On Thursday, when asked in a news conference about how to combat The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), President Barack Obama stated: “We don’t have a strategy yet.”  Not having a plan to combat the growing threat of ISIS is reflective of an administration that is incompetent when handling foreign policy.

ISIS is a Sunni extremist group that follows jihadist principles.  The group promotes religious violence and  are extremely anti-Western.

In January, Obama compared ISIS to a junior varsity team, saying, “The analogy we used around here sometimes, and I think it’s accurate, that is if a JV team puts on a Lakers uniforms, that does not make them Kobe Bryant.”

Now, according to a The Washington Post article from Aug. 8, the president himself recognized that “(Islamic State) forces have called for the systematic destruction of the entire Yazidi people, which would constitute genocide.”

Obama’s knowledge of basketball is nice, but let’s examine this “JV team” the U.S. has no strategy to combat.

According to an article in The Economist from June, ISIS may have 6,000 fighters in Iraq and 3–5,000 fighters in Syria.  That’s about 10,000 very violent players.

ISIS is well funded, too.  In mid-2014, according to a report on June 17 from The Guardian, Iraqi intelligence gathered information from an ISIS militant that revealed that the terrorist group has assets worth up to $2 billion.  According to a June 16 article from Foreign Policy, ISIS has the ability to fund itself, without outside donors, through bank robbery, kidnapping and extortion.

The territorial gains of this JV squad are rather impressive too, along with alarming actions against people who disagree with them.

On Aug. 19, ISIS beheaded James Foley, an American journalist who went missing in Syria in November of 2012.  His execution was posted on YouTube.

On Aug. 28, Foreign Policy reported that moderate Syrian rebels obtained a laptop from an ISIS hideout in January.  The laptop contains documents on how to develop biological weapons, including the weaponization of the bubonic plague.

ISIS is dangerous, plain and simple.  In an Aug. 21 article from the Financial Times, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said, “(ISIS) is as sophisticated and well-funded as any group that we have seen.  They’re beyond just a terrorist group.”

In order to combat ISIS, the terrorist group needs to be squashed immediately, not just contained. The U.S. cannot allow a radical organization to take away basic human rights. 

 I implore the president to quickly develop a plan to combat ISIS so that the people of Iraq and Syria can practice religious freedom without fear of execution.  The threat that ISIS poses did not spring up overnight.  Obama should have a plan to combat this militant group by now, and the fact that he does not is embarrassing.

Chris Pulliam is a sophomore policy studies and political science major. HIs column appears weekly.   He can be reached at [email protected]. 

Published on September 3, 2014 at 12:01 am