Summary

by Rami G. Khouri

I dearly wish that ISIS will be contained and then defeated by the many countries and armed groups who say they are committed to achieving that goal.

I lack confidence in this aspect of the American approach because it is foolhardy to expect that such important requirements can be forged quickly and in the heat of battle – after the U.S. has just spent a full decade and trillions of dollars in Iraq trying but failing to achieve precisely those two important goals. We can even see some counterproductive consequences of the U.S. legacy, such as rampaging ISIS troops taking from the retreating Iraqi security forces the fine arms and equipment that Washington had provided.

The Americans’ mixing of emotional remembrances of the 9/11 attacks this week with the current mission to defeat ISIS in Syria-Iraq is factually incorrect and unnecessary, and probably will be counterproductive.

American foreign policy since 2001 has helped to expand the threat of Al-Qaeda, ISIS and dozens of similar groups, rather than defeat them.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2014/Sep-13/270516-the-us-plan-leaves-lingering-doubts.ashx#ixzz3DNP57qxt
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)