Causality Collisions: Why Special Operations Forces Remain the Best Weapon to Defeat ISIS in Syria
By Scott Harr
April 07, 2017
Taking meaningful action against a challenging problem requires first and foremost an understanding of the cause-and-effect relationships that characterize the challenge. While that statement might be so obvious as to border on platitude, inaccurately assessing those relationships has proven to derail more than a few US efforts to come to grips with strategic security challenges. Perhaps nowhere is this clearer today than in the struggles that US policymakers have had in crafting a coherent strategy to defeat ISIS. Like the comically overweight character in the Austin Powers film who declared, “I eat because I’m unhappy, I’m unhappy because I eat,” defense planners have wrestled with the question of whether ISIS’s strength causes a requirement for more US troops, or the prospect of more troops will cause ISIS to grow in strength.
http://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2017/04/07/causality_collisions_why_special_operations_forces_remain_the_best_weapon_to_defeat_isis_in_syria_111127.html
