Quote Originally Posted by NorthwestUteFan View Post
This is a tough situation, enhanced because ISIL is really more of an ideology than an actual State. It is more of a virtual movement with a goal of establishing a Homeland in a place they do not occupy.

"Boots on the Ground", or "Bomb them Back to the Stone Age" feel good to say, but won't really accomplish anything unless we are committed to a true occupation of a sovereign nation halfway around the world.

Perhaps one of the largest failures of intelligence was putting a Shia leader in charge of Iraq after Saddam was deposed, thinking that they would somehow mend a thousand years of division with the Sunnis and forget the previous forty plus years of oppression by Saddam's (Sunni) Baathist regime.

With a relative power vacuum among the minority Sunnis and facing oppression from the Shia majority, a new group of leaders stepped in. The most notorious was Abu Mussab al Zarqawi. He molded the IS group into a ferocious geurilla terrorist group, but also somehow convinced the young fighters themselves that they are doing wonderful things for the world, and that life is better with the Islamic State.

We saw just how fierce they can be in the two Battles for Fallujah. Those were 11 years ago. The goal now for IS is to have a glorious and final battle on their home lands vs the US (and Western countries). They use clips from US news programs in their propaganda, particularly from Fox News. They have sold the notion that the US is weak and impotent, and that we plan to put boots on IS lands, which will only lead to increased propaganda for IS.

Maybe they see a huge battle in their own territory as their version of the Battle of Armageddon. But whatever it is they want, we absolutely must not take the bait.
I don't remember on which radio station I heard it, but there was a former Green Beret who said what you said about ISIS...that it was more an ideology than a state. His thoughts were to allow troops to engage with them on the battlefield and give them a good ol' fashioned butt kicking, then only stick around long enough to curb stomp them a bit more, just for the sake of humiliation. Then leave. No nation building, no financial aid to rebuild; give them nothing. If they start trouble, come in and humiliate them again. Repeat as necessary.

He pointed out that it won't kill the ideology, but what it would do is cause fewer and fewer to join the ISIS die hards each time there is a humiliating and crushing defeat on the battlefield. His belief was that eventually - and it wouldn't take too many campaigns really - the rest of the area will get tired of the ISIS types and the problem will take care of itself.

I'm not sure how effective that would be, but it would be something that would expose ISIS as the cowards that they really are, as they would have to fight or shut knock off that crap. This Green Beret said that ISIS is a bully and should be treated as such.