By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--August 21, 2014
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The US and its allies, Britain foremost among them, need to expand their goals and their means to achieve them. So far President Obama has talked only of containing Isis, of preventing it from massacring Yazidis or taking Erbil. That’s not enough. We should not tolerate the existence of a terrorist state similar to Taleban-era Afghanistan sprawling across Iraq and Syria. Already thousands of foreign jihadis, including many Europeans, have been drawn to Syria. If left unchecked, this terrorist playpen is likely to generate attacks not only on neighbouring states such as Lebanon and Jordan but on western targets too. The West’s goal should be rollback, not containment. In for a penny, in for a pound. If we’re going to bomb Isis, let’s do it right. Or, as Napoleon aptly advised, ‘If you set out to take Vienna, take Vienna.’ Defeating Isis will require boosting the western advisory and special operations presence in Iraq to somewhere in the neighbourhood of 10,000 to 15,000 personnel and sending aircraft that will be based in Iraq, rather than at sea or from distant bases, to facilitate a more sustained bombing campaign. Advisers should be evenly distributed between the Kurdish peshmerga, the Sunni tribes and some of the more capable units of the Iraqi security forces in order to make clear that we are not playing favourites among Iraq’s sectarian groups. Simply having western advisers present alongside anti-Isis fighters will greatly enhance their morale, professionalism and effectiveness.
With more American (and, one hopes, allied) eyes on the ground, it will be possible to call in more air strikes with greater effectiveness, as occurred in Afghanistan during the autumn of 2001. Western commandos such as Seal Team Six, Delta Force and the British and Australian SAS should also expand operations to carry out the kind of intelligence-driven leadership targeting that was an important part of the 2007-2008 surge. Such actions in Iraq must be complemented with greater aid to the Free Syrian Army in order to fight Isis on the other side of the rapidly disintegrating border with Iraq. It will not be quick or easy to reverse the gains that Isis has made. But with the right strategy, appropriate resources and a little determination, Mosul and Fallujah can be retaken before the self-styled Islamic Caliphate solidifies its hold on a region larger than Jordan.I'd be surprised if the strategists at the Pentagon haven't already conceived of a similar strategy. Just because ISIS is ruthless doesn't mean it's a great fighting force. It has marched across Iraq swiftly because, for the most part, it's been able to do so unopposed. The U.S. decided three years ago (well, Obama decided) that it wasn't a priority to prevent such a disaster. And Obama, who dismissed ISIS earlier this year as Al Qaeda's "JV" team, clearly didn't understand until recently (assuming you can give him credit for understanding now) what a serious threat ISIS really represents. Our challenge, therefore, is not to come up with a strategy. It's to muster up the will to execute it. Does Obama really want to do any more than declare himself "appalled" at the murder of James Foley? Because ISIS will grow as a threat to the region - and eventually maybe to us too - only if we don't use the power at our disposal to take them out. We certainly can if Obama ever decides he would like to.
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