The New York Times reported last week:
The battlefield successes enjoyed by Western-backed forces in the Islamic State’s heartland have done little to stop the expansion of the militants to Europe, North Africa and Afghanistan. The attacks this year in Brussels, Istanbul and other cities only reinforced the sense of a terrorist group on the march, and among American officials and military experts, there is renewed caution in predicting progress in a fight that they say is likely to go on for years.
“Even as we advance our efforts to defeat Daesh on the front lines,” Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken told a congressional committee on Tuesday, using another name for the Islamic State, “we know that to be fully effective, we must work to prevent the spread of violent extremism in the first place — to stop the recruitment, radicalization and mobilization of people, especially young people, to engage in terrorist activities.”
Indeed, ISIS has spread in every country in which the U.S. has meddled recently, including Afghanistan, Libya and Ukraine.
Why can't Russian and allied militaries stop ISIS? What's really going on?
Our expose of the origin and real supporters of ISIS has just been published in paperback. Or you can read it on Kindle.
In the meantime, here are three hints:
- The U.S. is sending thousands of tons of weapons right now to Islamic fundamentalists in Syria
- The U.S. and Saudis are about to send shoulder-fired anti-aircraft "manpads" into Syria to shoot down Russian planes
- U.S. foreign policy isn't really focused on stopping terrorists ... and American defense officials have described terrorist strikes characterized as a “small price to pay for being a superpower”.