Chelsea Manning: Let ISIS Destroy Itself

'Bombs and bullets' only make the group stronger, writes the Wikileaker
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 17, 2014 1:44 PM CDT
Chelsea Manning: Let ISIS Destroy Itself
This undated file photo shows fighters from ISIS marching in Raqqa, Syria.   (AP Photo/Militant Website, File)

It's tempting to go after ISIS with military might, but that strategy will eventually backfire, writes Chelsea Manning from her prison cell at Fort Leavenworth. Based on her stint as an analyst in Iraq, Manning says that using "bombs and bullets," is exactly what the group wants. Not only will it help recruitment, it will let ISIS justify its brutality by pointing to the big bad West, writes Manning in the Guardian. So what to do instead? Among other things, the world should set up temporary borders and let ISIS try to do what it says it can—govern a state.

"In a contained area and over a long enough period," it's doomed to fail. "This might begin to discredit the leadership and ideology of ISIS for good." Smart containment and an international moratorium on ransoms to cut off the group's money supply will help, but having the discipline to let ISIS unravel on its own is key. The militants are "wielding a sharp, heavy and very deadly double-edged sword," writes Manning. "Now just wait for them to fall on it." Click for the full column. (More ISIS stories.)

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