breakdown in state sovereignty and seizing control of ungoverned spaces.The problem of governance is even worse today than it was in the 1990s, though the White House seems unaware.In June, Obama declared that "the world is less violent than it has ever been," and in July, White House press secretaryJosh Earnest boasted of the administration's role in increasing the "tranquility of the global community."Mr. Obama's perspective is that America is winning the war on terrorism because Osama bin Laden is dead and U.S.drones continue to decimate "core al-Qaeda."However, this perspective is dangerously outdated.The war on terrorism has always been less a battle against a specific terror organization than a struggle against a

violent, transnational extremist ideology.Al-Qaeda is no longer the leading force in global Islamist terrorism; the torch has passed to the Islamic State, whichwe ignore at our peril.In his first public statement as caliph, Abu Bakr proclaimed that the world is divided into two camps, the "camp ofIslam and faith" and the "camp of the Jews, the crusaders, (and) their allies," led by the United States.And like bin Laden, he has a vision.

No plot to attack the USJay Newton Small, 8-25, White House: ISIS Not Planning to Attack the U.S. HomelandYet,http://time.com/3176754/isis-isil-syria-homeland-attack/

Hundreds of Westerners are joining the fight in Iraq and Syria, but the U.S. has found no evidence of a plot against

the homeland over SIS The U.S. government has no evidence of a current plot by fighters for the Islamic State of Iraqand Greater Syria (ISIS) to attack the U.S. homeland, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday. We areconcerned about the threat that is posed by [ISIS], but it is the assessment, as stated by the Chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, by the intelligence community, that there currently is not an active plot under way to attack the U.S.homeland,Earnest told reporters.

ISIS a greater threat than Saddam and Al Qaeda combined

Guardian, 8-22,14, http://guardianlv.com/2014/08/isis-threat-to-turkey-saudi-arabia-and-jordan/#gpUBPhJ8xi4MMBZq.99
http://time.com/3176754/isis-isil-syria-homeland-attack/http://time.com/3176754/isis-isil-syria-homeland-attack/http://time.com/3176754/isis-isil-syria-homeland-attack/


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With ISIS now controlling significant portions of Iraq and Syria, the U.S. faces a threat potentially more grave thanSaddam and al-Qaeda combined. Because ISIS is a Sunni organization fighting against Shiite governments in Syriaand Iraq, the governments of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Jordan have been largely silent even though ISIS representsa threat to their economies as well as their respective regimes. For Turkey, the ISIS fight against the Kurdsconveniently limits the capabilities of a regional nemesis. Nevertheless, the ISIS threat could soon hurt Turkish

commerce routes as well as tourism revenues. The threats to the monarchies of Jordan and Saudi Arabia are moredirect. Any Sunni movement creating street unrest creates pressures on the viability of monarchies forged on theimplied consent of the populace. Much of the financial support for ISIS comes from individuals in Jordan, SaudiArabia and Kuwait. The Kuwait banking system is a sieve that funnels funds to the organization. Again, along thetheme of unintended consequences, U.S. forces tossed Saddam out of Kuwait, yet a significant portion of themonetary lifeblood for ISIS comes from or flows through Kuwait. According to reports, the U.S. government isworking with Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to slow down or stop the flow of funds, but the task is difficult.


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ISIS A ThreatCBW

ISIS terrorists developing chemical and biological weapons capability

James Kittfield, 8-20, The National Journal, August 20, 2014 Why Washington Should Declare War on ISIS

A congressional authorization targeting ISIS, however limited in time or geography, would go a long way towardclarifying for the American people this growing threat to their security. In a recent exclusive interview, Lt. Gen.Michael Flynn, the outgoing director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told me that Islamic extremist groups thathave adopted al-Qaida's nihilistic ideology are stronger and more threatening today than before 9/11."I know that's a scary thought, but in 2004, there were 21 total Islamic terrorist groups spread out in 18 countries.Today, there are 41 Islamic terrorist groups spread out in 24 countries ," said Flynn. "A lot of these groups have theintention to attack Western interests, to include Western embassies and in some cases Western countries. Somehave both the intention and some capability to attack the United States homeland.For instance, we're doing all wecan to understand the outflow of foreign fighters from Syria and Iraq, many of them with Western passports, because

another threat I've warned about is Islamic terrorists in Syria acquiring chemical or biological weapons. We knowthey are trying to get their hands on chemical weapons and use what they already have to create a chemicalweapons capability."


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ISIS A ThreatIraq

ISIS threat growing in Iraqstrategic gains and ethnic cleansing

Anthony H. Cordesman, 8-4, 14 holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic andInternational Studies in Washington, D.C, Iraq: A Time to Act,http://csis.org/publication/iraq-time-actDOA 8-27, 14

It has been more than a month since that options study was completed, however, and the Islamic State has so fargained steadily each week in which the United States has failed to act. It continues to score gains in the area aroundBaghdad. It has won significant battles with the Pesh Merga, in part because of a lack of financial and military supportfrom the Maliki government. It has built up a growing threat to key elements of Iraqs infrastructure and created

major new economic pressures on the Iraqis in Shiite and Kurdish areas by disrupting trade and exports from Turkey.

