Brick by Brick: Building a Durable Strategy Against ISIS

Maya El-Darzi May 14, 2015

His name was Fadi. He was… References and Footnotes"Homeland Security Secretary Johnson on ISIS, Ebola, and Preventing Homegrown Terrorism," Council on Foreign Relations, September 10, 2014, accessed May 13, 2015, http://www.cfr.org/homeland-security/homeland-security-secretary-johnson-isis-ebola-preventing-homegrown-terrorism/p35716 ↩"ISIS By the Numbers: Foreign Fighter Total Keeps Growing," NBC News, February 28, 2015, accessed May 13, 2015, http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/isis-numbers-foreign-fighter-total-keeps-growing-n314731 ↩"Homeland Security Secretary Johnson on ISIS, Ebola, and Preventing Homegrown Terrorism," Council on Foreign Relations, September 10, 2014, accessed May 13, 2015, http://www.cfr.org/homeland-security/homeland-security-secretary-johnson-isis-ebola-preventing-homegrown-terrorism/p35716 ↩ "FACT SHEET: Strategy to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)," The White House, September 10, 2014, accessed May 13, 2015. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/09/10/fact-sheet-strategy-counter-islamic-state-iraq-and-levant-isil[/ref] Finally, President Obama has ordered systematic airstrikes against ISIS held territories, in hopes of protecting “U.S. personnel and facilities in Baghdad and Erbil…, kill[ing] ISIS fighters, destroy[ing] ISIS equipment, [and] protect[ing] Iraqi critical infrastructure…” Ibid ↩Ibid ↩U.S. Department of Defense, “Operation Inherent Resolve,” April 2015, accessed May 13, 2013, http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2014/0814_iraq ↩RT News, “Jimmy Carter slams Obama’s handling of ISIS: ‘We waited too long,’” October 8, 2014, accessed May 13, 2015, http://rt.com/usa/194224-jimmy-carter-obama-isis ↩Richard Hall, “Just how many civilians have died in the West's campaign against ISIS?” The Week, April 23, 2015, accessed May 13, 2015, http://theweek.com/articles/551128/just-how-many-civilians-have-died-wests-campaign-against-isis ↩ Ibid ↩ "Ready for War with ISIS?" Foreign Affairs, December 14, 2014, accessed May 13, 2015, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/syria/2014-12-14/ready-war-isis ↩Max Boot, "Defeating ISIS," Council on Foreign Relations, November 14, 2014, accessed May 13, 2015 ↩Thomas Ricks, "Fighting ISIS (II): To Work, This Must Be More than Just a Military Operation," Foreign Policy, October 30, 2014, accessed May 13, 2015. http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/10/30/fighting-isis-ii-to-work-this-must-be-more-than-just-a-military-operation ↩