Seeing the coverage of how brazen the Islamic State (IS) has become, it would get many of us thinking that we need troops on the ground taking the fight back to them. This is a mistake, as any US Military presense will only embolden the IS militants. At the same time, there are other militant groups taking on the IS, such as Turkey's PKK (Kirdish Worker's Party), which would effectively turn the US Military into a sitting target.
Letting the PKK take on the IS is a much better option in the sense that like many other militias in the area, who have either been taking on each other or the ruling regime in the state they inhabit, they see the IS as a cancer that needs to be taken out. The United States should simply provide air cover and try to clear a pathway to move the civilians caught in the crossfire out of harm's way.
A final note to make is that there is no military solution to dealing with ISIS, there's only a political one, and that can come only with a unified political voice from the Iraqi people themselves. The Iraqis of all stripes (Sunni, Shi'ite, Kurd, etc.) should feel that they have a voice in their own governance. This was a direct failure of Nouri al-Maliki.
Letting the PKK take on the IS is a much better option in the sense that like many other militias in the area, who have either been taking on each other or the ruling regime in the state they inhabit, they see the IS as a cancer that needs to be taken out. The United States should simply provide air cover and try to clear a pathway to move the civilians caught in the crossfire out of harm's way.
A final note to make is that there is no military solution to dealing with ISIS, there's only a political one, and that can come only with a unified political voice from the Iraqi people themselves. The Iraqis of all stripes (Sunni, Shi'ite, Kurd, etc.) should feel that they have a voice in their own governance. This was a direct failure of Nouri al-Maliki.
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