The Islamic State is also triggering massive internal displacements of more than 1 million Iraqis out of a population ofsome 33 million and creating a revival of Shiite militias and pressures on Arab Sunnis that threaten to further divide

the country and create more internal refugees. It has also carried out at least some mass killings of Shiites,Turkomans, and Yazdis as well as the ethnic cleansing of Christian minorities.
http://csis.org/publication/iraq-time-acthttp://csis.org/publication/iraq-time-acthttp://csis.org/publication/iraq-time-acthttp://csis.org/publication/iraq-time-act


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ISIS Threat - Genocide

ISIS committing genocide

Jerusalem Post, August 11, 2014, For Gaza critics, lessons from ISIS on genocide. Can we expect mass protests inVienna, Paris and Berlin calling for the protection of the oppressed of Iraq? Misrepresenting genocide does an injusticeto all of its true victims, 9

WASHINGTON - Protesters against Israel's operation in Gaza should pay close attention to what is happening innorthern Iraq. From a mountaintop, with a view over enemy combatants from a clear moral high ground, the UnitedStates is acting against the pending threat of actual genocide: the intentional, regime-sponsored systematicextermination of a people based on their identity.Genocide is not a word often uttered by American presidents. In part, that is because genocide is an exceptionally rarecrime. But when the act occurs, it is unmistakable in its scale and its hallmarks: the world knows what has happened,because historically, its perpetrators hold a worldview that their murderous actions were justified.In that tradition, the medieval Islamic State, or ISIS, has made no secret of its goal to rule a caliphate full of zealot

Sunnis, where women are enslaved and mutilated, and nonbelievers are tortured and beheaded. Tens of thousandsof innocents have run for their lives from its warpathwithout much help from the international community - untilnow, from the United States, which has committed its military to the enforcement of the norm codified by the GenevaConventions, against tolerating genocide.Can we expect mass protests in Vienna, Paris and Berlin calling for the protection of the oppressed of Iraq? The UnitedNations High Commissioner for Refugees says over 1 million have been displaced across Iraqi territory in the lastmonth alone, with over 100,000 Christians, Yazidis and many Muslims now seeking shelter.This is what the threat of genocide looks like, for all those confused by its definition. Yazidi children are dying ofthirst on the peak of a low mountain, without roofs over their heads to protect them from the August Iraqi sun, inflight from their homes because ISIS believes their families should submit and convert or perish. ISIS wants thesepeople dead at their hands; the acute travesty unfolding in Iraq is just that simple.International norms require that the world make every effort to protect these innocent people stranded on Mount

Sinjar, regardless of their religion, creed or ethnicity. Thankfully, due to the hard-fought successes of liberaldemocracies, that standard applies to all peoples, everywhere, including the Jews of Israel and of the Diaspora, andthe desperate Palestinians of Gaza.Unfortunately for Gazans, they are ruled by a government that, like ISIS, makes no secret of its intention to kill,systematically, on a massive scale.LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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ISIS Not a Threat

ISIS has no relative military power and no allies

Patrick Buchanan, August 26, 2014 To Defeat the Islamic State,Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of the new book "TheGreatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Majority."

Undeniably, these are bloodthirsty religious fanatics who revel in beheadings and crucifixions and have exhibitedbattlefield bravery and skill.But are 17,000 jihadi fighters in landlocked regions of Iraq and Syria really an imminent and mortal threat to anAmerica with thousands of nuclear weapons and tens of thousands of missiles and bombs and the means to deliverthem?How grave is this crisis? Consider the correlation of forces.Who are the vocal and visible friends and fighting allies of ISIS?They are nonexistent.

The Turks, Saudis, Qataris and Kuwaitis who, stupidly, have been aiding ISISin bringing down Bashar Assad andblowing a hole in the "Shia Crescent" of Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus and Hezbollah, have lately awakened to theiridiocy and are cutting off aid to ISIS.Moderate Sunnis detest ISIS for its barbarism and desecration of shrines. The Christians and Yazidis fear and loathethem. The Kurds, both the Syrian YPG and PKK, which broke open the exit route for the Yazidis from Mount Sinjar, andthe peshmerga despise ISIS.Lebanon's army, Syria's army, Hezbollah and Iran have been fighting ISIS with Russian assistance. Vladimir Putinhimself warned us of the absurdity of our attacking Assad last year, arguing that we would be allying ourselves withthe same terrorists who brought down the twin towers.

Was Putin not right?Even al-Qaida and Hamas have repudiated ISIS.

To find out more about Patrick Buchanan and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit theCreators Web page at www.creators.com.COPYRIGHT 2014 CREATORS.COM

ISIS not a threat to the US homeland

John Hayward, August 25, 2014, Human Events Online,How much of a threat is ISIS to the West?

How much of a threat does ISIS pose to the Western world and the United States? They've murdered an American

hostage on video, delivering what amounts to a declaration of war, complete with promises of more American deathsto come. But are they in a position to make good on that threat, with the anniversary of 9/11 only a few weeksaway?No, says the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as reported by Fox News:

Gen. Martin Dempsey, speaking to reporters on board a military plane traveling to Afghanistan, saidSunday thathe believes the Sunni insurgent group formerly known as ISIS is more of a regional threat and is not currentlyplotting or planning attacks against the U.S. or Europe.

ISIS has repeatedly made threats to attack the U.S. through social and conventional media. Earlier this month, ina Vice News documentary, a spokesman for the group vowed to "raise the flag of Allah in the White House." The


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group took over Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, in June, and has since declared an Islamic state, or caliphate, in aswath of territory covering northeastern Syria and northern and western Iraq. U.S. airstrikes and a new policy of directmilitary aid to Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have served as a check on a threatened ISIS advance toward Kurdishterritory in northern Iraq.

On Sunday, Dempsey contrasted ISIS to the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has plotted

and attempted attacks against the U.S. and Europe. As a result, the U.S. has conducted counterterrorism strikesagainst the group within Yemen.

Dempsey said that so far, there is no sign that the Islamic State militants are engaged in "active plottingagainst the homeland, so it's different than that which we see in Yemen."

"I can tell you with great clarity and certainty that if that threat existed inside of Syria that it would certainly bemy strong recommendation that we would deal with it," said Dempsey. "I have every confidence that the president ofthe United States would deal with it."

Yes, says the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), who appearedon ABC's "This Week" to warn, "Don't kid yourself for a second that they aren't intent on hitting the West," addingthat he believes "external operations" are already under way.

