Bernie Sanders makes it clear: He’s playing this game to win

[JDPriestly]

33. Finally, an analysis and proposed plan for ISIS and the Middle East that makes sense.

ISIS is the negative response to our involvement which is perceived as interference by the ISIS supporters in the Middle East.

Because our involvement there, our role there, is the raison d'etre of the movement, we cannot be the central force opposing it. Our presence may increase the support for ISIS rather than diminish it. Bernie seems to be the only person who understands this obvious fact.

That does not mean that we should not be involved in and supportive of the efforts to stop ISIS, but it means that we have to step back from the most prominent role and take a more supportive but less aggressive role in fighting it. We need to organize the leaders of the Muslim communities and countries that rely on us as trading partners and for military equipment and support to take the lead in defeating ISIS and other such violent and extremist groups.

This is not a war about religion in my opinion. It is a war about culture and self-government. As long as we are seen as outsiders who try to interfere in the culture of the Middle East, our very attempts to stop ISIS will be the impetus for its continuation.

So I think Bernie is right in his analysis. The challenge to ISIS has to come from within the leadership of the nations of the Middle East. We just make the situation worse by interfering directly. Our work is to organize and challenge the leaders of the Middle East to understand that their own interests and those of their countries require them to stop ISIS.