Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Baghdad

US General: “Destroy the Islamic State Now”

US General John Allen. File photo.
US General John Allen. File photo.

(IraqiNews.com) US General John Allen, who is retired from the military, says that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant must be destroyed now.

“The brutal murder of the brave American journalist James Foley is meant to directly terrorize the world’s media, the international community, and the United States. If all the actions of the Islamic State, or IS, to date were not sufficiently reprehensible, this act and the potential for other similar acts will snap American attention with laser-like focus onto the real danger IS poses to the existence of Iraq, the order of the region and to the homelands of Europe and America,” writes Allen in an opinion article for Defense One.

“Make no mistake, the abomination of IS is a clear and present danger to the U.S. The only question really is whether the U.S. and its allies and partners will act decisively now while they can still shape events to destroy IS, an act that seems increasingly self-obvious.”

Allen argues that because the U.S. has already struck ISIS and because the U.S. has unique military capabilities, it is incumbent upon America to do the dirty work.

“The U.S. is now firmly in the game and remains the only nation on the planet capable of exerting the kind of strategic leadership, influence and strike capacity to deal with IS. It is also the only power capable of organizing a coalition’s reaction to this regional and international threat. As a general officer commanding at several levels in the region, I can say with certainty that what we’re facing in northern Iraq is only partly a crisis about Iraq. It is about the region and potentially the world as we know it,” writes Allen.

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