ISIS attributes not a threat to the USPaul R. Pillar, 8-25,14, ISIS in Perspective, is Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Studies atGeorgetown University and Nonresident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, ISIS in Perspectivehttp://nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar/isis-perspective-11150DOA 8-27-14

Several attributesof ISIS haverepeatedly and correctly been identified as measures of the group's strength, andaspects of the group's rise that are worthy of notice. These include its seizure of pieces of territoryin both Iraq andSyria, acquisition of financial resources,and enlistment of substantial numbers of westerners. Although these areimpressive indicators of the group's success, none of them is equivalent to a threat to U.S. interests, much less aphysical threat to the United States itselfat least not in the sense of a new danger different from ones that havebeen around for some time. Money, for example, has never been the main determinant of whether a groupconstitutes a such a danger. Terrorism that makes a difference can be cheap , and one does not need to rob banks in

Mosul or to run an impressive revenue collection operation in order to have enough money to make a n impact. Even aterrorist spectacular on the scale of 9/11 is within the reach of a single wealthy and radically-minded donor tofinance.

No real threat to the involvement of Westerners

Paul R. Pillar, 8-25,14, ISIS in Perspective, is Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Studies atGeorgetown University and Nonresident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, ISIS in Perspectivehttp://nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar/isis-perspective-11150DOA 8-27-14

The involvement of western citizens with terrorist groups has long been a focusof attention for western police and

internal security services. To the extent this represents a threat, it is not a direct function of any one group's actionsor successes overseas, be they of ISIS or any other group.Several patterns involving westerners' involvement withforeign terrorist groups are well established. One is that the story has consistently been one of already radicalizedindividuals seeking contact with a group rather than the other way around. If it isn't one particular group they seekout, it will be another. A further pattern is that, despite frequently expressed fears about westerners acquiringtraining overseas that they then apply effectively to terrorist operations in the West, this hasn't happened . FaisalShahzad and his firecracker-powered attempt at a car bomb in Times Square illustrate the less ominous reality. Yetanother pattern is that apart from a few westerners whose language skills have been exploited for propagandapurposes, the westerners have become grunts and cannon fodder. They have not been entrusted with sophisticatedplots (unsuccessful shoe bomber Richard Reid being the closest thing to an exception), probably partly because of
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their evident naivet and largely because of groups' concerns about operational security and possible penetration.

Control of land does not make ISIS a threat


The control by a group of a piece of territory, even if it is mostly just sand or mountains, is what most often is takenmistakenly as a measure of the threat a group poses, and this phenomenon is occurring in spades with ISIS. Probablyseizure of land is interpreted this way because following this aspect of the progress of a group is as simple as lookingat color-coded maps in the newspaper. The history of terrorist operations, including highly salient operations such as9/11, demonstrates that occupying some real estate is not one of the more important factors that determinewhether a terrorist operation against the United States or another western country can be mounted. To the extentISIS devotes itself to seizing, retaining, and administering pieces of real estate in the Levant or Mesopotamiaandimposing its version of a remaking of society in those piecesthis represents a turn away from, not toward,

terrorism in the West. Significant friction between ISIS (then under a different name) and al-Qaeda first arose whenthe former group's concentration on whacking Iraqi Shias was an unhelpful, in the view of the al -Qaeda leadership,digression from the larger global jihad and the role that the far enemy, the United States, played in it.

ISIS will focus attacks on the Middle East, not the US

Mideast Mirror, August 20, 2014The vacuous war on ISIS

As for the claim that the 'Islamic State organization' poses a threat to the entire world - with British PM DavidCameron going so far as to say that the threat may reach his country's streets unless it is fought in its cradle - it is aclaim that finds nothing to support it forcefully, at least at the present time. This is because the 'Islamic State' nowseems more determined to use its sword against 'apostate and heretic' Muslims, who refuse to pledge allegiance to

it in Iraq and Syria, than it is interested in using it against anyone else.Here, sadly, the situation seems as follows: What aggravates the West is not the beheading of Muslims by theorganization, or its attacks on non-Muslims; what aggravates the West is the organization's drawing nearer to vitalstrategic areas such as Iraqi Kurdistan. At any rate, it seems somewhat improbable that the threat will move on tothe West or the U.S.; in fact, there seems to be an attempt to exaggerate the threat for reasons that remaincurrently unclear.

ISIS is well resourced and plans on attacking the US

James Kittfield, 8-20, The National Journal, August 20, 2014 Why Washington Should Declare War on ISIS

Most importantly, ISIS today represents a direct and growing threat to the United States. It has attracted an estimated

12,000 foreign fighters to its black banner flying over Syrian and Iraqi territory, including hundreds of Europeans andAmericans who can travel freely with Western passports. It has a bigger sanctuary, far more money, and is moreindiscriminately murderous than al-Qaida was on Sept. 10, 2001. ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has assured anyonewho will listen that he eventually intends to direct his jihad at the United States, telling the U.S. soldiers who releasedhim from prison in 2009, "I'll see you in New York."

US citizen supporters of ISIS do not threaten the homeland

CNN Wire, August 18, 2014, ISIS: Is it really a threat to the U.S.?
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LYet so far no U.S. citizen involved in fighting or supporting the Nusra Front or ISIS has been charged with plotting toconduct an attack inside the United States despite the fact the war in Syria is now in its fourth year and the war inIraq is its 11th year. Indeed, some Americans who have traveled to Syria have ended up dead apparently because

they have no combat experience to speak of; for instance, Nicole Mansfield from Flint, Michigan, was killed in Syrialast year by forces loyal to the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.Further, ISIS' predecessor, al Qaeda in Iraq, never tried to conduct an attack on the American homeland, although itdid bomb three American hotels in Jordan in 2005.And it's also worth noting that in none of the successful terrorist attacks in the States since 9/11 , such as the BostonMarathon bombings last year or Maj. Nidal Hasan's massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, did any of the convicted oralleged perpetrators receive training overseas.

