Criticisms of the U.S.-led Air Campaign against ISIS

by Daniel Pipes,
Sep 28, 2014

The brief version:

Keep an eye on the ball: the Iranian nuclear build-up is 1,000 times a greater threat than ISIS.

Tehran should be left to deal with this problem, which threatens its allies in Damascus and Baghdad, and potentially even Iran itself.

Pipes’ iron rule of war: Never initiate fighting unless prepared to do what is needed to win. (I.e., don’t in advance rule out ground troops.)

The search for moderate opponents to the Assad regime is chimerical.

Destroying oil production facilities is almost always a mistake.

American efforts should be limited to (1) providing assistance to the Kurds and (2) humanitarian missions.