Never-Ending Story 0
Andrew Bacevich thinks that more Mideast Whack-a-Mole is not the answer. A snippet.
The key point is this: Were the United States and its partners miraculously to succeed tomorrow in destroying the Islamic State and its leader, Abu Bakr Baghdadi, those conditions would still persist. As a consequence, another “Islamic State,” under another banner, inspired by a new leader, would almost certainly appear. And we’ll find ourselves right back where we are today. Indeed, Islamic State is itself a legacy organization, successor to the now defunct al-Qaida in Iraq.
He’s quite right, you know. Causes lead to effects. Fighting effects does not affect the causes.