Returning foreign fighters from the Syrian conflict pose a far greater threat to Europe, which has contributed a muchlarger number of foreign fighters to the conflict than the United States, including an estimated 700 from France, 450from the United Kingdom and 270 from Germany.Unlike in the United States, European countries have reported specific terrorist plots tied to returning Syrian fighters.Mehdi Nemmouche, a suspect in the May 24 shootings at a Jewish museum in Brussels, Belgium, that killed fourpeople, spent about a year with jihadist fighters in Syria, according to the Paris prosecutor in the case. ButNemmouche's case is the only instance of lethal violence by a returning Syrian fighter in the West.Still, the United States must consider European foreign fighters returning from Syria as more than a European problembecause many of those returning are from countries that participate in the U.S. visa waiver program and can enter theStates without a visa.Moreover, experienced al Qaeda operators are present in Syria. As one senior U.S. intelligence official put it to us,these are veteran members "with strong resumes and full Rolodexes." The wars in Syria and Iraq allow such longtimefighters to interact with members of other al Qaeda affiliates. For example, in July, the United States adoptedenhanced security measures at airports based on intelligence that bomb-makers from al Qaeda in the ArabianPeninsula were sharing their expertise in making bombs capable of evading airport security with members of theSyrian Nusra Front.Despite these dangers, however, the threat to the United States from foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq remains only a

potential threat.The administration's airstrikes in Iraq are properly focused upon the more imminent threats to U.S. governmentemployees and American citizens in the Kurdish city of Irbil who are threatened by ISIS advances and the humanitariancatastrophe befalling the Yazidi population in areas controlled by the militant forces.The last time there was a similar exodus of American citizens and residents to an overseas holy war was to Somaliafollowing the U.S.-backed invasion of Somalia by Ethiopian forces in 2006. More than 40 Americans subsequently wentto Somalia to fight with Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-affiliated group.Just as is the case today in Syria, for a good number of the Americans who went to fight in Somalia it was a one-wayticket because 15 of the 40 or so American volunteers died there either as suicide attackers or on the battlefield.In 2011, U.S. Peter King, R-New York, then-chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, warned ofAmericans fighting in Somalia. "With a large group of Muslim-Americans willing to die as 'martyrs' and a strongoperational partnership with al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and in Yemen, al-Shabaab now has more capability thanever to strike the U.S. homeland."As it turned out, those Americans who returned from the Somali jihad did not attempt or carry out any kind ofterrorist attack in the States.Now King is back at it again, telling NBC last week, "ISIS is a direct threat to the United States of America. ... They aremore powerful now than al Qaeda was on 9/11."

ISIS relatively weak militarily and does not present an existential threat

Patrick Buchanan, 8-14, The Lawton Constitution (Oklahoma), Is ISIS 'an existential threat' to our homeland?


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"I think of an American city in flames because of the terrorists' ability to operate in Syria and Iraq," said Graham, "Mr.President... what is your strategy to stop these people from attacking the homeland?"This semi-hysterical talk of an "existential threat" to the "homeland," and the dread specter of "an American city inflames" is vintage war party, designed to panic us into launching a new war.

But before allowing these "Cassandras" to stampede us back into the civil-sectarian Middle East wars that resultedfrom our previous interventions, let us inspect more closely what they are saying.If ISIS' gains are truly an "existential threat" to the republic and our cities are about to "go up in flames," why did theseRepublican hawks not demand that President Obama call back Congress from its five-week vacation to vote toauthorize a new war on ISIS in Syria and Iraq?After all, King, McCain and Graham belong to a party that is suing the president for usurping Congressional powers.Yet, they are also demanding that Obama start bombing nations he has no authority to bomb, as ISIS has not attackedus.King, McCain and Graham want Obama to play imperial president and launch a preemptive war that their ownCongress has not authorized.What kind of constitutionalists, what kind of conservatives are these?Is Graham right that an "existential threat" is at hand? Is our very existence as a nation in peril? Graham says no forcein the Mideast can stop ISIL without us. Is this true?Turkey, a nation of 76 million, has the second-largest army in NATO, equipped with U.S. weapons, and an air forceISIL does not have.If President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wanted to crush ISIS, he could seal his border to foreign fighters entering Syria andsend the Turkish army to assist President Bashar Assad in annihilating ISIS in Syria.The jihadists of the Islamic State may be more motivated, but they are hugely outnumbered and outgunned in theregion.The Syrian government and army, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Shia-dominated government of Iraq, a Shia Iran of 70million, and the Kurds in Syria and Kurdistan are all anti-Islamic State and willing to fight.All are potential allies in a coalition to contain or crush ISIS, as is Vladimir Putin's Russia, if U.S. diplomacy were notfrozen in the 1980s.Only last August, McCain and Graham were attacking Obama for not enforcing his "red line" by bombing Syria's army,the most successful anti-ISIL force in the field.

The threat of the Islamic State should not be minimized. It would provide a breeding and training ground for terroriststo attack us and the West. But it should not be wildly exaggerated to plunge us into a new war.For wherever ISIS has won ground, it has, through atrocities and beheadings, imposition of Sharia law, and ruthlessrepression, alienated almost everyone, including al-Qaida.

ISIS doesnt present a direct threat to the US

FOX News, 8-25, 14, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/25/joint-chiefs-chairman-says-isis-not-direct-threat-to-west-wont-recommend-syria/

Despite threats to the contrary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff insisted the Islamic State terror group is aregional threat and said he would not recommend U.S. airstrikes in Syria until he determines that they have

become a direct threat to the U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey, speaking to reporters on board a military plane traveling toAfghanistan, said Sunday that he believes the Sunni insurgent group formerly known as ISIS is not currently plottingor planning attacks against the U.S. or Europe.


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Military Attacks on ISIS Wont Stop Terrorism

Destroying ISIS will lead to terrorism in other forms


And what does destroying the group really mean? Our experience with al-Qaeda should have taught us to ponderthat question long and hard. We killed innumerable number three leaders of al-Qaeda, we killed bin Laden himself,and we have rendered Ayman al-Zawahiri a largely irrelevant fugitive. We have in effect destroyed the organization, orat least as much as can be expected from more than 13 years (yes, the process started before 9/11) of destruction. Butthe methods we really were worried about lived on through a metastasis that led to the emergence of otherorganizations. ISIS is one of those organizations. If ISIS is destroyed, there is little reason to believe that the methodswe most worry about, and associated ideologies, will not take still other forms.

