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Defeating Daesh

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Defeating the Islamic State: Both Short-term and Long-term Counter Strategies

for the Proto-State and its Ideologies

Christopher J. Minchin

Norwich University

FIRST DRAFT

SOCI 401A Culture and Anthropology
February 16, 2016
Tracey Poirier

Source: The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP).), Jan, 2016.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles“ –– Sun Tzu, Chinese philosopher and military strategist, around 500 BC.

“Our terrorism against America is blessed terrorism.” –– Osama bin Laden (on video)

“The acme of this religion is jihad.” — Osama bin Laden (Bergen, 2001, p. 41)

Many have asked, “what can we do to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)? ” There have been a variety of suggestions from airstrikes, isolation , establishing a national unity government in Iraq to the feasibility of a counter-offensive using 'local' militia's and only as a last resort U.S. Boots on the ground. These are all worthy ideas; however, it is imperative to get a fundamental understanding of what has caused this problem because ISIS is growing and becoming stronger (even though current air strikes and counter-offensives have been successful). Before a decision can be made a rigorous analysis is necessary, a sociological analysis, so that the United States and the rest of the world can determine what must be done regarding ISIS and why. (Thesis): This paper will argue that the challenge of removing IS lies in our ability to understand and realize that the terror group’s appeal is not its alleged goal of a regression to the glorious past of Islam (as Armstrong put it), nor that Islam is the fundamental cause of this anomaly, but that ISIS's appeal is, as Dorsey and Ali state, “...the opportunity it offers the socially, economically

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