Warren: Destroying ISIS should be 'No. 1 priority'

[Chathamization]

64. What gets called ISIS is an assortment of armed Sunni groups, a small minority of whom seem to be in

ISIS proper. Most of the Sunni groups are getting labeled ISIS now, just as there was a time many years ago when they were all labeled al Qaeda. Several groups have shown a willingness to append other names to their groups in exchange for support and money, like when they called themselves awakening groups in exchange for US money and support.

Keep in mind we're talking about taking sides, yet again, in a sectarian conflict* where there are relatively nasty forces that walk amongst all groups. When the previous administration was trying to gin up anger against Iran, we heard a lot more about how horrible the Shiite armed groups were. Bombing Sunni areas is going to have what result, exactly? Infrastructure tends to get destroyed leaving a huge toll on the populace, command and control tends to break down which gives the most militant factions free reign, and degrading the strength of Sunni groups runs the risk of opening the door to Shiite and Kurdish reprisals. It wouldn't end the sectarian conflict, but it might drag things out much longer.

Would we fight the Iraqi government's death squads? Because in the past we just turned a blind eye to them. How about the expansionist Kurdish policy? Despite the fear being spread about ISIL, they've mostly operated within Sunni areas (I doubt they ever planned on conquering Irbil). If you've noticed, the Kurds took advantage of this situation to achieve their long stated goal of annexing Kirkuk.

There's a ton of very important issues we should be discussing and addressing if we treated the bombing of another nation and the destabilization it causes seriously. But these aren't being discussed, and the population treats the whole thing like a cartoon where we run in, shoot the bad guy, and then ride off into the sunset. That kind of foreign policy has been, and will continue to be, disastrous.

*Not everything is sectarian, but that's a large component.