ISIS was created because we tried to destroy a different monster in Iraq


The extent of any terrorist threat to the United States does not depend on killing any one organization. It will dependpartly on those political processes in countries such as Iraq and Syria. It also will depend on how well the UnitedStates, in going after any one monster, does not create other ones. In that regard we cannot remind ourselves oftenenoughespecially because this fact seems to have been forgotten amid the current discussion of ISISthat ISIS itself

was born as a direct result of the United States going after a different monster in Iraq.
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Military Attack on ISIS Good

Attacking ISIS necessary to stop future attacks on the US

MailOnline, August 22, 2014Obama must eradicate ISIS NOW - or pay the price later: Top Marine general says militants must be stamped outimmediately, as Hagel admits they could become more dangerous than Al Qaeda

General John Allen is the latest military leader to speak out against the growing threat of ISISAllen, who led international forces in Afghanistan, said the U.S. had to 'eradicate' the terrorism organization now - orrisk attacks in the futureHe praised Obama for recent airstrikes, but urged him to 'move quickly to pressure the organisations entire "nervoussystem"'Allen's comments come the same day as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned of the threat from ISIS

Terror network in Iraq and Syria is 'an imminent threat to every interest we have,' he saidTensions are high in the Obama administration following a gruesome video showing an ISIS Islamist beheadingAmerican journalist James FoleyA top Marine general has warned thatPresident Obama must use the might of the U.S. military to 'eradicate' ISISnow - or risk paying the price later with more attacks on the West.General John Allen, who led international forces in Afghanistan, warned that if ISIS is allowed to build a stable base ofpower in Iraq and Syria it will be able mount more attacks on Americans and American interests.He spoke out in DefenseOne, days after the brutal execution of James Foley - and on the day Chuck Hagel admittedthat the threat from ISIS could surpass even that posed by Al Qaeda.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO'They are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it's in Iraq or anywhere else,' said Hagel on Thursday.'They are beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology, a sophistication of...military prowess. They aretremendously well-funded. This is beyond anything we've seen.'Writing for the DefenseOne website, Allen was quick to praise President Obama for the airstrikes he had alreadyordered on ISIS camps in northern Iraq, but he went on to urge the President to 'move quickly to pressure theorganisations entire "nervous system", break it up, and destroy its pieces.''The U.S. is now firmly in the game and remains the only nation on the planet capable of exerting the kind ofstrategic leadership, influence and strike capacity to deal with IS,' he wrote.'It is also the only power capable of organizing a coalition's reaction to this regional and international threat. ''This group is not a flash in the pan that will go away of its own accord or if we don't poke at it.'Allen did not propose a return to ground combat, but urged a 'focused advise and assist' mission to bolster Iraqi andKurdish soldiers and non-jihadist Syrian rebels, a commitment that would require a reintroduction of significantlymore US military advisers.He also warned that the threat from ISIS was not something that was simply limited to the countries in the in Middle

East, but provided a very real treat in the western world too.ISIS foot soldiers with U.K., European, and American passports pose a serious threat to all our safety, he warned - andthe organization was clearly more advanced than al-Qaeda.'It's worth remembering the Taliban provided the perfect platform from which al -Qaeda attacked the U.S., and theTaliban were and remain as cavemen in comparison to ISIS,' he wrote.General Allen denied that the U.S. military was war weary and was fully capable of attacking and reducing ISIS.'We should do it now, but supported substantially by our traditional allies and partners, especially by those in theregion who have the most to give - and the most to lose - if the Islamic State's march continues.'Allen wrote that James Foley's killing 'embodies' the threat from Isis, which he called 'an entity beyond the pale of


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humanity'. 'If we delay now, we will pay later,' he warned.General Allen's comments came hours after Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel dramatically upgraded the U.S.government's estimation of the threats America faces from the terrorist organization.ISIS is 'as sophisticated and well-funded as any group that we have seen,' Hagel told a group of reporters during a

joint press conference he held with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.

'They're beyond just a terrorist group.They marry ideology and a sophistication of strategic and tactical militaryprowess. They are tremendously well funded....This is beyond anything we've seen, so we must prepare foreverything.'


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Should Strike in Syria

If we dont strike in Syria, ISIL fighters will flee to Syria and hide there

MailOnline, August 26, 2014, White House says Obama could attack ISIS in Syria 'regardless of borders' and WITHOUTapproval from Congress

No such welcome has been extended by Bashar al-Assad, the decidedly anti-American dictator in Damascus.ISIS enjoys influence across a wide swath of land in both Iraq and Syria, presenting the Pentagon with the possibilitythat decisive victories in Iraq could drive the group to safe haven in Assad's country.Defeating them there could present the Pentagon with an unwelcome outcome if the terror group's forces regroupinside Syria.ISIS also represents a threat to Assad's rule, meaning that crushing ISIS once and for all could have the unintendedconsequence of strengthening the strongman.Calling on the example of Navy SEAL raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil, Earnest

suggested Monday that Assad's assent to chase ISIS past where Iraqi territory ends wouldn't be required.'The United States was not invited in by the Pakistani government' to take out bin Laden, Earnest reminded reporters.'That was a decision the president made.'

Cant get rid of ISIS by only attacking them in Iraq

MailOnline, August 22, 2014Obama must eradicate ISIS NOW - or pay the price later: Top Marine general says militants must be stamped outimmediately, as Hagel admits they could become more dangerous than Al Qaeda

Dempsey added later in the briefing that ISIS can't practically be contained in Iraq, since it also has deep roots andtremendous resources across the Syrian border.

The terror group 'has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision that will eventually have to be defeated,' the generalexplained.'Can they be defeated without addressing that part of the organization that resides in Syria? The answer is no. Thatwill have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at this point a nonexistent border.'


