By Geoff LaMear
The Biden administration conducted airstrikes on Islamic State (ISIS) leaders in Syria on Jul. 12, 2022. This isn’t the first, nor even the second time that ISIS has lost its leader. Yet, the rationale for combating a defeated group with no resources, land, or stable leadership remains unchanged. Beyond this, the United States has overlooked the dangers of stationing US troops in close proximity to Russian and Iranian troops. Washington should acknowledge that victory has been achieved, and withdraw from Iraq and Syria.
First, we need to dispel the cognitive dissonance. Either ISIS is still a threat or it isn’t. If it is still a threat, then the preceding eight years of strikes have failed as a strategy, and continuing them doesn’t make sense. If ISIS isn’t a threat, then the continuation of this mission isn’t necessary. In either case, bureaucratic inertia has kept the United States in action despite little rationale to do so.
The US anti-ISIS mission, Operation Inherent Resolve, began under the Obama administration following ISIS’s rapid conquest of northern Iraq and southern Syria. But that was nearly a decade ago, and ISIS has been cut down by a coalition comprising virtually every actor in the region. The group has lost tens of thousands of fighters, all its territory, and the oil wells, which were its main source of revenue.
The United States is inflating the threat of a ghost. The institutional bias in Washington toward do-somethingism leads policymakers to incorrectly assess that US power can solve terrorism — and that US power is unsubstitutable.
This piece was originally published in Inkstick on July 22, 2022. Read more HERE.