What Should Be Done About ISIS? And Who Should Do It? [View all]

[Comrade Grumpy]

I think we can probably get general agreement that ISIS is just horrible. And we wish we could eradicate it.

But there don't seem to be very many good options. Here's the ones I can come up with:

1. Full-scale US military intervention. We're talking invasion, tens or hundreds of thousands of US troops, probably thousands of US military casualties, countless Syrian and Iraqi casualties. The US military probably could defeat ISIS, take control of its territories, and impose new rulers. But there seems to be no will at all for that in the US.

2. Continue with the coalition. This strategy seems to have accomplished a draw. ISIS is pretty much stopped from expanding, but remains in control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria. This involves the US military bombing a lot of stuff, but no American combat forces (yet). If the goal is to defeat ISIS, this has not worked so far. Our coalition partners also seem pretty half-hearted.

3. Do nothing. Withdraw from the coalition. Leave it to the people and governments of the region to sort out. This option at best would lead to years of war and conflict; at worst, it would lead to a stronger, more powerful ISIS.

4. Give the Iranians a free hand. Iran is already key to supporting the anti-ISIS governments in Baghdad and Damascus. If we don't want to send in the US Army, about the Revolutionary Guard? This could cause problems with our Sunni Arab "allies."

Any other ideas? This seems like a really intractable problem.