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Should Not Strike in Syria

5 reasons air strikes in Syria will fail

Aaron David Miller, 8-25, 14 is vice president for new initiatives and a distinguished scholar at the Woodrow WilsonInternational Center for Scholars. His forthcoming book is titled The End of Greatness: Why America Can't Have (andDoesn't Want) Another Great President, Foreign Policy, The Islamic States Home Field Advantage,

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/08/25/the_islamic_state_home_field_advantage_syria_iraq_obama_airs

trikes?wp_login_redirect=0 DOA 8-27-14

And yet it seems that the White House's answer is to just grab another hammer -- to start slamming IS on both sides ofthe Syria-Iraq border.

Barack Obama is still a risk-averse president, particularly when it comes to the use of force in the Middle East. But likea moth to a flame, realities on the ground, the logic of the situation, and his own calculus are irrepressibly drawinghim closer to using air power in Syria.

Here are five reasons why it's not such a great idea. Let's quickly lay out the downsides of striking IS in Syria -- andthen move to the reasons the president is increasingly likely to do so anyway.

1. Syria isn't Iraq: In Iraq, the United States has several advantages that could make airstrikes against the Islamic Statereasonably effective, including reliable Kurdish allies, the chance of standing up U.S.-trained Iraqi defense forces,intelligence assets, U.S. special operators on the ground, and at least a chance to forge a political reconciliation inBaghdad that might ease the disaffection and alienation of Iraqi Sunnis on which IS now feeds.

Syria has none of these. And none are soon coming, even if the United States gets serious about training andequipping those elusive Syrian moderates or creating an entirely new military force. Indeed, in this regard, Syria hasalways been a witches' brew of negatives. And it's tough to see that changing now, even with a belated and more

focused U.S. effort to provide weapons and support to the moderate rebels.

Just look at a few of the obstacles to consistent support: a dizzying array of divided and dysfunctional rebel groups,external backers whose motives are diametrically opposed (see: Saudi Arabia and Qatar), and a Free Syrian Army thatin the words of the Monkey Cage's Marc Lynch was always more fiction than reality. This landscape has fueled theIslamic State's rise and has simultaneously limited the effectiveness of outside intervention, including airstrikes.

2. Airstrikes won't work:To have a chance of hitting the right targets with any consistency, those 500-poundAmerican bombs require local allies on the ground to provide forward spotters and good intelligence. Airstrikes, as wesaw in the open desert of Libya during the 2011 intervention, are better suited against militaries concentrating andmoving in open areas than against local militias that have taken root. Take for instance Raqqa, the headquarters of theIslamic State's caliphate. There's no way an air assault in that urbanized and populated environment would work.

The idea that a bombing campaign alone -- even if it's devastating and sustained -- will seriously check, let alonedefeat, IS in Syria is a flat-out illusion. And I say this knowing all of the Islamic State's many weaknesses: a governingideology that alienates, weak or nonexistent opponents, and the absence of deep roots and legitimacy in Syria. TheIslamic State has drawn support not just from Bashar al-Assad's brutal repression of Sunnis, but from former IraqiPrime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's repressive policies toward Iraq's Sunnis. Indeed, IS's roots are in Mesopotamia andlead back to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). It's not a coincidence that the megalomaniacal "CaliphIbrahim" is actually named Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Damascus or Raqqa may be important, but they're only a means toachieve the more important goal -- a caliphate based in Baghdad.
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Still, IS is now ensconced in its host Syrian environment like a barnacle attached to the side of a boat. If you believethat it can be defeated or rolled back without a major ground campaign either by the United States or its allies on theground and without the emergence of stable and good governance on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border, I've got agreat tip on someyellowcake in NigerI'd like to sell you.

3.Americans ain't interested: Polls suggest most Americans don't like Obama's foreign policy. Who would? It's messyand seemingly devoid of strategy, and he hasn't had a slam dunk since whacking Osama bin Laden. To try to sellanother ground war in Iraq (and/or Syria) with grandiose conflict-ending goals won't be politically popular or evenfeasible. Look at the quandary Congress confronted in 2013 when asked to authorize limited airstrikes in Syria inresponse to Assad's use of chemical weapons. I was told calls to some congressional offices were running 10 to oneagainst. Given IS's particularly unique brutality, today's politics might sustain airstrikes, special operators, dronestrikes, and the supply of weapons to the rebels. But much more beyond that seems unlikely now.

The only circumstance that might engender the kind of political consensus to sustain a comprehensive militarystrategy to defeat IS would be an attack on the homeland. But even after America's sad experience in Iraq, it wouldhave to be a pretty significant event to justify anything more than a tactical response. You can blame Obama all youwant for the rise of IS -- heading to the exits too quickly in Iraq and not supporting Syria's moderate rebels early

enough -- but his predecessor's unpopular policies in Iraq gave birth to the group that is now the Islamic State.Americans are right to be cautious about being scared into another quixotic Iraqi adventure.

4. The homeland's doing just fine: Terrorism isn't a strategic threat to the United States right now. Last year, the StateDepartment'sannual terrorism reportidentified 17,891 global fatalities to terrorism; 16 of those were Americans. Anddespite the Islamic State declaring its intention to fly the flag of Allah from the White House, the reality is that it's veryunlikely the group will ever be an existentialthreat to the homeland. But with the money, weapons, passports, foreignfighters, and sanctuaries it has been acquiring, the Islamic State clearly poses a significant risk to the United States andits allies.

James Foley's murder isn't the equivalent of 9/11. But former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell'swarningsthat IShas declared war on the United States and that he wouldn't be surprised if a member opened fire with an AK-47 at a

U.S. mall has shifted the image of the group as a distant regional threat to one here at home.

Indeed, the chilling picture of a masked terrorist executing Foley has brought the conflict home, making a bunch ofcrazy terrorists killing people in a far-off region a deeply personal and American problem.

