How Obama Can Really Defeat ISIS in Syria, Iraq and Beyond | Paul Eaton

How Obama can really defeat ISIS in Syria, Iraq and beyond

By Major General Paul Eaton, James G Stavridis, and Michael D Barbero
September 10, 2014 | The Guardian

A Real Coalition of the Willing, by Ret. Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton

Goals: don’t degrade and destroy without diplomacy

The disrupt-and-defeat phase may be coming, but the US would be foolish not to apply our diplomatic, economic and military power simultaneously. This means developing a a coalition to deploy joint ground forces – to encircle ISIS and reduce it territorial control. This means filling the vacuum with help from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraqi, Iran and Jordan. And it means isolating ISIS, denying access to the international banking system while ID-ing its donors – and punishing them. We can provide airspace management over Iraq and Syria, but it’s not just our military might.

Strategies: make ISIS cash-only, storm the ground with a coalition and empower Sunni leaders

• Short-term: Air strikes into both Iraq and Syria are required, with tacit Syrian government approval or acceptance, but all electronic communications from Isis must be denied or allowed and intercepted – with an emphasis on social media and a shutdown of all electronic access to funds, effectively reducing Isis to a cash-only entity.

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Photo Credit: DoD spokesman George Little briefs reporters at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., Sept. 5, 2013. Little answered questions concerning potential military action against Syria and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s recent congressional testimony on the subject. [DoD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo, 9/5/14]