The ISIS Crisis

In a speech delivered in Cairo in 2009, President Obama promised to redefine the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world that was he felt was gravely damaged during the Bush presidency; this new relationship was to be based upon mutual interest and above all mutual respect. Obama proudly proclaimed that America was no longer going to impose itself and try to redefine the Muslim world based on their ideas. Obama also promised a withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. These promises were kept; also President Obama chose to ‘lead from behind’ when the ‘Arab Spring’ occurred in many parts of the Muslim world. This meant no boots on the ground, no active involvement and no responsibility of re-building.  There were words of encouragement and some help, but other countries were also involved and compelled to take an active part. The interventions for Iraq and Afghanistan had and continue to cost the US billions of dollars and huge number of casualties. Hence for many in the US and around the world, this new approach by Obama administration was right way to do things.

The recent crisis in Iraq has brought back focus on that troubled country.  Iraq, on the surface seemed to be the easier country to rebuild, largely because of its abundance of natural oil resource. But before the profits of the oil resources could be converted into something useful and constructive, the problem of the deep division among the three chief sects, namely the Shias, the Sunnis and the Kurds needed to be resolved. The new PM Nouri Al Maliki’s role was crucial for the country to be rebuilt as a single unit, he had to be an inclusive leader who involved all sects in his ministry and in his government; this would have earned him the trust and would have proved crucial in building ties among these fractured groups.  But quite the contrary happened, Al Maliki being from the Shia sect himself, favored members of his own sect and gradually began sidelining people from other sects. Many from the trained people from the police force and the army along with other able personnel from the government who were Sunnis or Kurds were expelled from their positions. This weakened the government and the armed forces. This also led to further alienation among the Kurds and the Sunnis who protested but these voices were paid no heed. The complete withdrawal of US troops by the end of 2011 and the new policy of the Obama administration of non-interference meant that Al Maliki could rule the way he wanted keeping his loyalties not to the entire people but only to the sectarian majority of Shias.  The crisis in the neighboring Syria and Obama decision of non-intervention and in fact perplexing move to support the ‘freedom fighters’ against Assad exacerbated the problem. Sunni fighters in Syria crossed the border and entered Iraq to fan the flames of discontent among the discriminated Iraqi Sunnis and Kurds. By the beginning of this year the levels of violence increased with armed groups inside Iraq were increasingly galvanized by the Syrian Civil War. There were a series of bomb attacks across the country and other acts of violence. During the middle of last year, hundreds of Al Qaida terrorists who had received death sentences broke out of prison when a suicide bomber drove a car with explosives into prison gates. This is what many saw as the incident that inspired many within many among the Sunnis to take arms and participate in an uprising against the government. With the government proving to be ineffective, the violence continued and the Sunni extremist group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) along with local Sunnis had taken over the cities such as Mosul, Fallujah and Tikrit and were said to be on their way on Baghdad, this led to vast displacement of people all in these cities and indiscriminate and random killing of people who were branded ‘US Agents’ and ‘agents of Al Maliki’. It is important to know that ISIS was so extreme that it was disavowed by Al Qaeda for its extreme positions and usage of violence. There are also reports of terrorist training camps in Syria led by the ISIS which is engulfed in a bloody civil war.

The big question is how should the world and the US react to this crisis?  There are those who opine that this is strictly an Iraqi problem and perhaps it is wiser to allow the Iraqi people to resolve this among themselves. They argue that even if Iraq is brought under control there will always be countries hostile such as Yemen and there is very little option but to defend the local terrain and not bother about terror elements on foreign soil. But the news of the training camps Syria reminiscent of the training camps in the Taliban ruled Afghanistan makes this an ominous situation. There is also news of various supporters from the US, Europe and India moving to Iraq to join the ‘religious warriors’. With their US, European and Indian passports it will be impossible for them to be stopped should they want to travel to the any part of the world to conduct terrorist operations.  This is clearly problem that can have implications of a global nature is left unattended, much like what happened when the Clinton administration and the early days of the Bush administration decided to ignore Bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan which provided the training for the terrorists that conducted the 9-11 attacks and perhaps many other attacks in other parts of the world.  There has been disturbing development in recent times, in the most barbaric display; the ISIS terrorists beheaded two journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff released videos of them over the internet. There have been several incidents for the kidnapping and raping of women, the indiscriminate slaughtering of innocent Iraqis and the blatant threats to attack various targets in the US, Europe and Asia. It is clear that ISIS is emboldened and is openly challenging the peace of the free world. The United Nations’s latest casualty figures paints a grave picture. There are reports of ISIS selling oil for hefty profits. Thus with a steady income and an influx of recruits ISIS presents a clear and present danger to the security of the modern world.

So what is the best solution?  Nobody is suggesting that the US and its allies enter a full scale war in Iraq all over again, that would be absolutely unnecessary and foolish. This isn’t a war on Islam or Iraq, it instead a war on those mass murderers who use their religion as an excuse for barbarism. This is a humanitarian crisis and an intervention is morally essential, but before any intervention brought into action strong coalition of the local Kurds, Shias and peace loving Sunnis who find themselves paralyzed needs to be built. The US and its allies will have to train and arm the local forces. If at all the US and its allies have to put boots on the ground, it must to be in close alliance with the local forces. Once the coalition is established, there should be surgical drone strikes on certain locations of vital importance to ISIS this would degrade the group considerably, much like the drone strikes in Pakistan that have proved effective in decimating Al Qaeda and the Taliban terrorists. There is also a necessity of peace keeping force and international monitors to be presence in Iraq to ensure that sectarian leaders like Al Maliki are prevented from marginalizing sects that leads to fertile breeding grounds for terrorism. But apart from destroying the base for ISIS in Iraq, the most essential resolution of this problem is for various intelligence agencies to collaborate to track down the individual from the US, EU and India who travelled to Iraq for training. If left unchecked they could either carry out terror attacks and also

With the ISIS crisis been looming over for months now and intensifying in the recent times, you would have expected President Obama have a detailed strategy in place.  But instead, at a recent press conference he said that his administration "didn't have a strategy" for countering the ISIS, a few days later he improved upon that and said the goal was to "destroy and degrade" ISIS, all good words but these words need to be backed with a detailed plan and then action has to begin. This failure to react has baffled many including his most ardent supporters. Dithering or procrastinating at this very crucial juncture will embolden al already brazen ISIS and could very well result in the next 9-11 or 26-11 style terrorist attack and that simply would be unforgivable since there was clear indications of this for months. This is clearly the time to act summarily and strategically for the sake of the stability of the free world.