This op-ed was first published in the New York Daily News.
The United States might not have had a strategy for battling ISIS last week, but it does now. The NATO summit in Wales produced one. It reflects President Obama’s instincts and his ability to corral fractious allies.
It also says nothing about the use of force by the United States.
ISIS will be “destroyed” by military support to our Iraqi partners; stopping the flow of foreign fighters; countering its financing; addressing humanitarian crises; and de-legitimizing its ideology.
Clearly, NATO doesn’t want to get overly involved in this effort, nor should it. ISIS is, after all, a small organization — certainly compared to the forces ranged against it — and it is focused on killing Shi’a, although its fighters clearly get sadistic pleasure from killing Westerners who fall into their hands.
The NATO strategy therefore stresses intelligence and law enforcement, compliance with banking regulations, arms transfers to the Iraqi, a battle for hearts and minds and help for refugees — not going to war.
Continue reading at the New York Daily News.
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