No boots on the ground ...

[piercehawkeye45]

Hello everyone....

Will we eventually have boots on the ground in Iraq or Syria? Possibly. However, we will not be able to "degrade and destroy" ISIS without them. Using only airstrike and local "allies", we will only be able to contain ISIS from expanding. Our strategy will likely change to containment.

With independent US an Iranian support, the Kurds and Iraqi Shia should be able to provide a buffer to prevent ISIS from spreading east. These groups will fight their homeland until death however will not be able to go too far into Sunni Arab territory.

The Syrian side is fucked. The FSA was always a joke and any moderate Islamic group, i.e. Islamic Front, is gone. We will need to rely on Lebanon, Jordan, and Assad from to prevent further ISIS expansion west but like in Iraq, they will not be able to take ground from ISIS. Only Turkey is capable of that and they will not.

Our only hope is to somehow change the table so the Sunnis under ISIS control reject and overthrow them. The Sunni Iraqis got burnt after we left so I have serious doubts that an "inclusive" Iraqi government will be helpful. Again, the Syrian side is fucked.

That only leaves the option of breaking up the Middle East along more natural borders (Sunnistan!) which has myriad problems of its own. Summary: the Middle East is screwed for a long time...whether or not we get further involved.