http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-bacevich-isis-strategy-20140916-story.htmlCritics of President Obama's plan to "degrade and ultimately destroy" ISIS by employing air strikes in Iraq and Syria with support from our Arab allies on the ground say that it's not a comprehensive strategy of dealing with the terror threat, but more of the whack-a-mole method used in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen over the last decade.Although only national security analysts even knew of ISIS a year ago, they've now emerged to somehow become the biggest fear in the world for....well, not necessarily, the West, but at least the U.S. (The Brits, for example, still haven't authorized such air strikes themselves, though they're now about to sign on for that).
But wait — now we're being informed that there are groups worse than ISIS to fear.
Over the weekend the New York Times reported that a group called Khorasan now poses a "more direct threat to America and Europe." Last week the U.S. director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., said that “in terms of threat to the homeland, Khorasan may pose as much of a danger as the Islamic State.”
So ISIS (or ISIL) isn't the biggest fear for the U.S. and the rest of the world?
The Times story goes on to say that ISIS is viewed as more focused on "consolidating territory it has amassed in Syria and Iraq than on attacking the West."
Last week Andrew J. Bacevich, professor emeritus of history and international relations at Boston University (and currently a fellow at Columbia University), wrote about the mix that has created the conditions for radical Islam to take hold: political dysfunction, economic underdevelopment and social alienation, along with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict:
He says getting rid of ISIS isn't going to ease those conditions for anyone:
The key point is this: Were the United States and its partners miraculously to succeed tomorrow in destroying Islamic State and its leader, Abu Bakr Baghdadi, those conditions would still persist. As a consequence, another “Islamic State,” under another banner, inspired by a new leader, would almost certainly appear. And we'll find ourselves right back where we are today. Indeed, Islamic State is itself a legacy organization, successor to the now defunct Al Qaeda in Iraq.On CBS's Face The Nation yesterday, California Senator Dianne Feinstein, asked whether Khorasan and other such groups were a bigger concern than ISIS, said, "Each one of these is capable one day, some sooner than later, of a strike against our country. So this is not a good situation," adding that, "many of us believe [ISIS is] aimed at Baghdad, perhaps our embassy there."
President Obama will press allies this week in New York at the U.N. General Assembly to join the anti-ISIS effort.
In other news:
Over the weekend CL reported on a controversial video posted by critics of the Greenlight Pinellas initiative.