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The ultimate goal of ISIS is to create an Islamic caliphate. We risk much if we think a quick win in Mosul or the Middle East in general will keep us safe.įor Trump’s plan to be successful, he must certainly defeat ISIS on the battlefield, but the problem goes much deeper than that. Combine some of these things and you have the ingredients for capabilities with the potential for catastrophic impact. They are experimenting with other disruptive technologies, too. It is open-source information that ISIS is working to obtain chemical and other types of weapons of mass destruction. What will the defeat of ISIS entail in a world where ideas (including bad ones) move at the speed of light and are accessible to anyone, anywhere? Technology is advancing rapidly, and information in general is only a few clicks away. To make matters worse, our world is changing in ways that are both hard to control and predict. ISIS, and other radical terrorist organizations, are not governed by the same immutable laws of conduct. Even rogue nations like North Korea operate within a set of known motivations and conditions that can be monitored and, to an extent, managed. There are certainly more conventional actors that are plotting our downfall, but the ebbs and flows of geopolitics keeps the world order in a generally stable condition. Of course, it is important to remember that ISIS is by no means the only entity that wishes us harm.
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Trump can "bomb the s-t out of 'em", but in the end that will not make us more secure nor is this an effective strategy for all the other disaffected groups that will surely spring up in the years ahead. While we have made significant gains on the battlefield - killing many of its leaders, destroying weapons caches and disrupting supply lines - we have done little to disable ISIS' ability to recruit followers, or ultimately, target western societies. To propagate its corrupting influence, it needs only the internet and disaffected populations receptive to its worldview. But what of ISIS? The militant group's weapon of choice is a perverse and apocalyptic vision of the world and its place within it. Bombs and bullets were the preferred means to that end. To stop the Nazis, it was primarily a question of destroying their ability to continue fighting. The world was an infrastructure-centric place. In World War II, orders were disseminated through coded communications or by courier, and war-fighting capability was enabled by munitions, armor, ships or airplanes. Yet, the concept of territorial gains is a twentieth century, somewhat anachronistic notion. As we speak, Iraqi forces claim to have recaptured 50 percent of Mosul, but what does this particular battle mean within the context of the war on terror? Many of course say that Mosul is the last stronghold of ISIS in Iraq, and this is undoubtedly true. To do so, he will have to break a few rules or at least change the way we think about winning wars. In addition to jump-starting the economy, repatriating lost American jobs and other ambitious goals, President-elect Donald Trump has promised to come up with a plan in the first 30 days to destroy the Islamic State group. 21, our first business-man president will sit down at his desk in the Oval Office and look out at the world around him.