The Islamic State Campaign: Key Strategic and Tactical Challenges By Anthony Cordesman

The Islamic State Campaign: Key Strategic and Tactical Challenges
By Anthony Cordesman

The United States does not have good or quick options in dealing with the Islamic State, in part because it faces serious challenges in Iraq and Syria that cannot be separated from any efforts to weaken and destroy the Islamic State. This, however, is not a reason to stand and wait for better options that do not exist. The situation will not get better because the United States continues to dither.

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The United States already has the elements of the strategy it needs and has begun to act in important ways, and if this action is taken more decisively, in an integrated form, and over enough time to be effective it may well be capable of both imploding the Islamic State and serving U.S. interests in both Iraq and Syria.

These elements are outlined both in this briefing and in a PowerPoint that describes a suitable strategy in far more detail and helps put the dynamics of the conflict in perspective. This PowerPoint presentation is available on the CSIS web site at http://csis.org/files/publication/140903_IraqCampaignBriefRevised.pdf