How to make Isis fall on its own sword | Chelsea E Manning | Comment is free | theguardian.com
The Islamic State (Isis) is without question a very brutal extremist
group with origins in the insurgency of the United States occupation of
Iraq. It has rapidly ascended to global attention by taking control of
swaths of territory in western and northern Iraq, including Mosul and other major cities.
Based on my experience as an all-source analyst in Iraq during the
organization’s relative infancy, Isis cannot be defeated by bombs and
bullets – even as the fight is taken to Syria, even if it is conducted by non-Western forces with air support.
I believe that Isis is fueled precisely by the operational and
tactical successes of European and American military force that would be
– and have been – used to defeat them. I believe that Isis
strategically feeds off the mistakes and vulnerabilities of the very
democratic western states they decry. The Islamic State’s center of
gravity is, in many ways, the United States, the United Kingdom and
those aligned with them in the region.
If properly contained, Isis will not be able to sustain itself on rapid growth alone, and will begin to fracture internally.
Photograph: via AP