But I think few people would argue that Obama should make a major military commitment in Syria to avenge the lifeof one American.

5. Assad still isn't our friend: The final downside hasn't changed in four years. Any campaign to weaken the IslamicState will help out Assad. Many analysts argue that IS, in fact, is a creation of the Assad regime, which has used thebrutality of this Islamist group to present the message to would-be enemies in Washington and other capitals thatDamascus is defending Syria from a fate far worse. After reportedly releasing up to 1,000 hardened prisoners in 2012and willfully avoiding the targeting of IS positions, the Syrian regime has finally gotten serious about trying to weakenthe Islamic State as the jihadists have moved against regime facilities in northeastern Syria.

The alignment, however indirect, of U.S. and Syrian regime interests may be an inconvenient truth, but it's hardly ashocker. Assad is killing his own people and radicalizing Sunni jihadists, but unlike the Islamic State, he hasn't singledout the United States or Europe as a primary target of his military campaign. And though he might be a coldbloodedkiller, his status quo mentality and secularism don't quite alarm us in the way that IS's nihilist fundamentalists do.Nobody is calling for a U.S. alliance with Assad. But it seems clear that Washington has accepted the reality that hisregime is going to survive.
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,463779,00.htmlhttp://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,463779,00.htmlhttp://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,463779,00.htmlhttp://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2013/http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2013/http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2013/http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/08/21/former-deputy-cia-director-i-would-not-be-surprised-if-isis-member-shows-up-to-us-mall-tomorrow-with-ak-47/http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/08/21/former-deputy-cia-director-i-would-not-be-surprised-if-isis-member-shows-up-to-us-mall-tomorrow-with-ak-47/http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/08/21/former-deputy-cia-director-i-would-not-be-surprised-if-isis-member-shows-up-to-us-mall-tomorrow-with-ak-47/http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/08/21/former-deputy-cia-director-i-would-not-be-surprised-if-isis-member-shows-up-to-us-mall-tomorrow-with-ak-47/http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2013/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,463779,00.html


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Should Strike ISIS

Allowing ISIS to maintain a base in Iraq enables it to export terrorism

Betsy Hiel, 8-17, 2014, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, ISIS puts U.S. in its bull's-eye, Kurds say

Meanwhile, ISIS's victories are producing more volunteers and support elsewhere.Sympathizers in London distributed ISIS fliers, and those in Germany attacked Yazidi immigrants; when ISIS supportersrallied in The Hague, the mayor there canceled a counter-demonstration.A Canadian was killed while fighting for ISIS in Iraq, according to media reports; other media tell of European women

joining the terror group. On Twitter, a British ISIS member boasted of holding Yazidi women as slaves.If ISIS maintains a base in Syria or Iraq, Attoof said, "of course, it would be so easy for them to export terroranywhere they want in the world ."Said Shwan: "If ISIS takes Kurdistan, you will have lost the only pillar of democracy in Iraq . ISIS represents a threat toall of us, particularly the United States."


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Air Strikes Alone Wont Solve ISIS in Syria

Air strikes will not stop ISIS in Syria


It also seems absurd given another other obvious choice that seems to be getting relatively scant attention: Workingwith the other Syrian opposition groups to fight both Assad and Islamic State. These opposition groups certainly don'twant the U.S. to side with Assad, but they do want help fight the Islamic State and advocate a strong role forthemselves."The Syrian Opposition fully supports a comprehensive U.S.-led campaign to launch military strikes in Syria against theIslamic State terrorist army and al-Qaeda affiliates," Oubai Shahbandar, an adviser to the Free Syria Foreign Mission inWashington D.C., explains. "The anti-Islamic State resistance on the ground is led by the Free Syrian Army and tribes."The Free Syrian Army itself seems to advocate something even broader."Airstrikes against ISIS inside Syria will not be helpful," Hussam al-Marie, the spokesman for the group in northern

Syria, told The Daily Beast. "Airstrikes will not get rid of ISIS. Airstrikes are like just tickling ISIS."


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International Coalition Needed

Only an international effort can defeat the ISIS

New York Times (editorial), 8-24, 14,http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/opinion/a-necessary-response-to-isis.html?_r=0A Necessary Response to ISIS DOA 8-27

TheUnited States cannot go it alone in the fight against the Islamic Statein Iraq and Syria, the extremist groupknown as ISIS whose ruthlessness and killing has dumbfounded and horrified the civilized world.

American airstrikesand other assistance from the United States have brought some measure of relief to religiousminorities and others that ISIS has threatened. But defeating, or even substantially degrading, ISIS will require anorganized, longer-term response involving a broad coalition of nations, including other Muslim countries , andaddressing not only the military threat but political and religious issues.

The recent persecution of Christians and Yazidis and the murder of James Foley, an American journalist, has broughtISISs savagery into full view. On Thursday, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said ISIS

posed an immediate threat to the West, in addition to Iraq, because thousands of Europeans and other foreignerswho have joined the group and have the passports to travel freely could carry the fight back to their home countriesincluding the United States.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was equally emphatic. ISIS, he warned, is beyond anything that weve seen becauseit is extremely well-financed and has demonstrated sophistication and tactical skill in its campaign to impose anIslamic caliphate by brute force. Other analysts have gone so far as to describe ISIS as one of the most successfulextremist groups in history because of its ability to seize and hold large sections of two countries Iraq and Syria with what seems like blinding speed.

While the group poses a risk to the United States and the West, those paying the biggest price are Muslims. Thats

why PresidentObamawas correct to argue that from governments and peoples across the Midd le East, there has tobe a common effort to extract this cancer so that it does not spread. Making this happen will take Americanleadership, but, so far, neither he nor Americas allies have laid out a coherent vision of exactly what this fight mightentail or how to achieve success.

The response to the immediate crisis has been prudent. The United States has insisted that Iraqs government and

army set aside longstanding rivalries and work with the pesh merga militia of Kurdistan to back up American airstrikesby fighting ISIS on the ground. Germany, Italy, Britain and France have promised weapons.

