The Actual Steps Being Taken to Defeat ISIS

Morgan Seale and Kevin Stacey

On December 6, in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting, President Obama gave the third oval office address of his presidency. The President briefly discussed the details of the attack on the San Bernardino office, calling it an “act of terrorism”; however, the main purpose of the speech was to inform the nation of what is being done and what should be done to combat ISIS. He laid out in detail the four main strategies being used by his administration to destroy ISIS. He also spoke about measures which he believes Congress should take to help the US’s fight against ISIS such as visa waiver reform, restrictions on assault weapons, and arming anti-ISIS Kurdish fighters.

We at the Brown and Gold realize that it is sometimes difficult to fully understand what the President says he has been doing since it is nearly impossible to see first hand the results of his actions against ISIS while we are safe at home in the U.S. Because of this we decided to dive deeper into the President’s four strategies he gave during his address and provide readers with a larger understanding of the specific action being taken against ISIS.

 1. A systematic campaign of airstrikes against ISIS

The first point of the president’s speech was the US’s strategy for hunting down and attacking ISIS members and targets. The President is often criticized for not doing enough and not using enough force in the fight against ISIS but the facts point to the exact opposite. President Obama has done everything he can short of a long, costly, all out ground war in the Middle East. Over the past 15 months the US has conducted over 6,000 airstrikes on ISIS targets while all other countries combined have not even broken 2,000. This averages out to be over 400 airstrikes a month.

2. Increased support to forces fighting ISIS on the ground

The second point of his speech was about the efforts being taken to “continue to provide training and equipment to tens of thousands of Iraqi and Syrian forces fighting ISIL on the ground”.  For months the US has been supporting the Syrian rebels in their efforts to overthrow the current Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and to eradicate ISIS from their country. Additionally, on December 9th, the House of Foreign Affairs Committee passed a bill authorizing the U.S. military to directly arm and train Kurdish Peshmerga in the fight against ISIS. The Kurds are the U.S.’s greatest tool in the fight against ISIS, acting as our ground forces against ISIS.

3. Drawing on our substantial counterterrorism capabilities to prevent ISIS attacks

The third point of his speech was addressing the US-led coalition to fight ISIS. The US has been leading a coalition of anti-ISIS countries such as France, Germany and the U.K. As one of the United States’ closest allies, France has been assisting in the bombing of Syria but intensified their attacks after the terror attacks in Paris on November 13th. On December 3rd Britain joined the US-led bombing campaign over Syria. Likewise, Germany joined the fight on December 4th when their parliament approved a military campaign against ISIS. They authorized the use of six Tornado recon jets, a frigate to help protect the French aircraft carrier, and up to 1,200 military personnel. 

4. Providing humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians displaced by ISIS

The fourth point of the speech was about the humanitarian aid the US is providing to the victims of ISIS. The struggle with providing the aid comes from the fact that in doing so the government is also providing aid to the Islamic State. The US has struggled with a strategy of safely bringing in supplies and relief to victims of the terrorists without harm coming to anyone in the process. According to an article by The Daily Beast, aid convoys going to aid victims of the terrorists have to pay off ISIS leaders to enter Syria safely. Consequently, those bribes provide a piece of income to the pockets of ISIS leaders. A way around this problem has not been discovered. However, the US has been giving a significant amount to humanitarian resources. An article by foreignpolicy.com explains that in 2014, the total amount sent to Iraq in aid was $185 million.

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Labels: Politics