A Trump presidency and ISIS: Aggressive U.S. intervention is exactly what they want

[DonViejo]

ISIS is hoping the U.S. takes the bait by sending ground troops — and Trump in the White House certainly will

SEAN ILLING

The Islamic State’s worldview springs from a prophetic theology of seventh-century Islam. Terrestrial grievances aside, what they claim to want most is an apocalyptic confrontation between Muslims and infidels in Dabiq, a remote village in Northern Syria near the Turkish border. The Prophet reportedly identified Dabiq as the scene of the final battle between the armies of Islam and Rome. The battle is said to signal the countdown to the apocalypse, or something like that. Dabiq was one of the first sites ISIS captured in its early days precisely because of its theological import. They even named their propaganda magazine after the town.

Understanding this bit of prophecy is essential to understanding ISIS’s strategy. They are inviting a war they cannot win because they’re not interested in winning it. This is about goading the West into a bloody confrontation on foreign soil in order to realize a fantastical theological vision. They want as many Western boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria as possible.

ISIS will have to be defeated militarily. But we have to be careful about how we do that. A methodical campaign that avoids the mistakes of the Iraq War is a useful starting point. We have to contain and stunt ISIS’s progress without allowing the conflict in Iraq and Syria to further destabilize the region. That may mean a “slow bleed” approach, as The Atlantic’s Graeme Wood put it, is “the best of bad military options.”

All of this is easier said than done, and there are no risk-free strategies. But knowing what ISIS wants is central to any effort to combat them. What we can’t do is take their bait at every turn and fumble our way into another large-scale ground conflict. This is exactly what ISIS hopes we will do, and everything they’ve said and done thus far confirms it.

Given their desire to provoke a final conflict, it should surprise no one that ISIS loyalists are eager to see a Donald Trump presidency. To realize their vision, they need help from an American president. It was, after all, George W. Bush’s myopic decision to invade Iraq that paved the way for ISIS’s existence. Now they need America to overreach again, and Trump is their best bet.

more
http://www.salon.com/2016/07/05/a_trump_presidency_and_isis_aggressive_u_s_intervention_is_exactly_what_they_want/

[Hortensis]

1. Yes. ISIS is an end-times group that NEEDS

the U.S. involved. Plus, we have our own approximately 30 million Americans who are also waiting rather impatiently for The End and who agree emphatically. It just wouldn't be Armageddon without us.

[moonscape]

2. And Isis activity is likely to be this election's October Surprise ... in an

effort to get Trump into the White House.