The politics of Iraq, however, remain dangerously unsettled. The United States successfully pressed for a change fromNuri Kamal al-Maliki as prime minister in Iraq because only a more inclusive leader would have any chance of unifyingthe country against the ISIS threat. And, in a rare convergence of interests, Iran also withdrew its support from Mr.

Maliki, resulting in the appointment of a new leader, Haider al-Abadi. But Parliament has yet to give final approval tothe new government, thus prolonging political uncertainties that undermine the fight against ISIS.

The prospects of defeating ISIS would be greatly improved if other Muslim nations could see ISIS for the threat it is.But, like Iraq, they are mired in petty competitions and Sunni-Shiite religious divisions and many have their ownrelations with extremists of one kind or another. ISIS has received financing from donors in Kuwait and Qatar. SaudiArabia funneled weapons to Syrian rebels and didnt care if they went to ISIS. Turkey allowed ISIS fighters andweapons to flow across porous borders. All of that has to stop.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/opinion/a-necessary-response-to-isis.html?_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/opinion/a-necessary-response-to-isis.html?_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/opinion/a-necessary-response-to-isis.html?_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/opinion/a-necessary-response-to-isis.html?_r=0http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/president-obama-on-james-foley-and-muslim-victims/http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/president-obama-on-james-foley-and-muslim-victims/http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/president-obama-on-james-foley-and-muslim-victims/http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/president-obama-on-james-foley-and-muslim-victims/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/opinion/a-necessary-response-to-isis.html?_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/opinion/a-necessary-response-to-isis.html?_r=0


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Once again we are invited to a war of ciilvilzations and our extreme right war party, the one that say we cannot affordhigher wages, the... we are wasting our time and energy on this. there will always be an "ISIS" in that part of theworld. there will always be one angry...

This editorial calls for an international effort to combat ISIS, but never mentions the United Nations. As C.J. Tams has

argued in The...

Creating a regional military force may be required, including assistance from the Gulf Cooperation Council countriesand Turkey. It certainly will require money, intelligence-sharing, diplomatic cooperation and a determined plan tocut off financing to ISIS and the flow of ISIS fighters between states. Francessuggestionfor an internationalconference deserves consideration.

A comprehensive military response coordinated with allies is needed to arrest the ISISthreat.

Thai News Service, August 27, 2014, United States: US Lawmakers Urge Obama to Expand Military Action Against

IslamicState

The U.S. Congress is in recess and members are scattered across the country in their home districts.But a number of congressional leaders appeared on Sunday talk shows to voice alarm about the threat posed by theIslamic State militant group in the wake of the brutal murder of American journalist James Foley.The Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Michael McCaul [said]that the Islamic State,also known as ISIS, presents the greatest threat the world has seen since the September 11th terrorist attacksof2001."This has been festering for the past year, and now it is culminating with the killing and beheading of an American

journalist, which I think is a turning point [for] the American people," McCaul said on ABC's This Week. "It has sort ofopened their eyes to what ISIS really is."The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, agreed. Rogers told NBC's Meet thePress that some fighters from Europe and the United States who have gone to the Middle East to join the terroristnetwork could travel easily back to the West.They are one plane ticket away from U.S. shoresand that's why we're so concerned about it," he said.Retired U.S. Marine GeneralJohn Allen agreed on the seriousness of the threat, and said the United States needs totake a regional approach, working with its allies.It's going to require a comprehensive approach,"Allen said on This Week. "It's got to be more than simple pinpointattacks on key ISIS locationsthat are just security locations in and around dams.

International coalition needed to defeat the ISIS

The News Press, August 26, 2014,http://www.news-press.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/08/23/sen-rubio-

isis-national-security-threat/14472357/DOA 8-27-14West must take fight to Islamic extremists

While airstrikes,a new government in Baghdad that may fulfill President Obama's call for "inclusiveness," andsupport for Kurdish and other forces battling ISIS, are all helpful, something more is needed. An internationalcoalition of armies must be created to fight and defeat ISIS.

The preliminary "targeting" is already happening. The Mail Online reports that ISIS supporters recently distributed
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/20/us-iraq-security-france-idUSKBN0GK0Q820140820http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/20/us-iraq-security-france-idUSKBN0GK0Q820140820http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/20/us-iraq-security-france-idUSKBN0GK0Q820140820http://www.news-press.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/08/23/sen-rubio-isis-national-security-threat/14472357/http://www.news-press.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/08/23/sen-rubio-isis-national-security-threat/14472357/http://www.news-press.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/08/23/sen-rubio-isis-national-security-threat/14472357/http://www.news-press.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/08/23/sen-rubio-isis-national-security-threat/14472357/http://www.news-press.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/08/23/sen-rubio-isis-national-security-threat/14472357/http://www.news-press.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/08/23/sen-rubio-isis-national-security-threat/14472357/http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/20/us-iraq-security-france-idUSKBN0GK0Q820140820


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leaflets on Oxford Street in London. They want people to abandon Britain and join the new Islamic state.

Scotland Yard says it's investigating to see whether any anti-terror laws were broken. If not, new laws should bepassed. This is sedition and any nation that tolerates sedition aids in its own demise. If seditionists are aliens, theyshould be deported; if they are citizens, they should be arrested.

Straight talk from British Prime Minister David Cameron: "... this threat cannot simply be removed by airstrikes alone.We need a tough, intelligent and patient long-term approach that can defeat the terrorist threat at (its) source."

The "source" is Islamism and because it is an amalgam of religious and political doctrines, people regarded as infidelsand deserving of death do not have enough diplomats to dissuade them.

Cameron said Britain has recently strengthened its Immigration Act "to deprive naturalized Britons of their citizenshipif they are suspected of being involved in terrorist activities." He should advocate the same for native born Britonswho are being radicalized. Mosques that preach hatred of Christians, Jews and the West should be closed and theirimams

Documents

ISIS and Terrorism