So what's your view on our future against ISIS?

CAPT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 21:19:18 -0400

We can't fix what they can't fix. http://ciceromagazine.com/opinion/we-dont-need-war-against-isis/

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 24 at 2015 9:39 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 21:39:22 -0400

CAPT Private RallyPoint Member, I would argue that IS is not a war we should fight kinetically, but it definitely is in our interest to engage. I believe our best method to achieve the aim of dismantling IS is through an economic line of attack. Their supply lines are very vulnerable, and their export of elicit oil and plunder are their only viable revenue streams. Much of their ranks are filled with "professional" insurgents who are just in it for the money. Cut the money off, and watch the attrition. They'll also turn on each other as resources get scarce.

I agree that destroying them utterly is probably impossible. But we can certainly eliminate them as a strategic threat through soft power and the careful application of Tier I assets.

I have posted this elsewhere, but ironically I think that the Iraq War insurgency gives us the perfect template to defeat IS. Like the US Army in 2003, IS is attempting to hold vast territory with a very limited amount of men and materiel. They have nowhere near the resources we had in 2003, but hold a similar amount of territory. They have extended supply lines between strongpoints that they can't patrol effectively, and a population that is unfriendly to their occupation. I would suggest that an effective harassment campaign against those long lines of communications by SF assets would confound IS significantly and tie up assets they don't have trying to run the teams to ground. Bad guys coming out of population centers to fight highly trained and well-supported operators in ground of their choosing means bad days for IS fighters.

A taste of your own medicine, jackass. Drink hardy.