Folks here may be tired of it, but I'm going to post my "apple tree analogy" once more.
Not long after the World Trade Center attacks, I was down in my backyard, as I am every year, picking up the apples from my trees and throwing them against the fence (they're no good for eating).
Every year, I have to pick up all the bad apples and toss them against the fence. I can clean them up this year, every one -- but next year, they'll be back, and I'll have to do it all over again.
Question:
What would I have to do, once and for all, if I wanted to get rid of my "bad apples" for good?
Told you that to tell you this:
al-qaeda was but one season's bad apples, to be cleaned up after.
ISIS' bad apples are those of a new season. We can clean them up, every last one, but before too long -- next season -- they'll be a whole new bunch of "bad apples". And so it goes.
This will get us nowhere.
If we really want to get rid of the apples once and for all, what must we do to the tree from which they fall ??