The Daily Signal quotes Brent Scowcroft Center Resident Senior Fellow for Middle East Security Bilal Y. Saab on how to engage US allies in the Middle East to lead the fight against ISIS:
“Here is the dilemma we are facing: We all share the consensus the only way this terrorist organization can be degraded is to deploy infantry and an actual army to defeat what is now a jihadist army,” said Bilal Saab, a senior fellow for Middle East security at the Atlantic Council.
“The challenge is the U.S. will not be deploying boots on ground itself—for very good reason. The challenge is to convince our [Middle East] allies to lead the fight to deploy men and women to fight ISIS. It is the ultimate challenge, it is a diplomatic one, with a military component.”
The problem with depending on others to lead, Saab says, is that many of the parties local to the fight don’t have the will to do so.
“The problem is that many don’t see it is as an urgent priority to fight ISIS,” Saab said. “In Turkey, their biggest worry is not ISIS, but the Kurds. The Iraqi Shia won’t take the extra mile to fight ISIS, because they only care about defending Baghdad and that’s it. The moderate Syrians are way too weak now and we should have supported them a long time ago. So does that mean we wave the white flag and declare ISIS victorious? No, we have to be realistic about what can be done to convince those partners to get their act together.”