On Sept. 10, Americans across the country listened as President Obama spoke on the current situation in Syria and Iraq. He stated that U.S. involvement would be akin to what has been carried out in Yemen and Somalia.
Doctor of Political Science at the U of M, Dursun Peksen explained Obama’s rationale for ordering airstrikes against targets in Syria and Iraq.
“The Obama administration is reluctant to have U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria to fight Islamic State,” Peksen said. “It is in part because the American public would likely not favor a direct military involvement of U.S. troops, thus it is highly unlikely that we will see a ‘boots on the ground’ type intervention by the United States and its allies.”
According to Pesken, the current U.S. strategy to conduct aerial strikes on ISIS militants and arm and train Syrian rebels may be effective in undermining ISIS’s fighting capabilities, reduce the level of support among local Sunni groups and discourage foreign fighters from joining the militant group.
“It isn’t likely, however, that it would completely eliminate military and political presence of Islamic State in the Sunni-dominated territories in Iraq and Syria,” Pesken said.
Dr. Nabil Bayakly, a doctor of Biology and Lebanese native who teaches Arabic at the U of M, believes that putting “boots on the ground’ would be unnecessary.
“Anyone who would help in enforcing a no-fly zone [would be helpful],’” Bayakly said. “In order for the United States to enforce a no-fly zone then it has to have accessibility to the air space, whether it’s from Lebanon, from the Mediterranean, or from Jordan.”
Peksen agrees that direct military involvement is not the route that the United States should take.
“It may take years to fight and eliminate the insurgent group, as happened after Iraq and Afghanistan,” Peksen said. “It may also create more anti-American sentiment in the Sunni world and it may create power vacuums in Syria and Iraq that may very will be filled in by other extremist groups.”
Peksen believes that there are many reasons for the rise of ISIS in Iraq.
“The withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq clearly worked in favor of the insurgent groups in Iraq,” Peksen said. “We cannot, however only blame the lack of U.S. military presence for what is going on right now in Iraq. The Shia-dominated government in Baghdad could be partially blamed because they never appeared to be willing to share power with Iraqi Kurds and the Sunni Arabs, which simply deteriorated the relationship between the three parties.”
Bayakly compares ISIS to an armed Westboro Baptist Church, but with more members.
“ISIS actually is little more than a band of released prisoners from Sadaam Husein’s jail and Syrian jails,” Bayakly said.
The areas where these prisons and jails were located could no longer be controlled, and the guards ran away. Without the guards the prisoners were able to simply open the gates and leave.
“When the government collapses, this is what happens,” Bayakly said.
