Want To Stop ISIS?

Unlike Barack Obama, Angelo Codevilla does have a strategy:

The IS ideology is neither more nor less than that of the Wahabi sect, which is the official religion of Saudi Arabia, which has been intertwined with its royal family since the eighteenth century, and which Saudi money has made arguably the most pervasive version of Islam in the world (including the United States). Wahabism validates the Saudis’ Islamic purity while rich Saudis live dissolute lives—a mutually rewarding, but tenuous deal for all. But increasingly, the Saudi royals have realized they are riding a tiger. Wahabi-educated youth are seeing the royals for what they are. The IS, by declaring itself a Caliphate, explicitly challenged the Saudis’ legitimacy. The kingdom’s Grand Mufti, a descendant of Ab al Wahab himself, declared the IS an enemy of Islam. But while the kingdom officially forbids its subjects from joining IS, its ties with Wahabism are such that it would take an awful lot to make the kingdom wage war against it.

American diplomacy’s task is precisely to supply that awful lot.

Given enough willpower, America has enough leverage to cause the Saudis to fight in their own interest. Without American technicians and spare parts, the Saudi arsenal is useless. Nor does Saudi Arabia have an alternative to American protection. If a really hard push were required, the U.S. government might begin to establish relations with the Shia tribes that inhabit the oil regions of eastern Arabia.

Day after day after day, hundreds of Saudi (and Jordanian) fighters, directed by American AWACS radar planes, could systematically destroy the Islamic State—literally anything of value to military or even to civil life. It is essential to keep in mind that the Islamic State exists in a desert region which offers no place to hide and where clear skies permit constant, pitiless bombing and strafing. These militaries do not have the excessive aversions to collateral damage that Americans have imposed upon themselves.

Destruction from the air, of course, is never enough. Once the Shia death squads see their enemy disarmed and hungry, the United States probably would not have to do anything for the main engine of massive killing to descend on the Islamic State and finish it off. U.S. special forces would serve primarily to hunt down and kill whatever jihadists seemed to be escaping the general disaster of their kind.

We’ve been having an infestation of ants. They find a hole somewhere around the sink, and if the slightest bit of food is left overnight, they will be swarming it in the morning. While I take no particular pleasure in it, I have to grab the removable nozzle of the sink faucet, and relentlessly wash them down the drain (despite the severe drought in California), picking up stragglers on the counter with a wet paper towel. Then, having noted where they seem to be coming from, I spray an insecticide in the area and wipe it down. It seems to work.

[Update a few minutes later]

ISIS laptop of doom.

I don’t know how practical a “bubonic-plague bomb” would be, but it provides a guide to their mindset:

…the longer the caliphate exists, the more likely it is that members with a science background will come up with something horrible. The documents found on the laptop of the Tunisian jihadist, meanwhile, leave no room for doubt about the group’s deadly ambitions.

Yup. It’s us or them. And unlike them, we don’t want to kill their women and children.

[Update a couple minutes later]

The administration’s latest big lie: They do have a strategy:

…but they prefer to appear indecisive. That’s because the strategy would likely provoke even greater criticism than the false confession of endless dithering. The actual strategy is detente first, and then a full alliance with Iran throughout the Middle East and North Africa. It has been on display since before the beginning of the Obama administration. . . . President Obama’s quest for an alliance with Iran has been conducted through at least four channels: Iraq, Switzerland (the official U.S. representative to Tehran), Oman and a variety of American intermediaries, the most notable of whom is probably Valerie Jarrett, his closest adviser.

Yes. She’s arguably a foreign agent.

8 thoughts on “Want To Stop ISIS?”

  1. Rand – try boric acid powder as an ant killing solution. Leave a trail of it against the wall, in the cabinets, or wherever they are entering. It will last a long time and will not go away. Moderately non-toxic as long as you stay away from it. Ants cover themselves with it and ingest it while cleaning themselves. Cheers –

  2. You could also use diatomeceous earth. Are they red ants, black ants, or brown ants, or is that a race-baiting question?

    Anyway, I have strong doubts about getting the Saudis into the fight in a role other than some air support and financial backing. When they realized that ISIS was a threat along their border with Iraq, they posted Pakistani and Bangladeshi troops to guard it. If they won’t even use their own people to guard their own border, there’s little chance we’ll see them in a ground offensive.

  3. Getting the Sauds to fight for themselves is actually mighty tough.

    Can’t say I’m too opposed, but the effort has a variety of ways to set off the delightful “Arab Spring” in Saudi Arabia itself.

    1. The Saudis have their ground forces split in two, so that if one rebels, the other can shoot them. In addition, their officer corps is still politically selected right down to company level, again, for loyalty. Remember that after the “Ikhwan”(Brotherhoods) destroyed Hashemite power for the House of Saud in the Hejaz at the battle of Taif (1924) the head of the House of Saud refused to respond to their “on to Cairo” slogans. By 1928 he was fighting a small war with them. Thus division of forces that can threaten the Throne is a major policy of the House of Saud.

      In addition, their logistics setup is planned around defense, not force projection. In 1991’s Desert Storm, the Saudis were coat holders for other coalition members.

  4. Windex works, too, on ants. The ammonia stops them in their tracks. I think it kills them, but I’m not exactly sure. But enables me to dispose of them.

    As a bonus, it also keeps my countertops clean. At least my 1950s vintage Formica countertops. I don’t know whether or not you can use it on granite.

    It’s also important to kill every individual ant you see. Otherwise they will go back to the nest leaving a chemical trail that will attract their friends. Using these methods I’ve been able to keep my infestation at a low level, and I’m slowly getting the upper hand. I haven’t seen any ants for the last few days.

    I don’t think Windex would be effective with ISIS. For that infestation, I recommend relentless aerial strafing, punctuated by fuel-air explosives. I understand that AC-130 gunships can be useful in this role. Use Special Forces to hunt down and kill any individuals who escape.

  5. I love Wahabi. Just this evening, I went to The Hamilton for their sushi happy hour, and always have to request more Wahabi. They never short you on the ginger, but the Wahabi, for some reason…

  6. My wife puts out ant traps whenever we get an intrusion, but it can take a while to get them to find it. Last time, I ran a line of liquid hand soap across their path in such a way that trying to get around the soap brought them right to the trap, and they were all dead by the end of the day.

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