*NOT
MY BELIEFS—JUST WRITING FOR ASSIGNMENT*
The US has a
tendency to believe that going into Islamic countries and trying to impose
Western beliefs on these individuals who have their mindset on following
Shariah Law is a good idea, we have had this mindset for a long time and have
not had much success in making this effort a complete success. We send our
military to their countries in hopes of achieving change, but we still do not
see it. Reporters of CNN have written many articles on the threat of ISIS and I
cannot help but agree with the majority of their arguments as for why US
intervention to aid Baghdad against ISIS is a horrid idea. The issue of the security dilemma/ spiral
model that was discussed in lecture ties into the threat of ISIS because of the
fact that as one state becomes more domestically secure, the relative power of
the other state becomes less secure.
With
the US intervening in ISIS this could lead to an increase of risking terrorism
from occurring here at home in the USA. Entering Iraq with our military to try
to end their civil war is not a wise strategy just because of the fact that
physical violence has not done much but increase the amount of innocent lives
lost. One of the most problematic issues with the US trying to resolve this
conflict is the US is incapable of resolving the Sunni-Shia dissension. ISIS is
primarily made up of Sunni-Muslims which is the minority group of Muslims in
Iraq. ISIS has a great deal of power and has the ability to unfortunately
continue spreading because of the mass amount of Sunni citizens who are willing
to support their actions. Studies have shown that Sunni-Muslims do not trust
their government and have more faith in ISIS, as a result it will continue to
grow. Physical US military violence is
incapable of changing the firm beliefs that these citizens hold. If anything it
could increase their mistrust in the government.
ISIS
is a strong jihadist group, if you think back to the US’s failed attempts to
get rid of major jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda since 9/11 what will make
getting rid of ISIS any easier? If anything it may be a lot harder just because
of the fact that though Sunni’s are minority, there are enough of them to be
able to successfully immerse into the country making it harder and harder to
pinpoint where your target of destruction is for this group.
In
addition to the issue of the religious ideologies that the citizens hold, if
you look at the map in article 1 you see that there are members of ISIS located
in many cities and towns surrounding Iraq and Syria which makes it extremely
difficult to fight ISIS solely based on air power. It is imperative that we
have allies in the areas surrounding the areas marked with red dots otherwise
we will not be successful.
All in all the risks
of fighting ISIS and chances of success are not looking too good, the US’s best
bet is to not intervene militarily.
http://www.vox.com/2014/9/22/6831757/us-bombing-syria-to-destroy-isis-heres-why-that-wont-work
http://alraiyblog.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/the-security-dilemma-and-isis/
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/11/world/meast/iraq-predictions-revisited/
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/20/opinion/cooper-quilliam-west-ignore-iraq-intervention-plea/
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/08/07/a-return-to-the-fight-in-iraq/us-intervention-will-only-worsen-the-situation
Just to follow up, I do agree with you. U.S. military presence in foreign soil isn't usually looked highly upon. It may cause another conflict between the nation itself and the U.S., which will ultimately not be good for American soil. It may even stir more problems within the country the U.S. is in.
ReplyDeleteYou present a very valid point. You also give some very insightful information. The points that stuck with me the most was that of US intervention and how the country will not be able to deal with the threat of ISIS in a conventional way. The US, as you pointed out, does try to intervene--especially when democracy is on the line. Such could be seen in the US's dealing with China over the past 50-60 years. Yet the US never had to use troops in this case. When it comes to dealing with ISIS, while boots on the ground may not be the solution, some kind of coordinated effort to deter any extremist group is needed.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up many good points in your blog. Clearly, as you stated, we have not been successful in deterring the terrorism threat through physical and military combat. In fact, as you also said, and I agree, it has created more hatred towards the US and added more fuel to their fire. However, I do believe military action is the right course, but maybe not the conventional boots-on-the-ground type of military power. With the new cyber age that we are in, and with the newly created drones and drone strike that have been occurring, maybe this will be a more successful way to deal with these threats.
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