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There are 6 comments on POV: Here’s What We Should Do About ISIL

  1. Thank you for writing this. I wish more people would do their research instead of listening to crazy presidential candidates saying they would use all of the force in the world to eliminate ISIS. If only it was that easy. We are fighting an ideology, and that requires a strong understanding of what this ideology is, their goals, and why people are attracted to their sick, twisted version of Islam. They WANT us to go all in and start a war. They WANT to prove that we “hate” Muslims, and that their fight has a legitimate purpose. Much of winning this fight is power and force, but it is also, in a sense, a mind game.

  2. Interesting piece, however misleading in some parts.First off, author’s frequent emphasis on calling this terrorist cult “Islamic State” is interesting, as they are neither a state nor Islamic. Second, the author forgets in its entirety to at least allude to the disastrous role that West played in inadvertent creation of DAESH (insulting arabic acronym for ISIL). When Syrian civil unrest began, the chaos could have been thwarted by the exact same efforts that now world leaders are making to bring the conflict to and end. Peace talk could have been held and the issue could have been resolved. but the question is why it never happened? The answer lies again in the petty geopolitical games that U.S and some Arab counties played in this conflict. They saw the conflict as an opportunity to remove the last Arab leader, Assad, who was a close ally of Russia and Iran, to cut-off Iran’s ground path to Hezbollah in Lebanon and reduce the increasing Iranian influence in Middle east. So they started arming the opposition and categorized terrorists to “good” and “bad” one. The arms ended up in the hands of the growing monster of DAESH and the rest is history. The author suggests that the U.S should ramp-up his coalition with these Arab countries. This neglects the fact that countries like Saudi Arabia, are the main financiers of DAESH as this group disseminates a version of ISLAM, Wahabism and Salafism, that is practiced and advertised inside this country. They have never fought against DAESH and will never do. So it’s time for the U.S to stop its shortsighted political games and allow the real fighters to do the job.

  3. If you intend to solve this problem solely through a military solution then be prepared to lose many lives and spend a vast amount of resources. One has to understand that this is a complex problem that was not borne in the 21st century but a progression of a problem that started centuries back. What is currently being done is addressing the symptoms and not the cause of the problem. For example, the article mentioned that the allied-nations in the middle east should step up, but these very nations are the ones that are exacerbating the problem. (Bin Laden is Saudi) These nations like Saudi Arabia will have to change their way of governing. Another is Israel. Their refusal to deal honestly with the Palestinians worsens the problem. Will the Western powers continue turn a blind eye on these countries’ transgressions on their people and their neighbors? Don’t the innocents who are suffering in these countries deserve justice too?
    Lastly, it would be hard to fight an enemy when the enemy has nothing else to lose. If the youths of these countries or in this region see a bleak future for them, in their desperation, would they not fight against their oppressors with all means available to them no matter how evil the means are?
    To solve this problem, it would take more than just military means. You will also need social justice.

  4. What makes Daesh so special that it warrants airstrikes, special forces on the ground and mass surveillance of US citizens? Here’s a trivia question for everyone: What do we call +20,000 civilian deaths last year (+164,000 since ’07), indiscriminate mass killings, beheadings, torture, bribery, money laundering and much more, when religion isn’t involved? Organized crime by Mexican drug cartels. Not only do their atrocities match and often exceed those of ISIS, it all takes place in a neighboring country.
    More Americans and citizens in general die each year in the Mexican Drug War than are killed by Daesh and Boko Haram jointly. Where are the gun runs? When was the last time the US bombed Mazatlan? When did the US topple the corrupt Mexican government to lead their citizens to Freedom®?

    You’d think that after years and years of doing the same thing, over and over again, and failing, over and over again, lessons would have been learned. You don’t win ideological wars with military interventions, it only fuels hatred for anything USA. You don’t arm terrorists (“rebels” when they fit your purpose) to play a proxy war with adversaries, or to gain influence over resources, or for whatever geopolitical games you play. And you don’t fix social injustice by toppling governments and then expecting a cultural change overnight to fit the Western democratic model. Western nations only have to look at themselves and the colonial roles they played in 50 years of Middle Eastern conflict to understand why Daesh exists in the first place.

  5. The very first step should be stop calling these monsters jihadists. It is an easy tag for press but a great help for terrorist propaganda. Common features of these terrorists are alcohol-drug consumption and poor Islamic knowledge. It is easy for these ignorants to fall for the propaganda to bring a “meaning” to their lives via a “holy” war. However, regardless of their names, terrorists cannot be Muslims.

    Second, better integration policies especially in France can prevent self radicalization in the ghettos.

    Third, foreign schools in middle east or Africa educate the most privileged elites’ kids. Financial support for the education of the poorest kids and promote critical thinking should be best method to fight against the ideology of terrorism.

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