Why can’t we stop ISIS?

By Laura Bohnert
ISIS — The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria — is an organization that is based on brutality and terror, and it doesn’t just threaten Canada and the United States; it threatens the stability of all nations worldwide — including the Middle East.
ISIS has been deemed a terrorist organization; however, unlike Al Qaeda and the Taliban (which took a 13-year war to combat), ISIS doesn’t simply fight guerilla-style — that is, it isn’t solely focused on irregular warfare which includes mobile military tactics like ambushes, sabotage, raids, and hit-and-run tactics that are used to fight large armies (or countries) that have much less mobility. ISIS is attempting to construct a state; it is attempting to claim territory and build supply chains. It is a hybrid force, and this incorporation of traditional military features should make its defeat much easier.
Not to mention, ISIS is relatively small, despite its level of destruction. It’s approximated to consist of no more than 30,000, and it does not have an air force or a navy to support it.
So why hasn’t this threat been eradicated yet?
The cost, for one thing. Defense Minister Jason Kenney released a statement on February 19 requesting $139.6 million for military operations; however, the financial expense isn’t the only cost causing the operation to hesitate. In order to fully seize territory from ISIS, the military would have to send ground troops into the area instead of just offering air strikes. The risks associated with defeating ISIS are to the lives of those ground troops, and the controversy that would be generated by sending troops into such an unstable and life-threatening environment may be more than our politicians are willing to gamble with this close to election time.
Nor would the decision be met with any certain willingness on the part of the troops.
But there’s something else, too. The most recent and close-to-home ISIS attacks have functioned to change the face of terrorism — quite literally. Unlike the 9/11 attacks, our terrorist enemies aren’t necessarily identifiable. They aren’t necessarily racialized, and they are most certainly not just coming from without our borders.
As Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson states, Terrorist organizations now “have the ability to reach into our communities and attempt to recruit and inspire individuals who may turn toward violence right here in the homeland.”
This requires a very different tactic if it is going to be defeated. The military eradication of ISIS in the Middle East may not be enough if its demise will cause a series of counter-organizations to crop up in response — especially if many of these occur within our own borders.
At a White House summit on countering violent extremism that was held Wednesday, February 18, Obama stated that “U.S. military action has so far proven the wrong tool to combat a robust social media and propaganda operation” that has claimed “success at recruiting fighters and jihadists from western communities, including such U.S. cities as Denver and Chicago.”
Instead, Obama argues that we need to “combat underlying ideologies that entice otherwise modern individuals — including many disaffected young people — to behead a non-believer, kidnap a schoolgirl, or shoot up a synagogue.”
“Groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL,” Obama continues, “exploit the anger that festers when people feel that injustice and corruption leave them with no chance of improving their lives. The world has to offer today’s youth something better.”
In other words, we need to remind citizens what side of the border they are on. It’s us (U.S.) vs. them, after all, and terrorism can’t work to unite us against the enemy (and inspire the passion of our troops and the padding of the military campaign’s wallet) if the enemy isn’t clearly over there.