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Originally Posted by rubecube
Okay, so what does boots on the ground accomplish then? You stamp out IS (maybe) and at the same time create another generation of extremists. What is your end game? If you want to criticize Trudeau for suggesting diplomatic or humanitarian approaches, then you at least need to turn a critical eye towards the tired and failed policies of military intervention that others are suggesting. We have seven decades of history which demonstrate how fundamentally flawed and short-sighted military intervention usually is, but we want to mock someone who thinks it might be time to try something new?
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Respectfully Trudeau can talk about a diplomatic approach, but that's a pretty vague term that I have a feeling he's unwilling or unable to define. Diplomatic to who? Recognizing IS and then negotiating them out of their stance of genocide and exporting terror to the West? Good luck with that. Diplomacy to the neighboring nations and using them almost as a mercenary military with Western backing and air power? That will only foster a rise of radicalism and attacks in those nations. Maybe cut off the supporting nations in terms of economic sanctions and a refusal to buy their oil. Some good old gunboat diplomacy? I would actually be on board with that.
So lets go to the humanitarian side of things? Are we sending food and supplies to people trapped behind the line? Because to do that then you certainly have to put boots on the ground to make sure that it gets there because frankly if you just drop it off with our "allies" and hope that we don't end up clothing and feeding IS. On top of that IS is targeting humanitarian workers and convoys so your basically going to have to protect them. Maybe we could send food and blankets to refugee camps in places like Turkey, but that does nothing to address the human misery being done to the people stuck with IS.
Frankly you're going to have a rise of a next generation of extremists no matter what you do, and frankly its just as much the fault of the West as it is the fault of the nations there who allow for radical education and turn a blind eye to radicalization. Look at Saudi Arabia, they basically turned a blind eye to these crazies back after their last major terrorist attack in Saudia Arabia in exchange for a guarantee of no more attacks.
I still firmly believe that the military boots on the ground option is going to have to happen, but the Western Powers have to stop thinking of themselves in WW2 terms where you don't have a end game because you march in, beat your enemy and burger kings, massage parlors and liquor stores pop up over night.
You either have to have a end game that features a eradication of the radical elements of that society, which means that you stamp out Jihadist based schools and Mosques and their Iman, and you prepare to stay there a lot longer and fight a lot dirtier then your prepared to do. You also have to build schools and infrastructure and create a better life that people want to follow.
Because the other option is that all of the Western Nations stop buying oil and doing business in the middle east and completely stop doing business there, watch all of the economies collapse, watch ISIS and other groups go wild, and wait for the inevitable day that Israel drops a nuke.