What to do against ISIS

There has been news of fighting in the Middle East for as long as any of us can remember, but now the threat to democracy and America has become much more real.

The Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS), now called the Islamic State, is a declared terrorist group by most major countries in the world. They are a Sunni jihadist group and call themselves a caliphate, proclaiming that they have religious authority over all Muslims in the world. ISIS threatens the stability of the region, destroys cultural and religious sites and slaughters innocent civilians.

Recently, the group received attention for the videotaped beheading of American journalist James Foley, which elevated the threat of ISIS in the eyes of the American public. The ugly display of Foley’s beheading proves that ISIS wants to take the war directly to America.

Although most people want to avoid another war in the Middle East, the U.S. needs to continue at least its airstrikes in order to prevent the brutal murder of thousands more citizens and the destruction of cities and important sites in the Middle East.

Foley’s murder makes it easier for Obama to justify escalating the U.S.’s presence in Syria, but America needs to tread cautiously. For now, the U.S. should simply continue its aid to the Iraqi and Kurdish forces and slightly increase the frequency of airstrikes on ISIS-controlled zones, which would eventually wear out the comparatively small ISIS army.

At this point, to stop ISIS completely, sending American troops back to the Middle East may be the only option in the near future. The best plan to continue fighting ISIS and staying out of Syria is to continue preventing ISIS from taking over more territory and to help Middle Eastern forces stop them; however, boots on the ground may be necessary to stop ISIS’s bloody tyranny, even if it means losing more American soldiers to stop terrorism in the Middle East.

Not many Americans want to send our soldiers back to the Middle East. If we decide to do so, it would be extremely controversial. Perhaps the Iraqi War in response to 9/11 was unjustified, but this time, we have a just cause. We should learn from the mistakes we made last time and fight smarter in the Middle East.