Recently U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made headlines for stating that ISIS would be destroyed in at most three years by the United States and its allies. While this type of statement is important since it shows the world that the United States will not be intimidated by terrorism, it is important to take a closer look at their probable plan of attack.
While air strikes will certainly continue, he made it clear that actually placing U.S. soldiers on the ground is out of the question. He did however state that training and equipping Iraqi soldiers was a priority, as was cutting off the financial resources of ISIS. One area that he addressed that might be problematic was a desire to curb the number of foreign fighters that continue to join the ranks of ISIS.
There are two reasons why blocking foreign fighters from joining ISIS may be a big mistake. First if anyone is attempting to join ISIS then they obviously have a terrorist mindset. This means that in whatever country they are currently living they may end up becoming a threat to the law abiding citizens that they live among.
The other reason that this may be a big mistake is that historically the United States and its allies have excelled in conflicts against established nations, and struggled in guerilla war type scenarios. Instead of trying to prevent foreign fighters from joining the ranks of ISIS, the U.S. and its allies should simply step aside and allow anyone who wants to join them to get their wish. By doing this the U.S. and its allies will effectively be encouraging all of their enemies to come together to form their own country, or organization, or whatever it is that they want to form. Once this happens it would be much easier to target them as a whole in order to eradicate the problem. While placing U.S. boots on the ground is off the table, air strikes against established ISIS positions would be highly effective.
After inflicting heavy casualties and damage to an established group, the U.S. could then step aside and allow the local military to finish the operation. Are there risks involved in this type of strategy? Of course there are. By taking this approach the U.S. would be encouraging the ranks of ISIS to swell, which would create a larger and potentially more dangerous enemy. However on the other hand this type of strategy would consolidate the scope of the enemy that is being faced into a much more centralized area. This would allow the U.S. and its allies the ability to unleash an aerial assault with which ISIS would have no way to contend.
Ultimately the decision has to be made as to whether fighting a hidden enemy that is widespread is preferable to having one that is much easier to target. Once the U.S. realizes that allowing foreign fighters to apparently strengthen ISIS is the first step in a winning tactic, we will be on the path to ridding the world of this brutal and violent movement.
By: Larry John