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The Islamic State operates in a land locked region. If the borders were sealed and they were not allowed to transport supplies and personnel across borders, this would be a serious complication for the Islamic State preventing the sale of antiquities, oil, and the influx of new recruits, ammunitions, food, ....
Not saying it is our responsibility to man the borders.
Not saying it is our responsibility to man the borders.
ISIS
War on Terror
Homeland Security
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 12
If their borders were sealed then they would just focus more on oppressing people within those borders. However, sealing the borders of a non-state entity is not practical or close to realistic. We would need to man a border of over 1000 miles. It would probably take hundreds of thousands of troops, please many more troops to support the troops securing the border. We can't even guard our own border in the US, how would somebody do it there?
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LTC Yinon Weiss
CPT (Join to see) - Why didn't the US "seal" the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan? Or Iraq and Iran when so many IEDs killing our Soldiers were coming from Iran? Or between Viernam and Laos? It's just not a feasible military option. As I said, we can't even seal our own border. Sealing borders is not a viable military strategy to defeat an enemy. It's not their center of gravity.
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CPT (Join to see)
LTC Yinon Weiss - Sir, It's interesting you say that because POTUS asked Turkey to seal the border between itself and Syria http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-urges-turkey-to-seal-syria-border [login to see]
U.S. Urges Turkey to Seal Border
The Obama administration is pressing Turkey to deploy thousands of additional troops along its border with Syria to cordon off a 60-mile stretch of frontier that U.S. officials say is used by Islamic State to move foreign fighters.
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LTC Yinon Weiss
CPT (Join to see) - Well, of course we would ask for that, we have nothing to lose by doing so. To "seal the border" is a misleading article title however. If you even read just the sub-title you see it says it's really a request to "close off key transit routes", which is drastically different than sealing a border. You close off key transit routes and they'll just switch to using others. I'm not saying there's no point to doing anything, but we need to be deliberate in our words. Defeating, disrupting, containing, sealing... those all mean very different things.
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CPT (Join to see)
LTC Yinon Weiss - You are right. In my original question though I wasn't inferring that the U.S. should commit troops to sealing the borders but the question of what would happen to the organization if the borders were sealed. Would they be able to withstand isolation with the resources they have?
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We can't control the border of a nature reserve in Oregon or our own border with Mexico or Canada. How in the world would would we seal anything in that region.
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CPT (Join to see)
SFC Joseph Weber I'm not asking what would happen if we committed troops. I'm asking what would happen to the organization if it were cut off from the resources of gaining money through the sale of antiquities and oil and prevented from increasing their numbers through recruiting.
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CPT (Join to see) In theory this work just like the sieges of old. You have to feed the terror machine without the supplies arms and munitions coming from outside agencies they would topple.
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CPT (Join to see)
SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT Thank you. I was thinking they would self destruct however LTC Yinon Weiss pointed out correctly they would further oppress those within their borders and become more feudal than they already are...definitely additional things to consider in this matter.
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
That assumes a closed system like a castle. When you have an open system like a kingdom, the dynamic changes. The supplies, arms, and munitions are on the land itself. You don't have to worry about outside agencies unless you have trade partners that supply something essential to the war or survival effort. When speaking of the area that ISIS/ISIL currently occupies, we are talking about a large enough landmass that it should not be an issue.
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SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT
Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS CPT (Join to see) LTC Yinon Weiss TSgt Hunter Logan - I do agree and the bottom line is as long as they continue to get outside help. There will be no easy or simple solution for the victims.
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