Thomas Friedman wrote an excellent explanation of why the U.S. will have a problem defeating ISIS. All of our potential allies in the region would like to get rid of ISIS, but it is not their first priority.
The Kurds: They want their own country. They aren’t about to help liberate the rest of Iraq to benefit the Iraqi government.
The Turks: They have been bombing the Kurds more than areas held by ISIS.
The Iranians: They don’t like ISIS, but they worry more about moderate Sunnis take over ISIS territory; they could threaten Iran’s allies in Syria.
Putin: He doesn’t like ISIS, but he is even more interested in keeping Assad in power. Russia bombs moderate rebels as much as ISIS.
Saudi Arabia: doesn’t like ISIS, but right now is involved more in Yemen, trying to crush the rebellion there.
Iraq: has lost territory to ISIS but is still divided between Sunnis and Shiites.
The one thing we don’t want to do is get into a big war with U.S. troops. We did that in Iraq, and the repercussions have not ended. And if we did get into a war on the ground, guess who will fight it. They won’t be troops from the 1%. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump won’t be going. Men and women from the bottom of the U.S. economy will be doing the fighting, just like they did in Iraq and Vietnam.
Just once I’d like to hear these tough-talking war mongers call for a universal draft.
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