The people of Iraq and Syria will one day reject and ultimately defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey.
In a speech at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, Dempsey stressed that approximately 20 million Sunnis, living in the regions stretching between Damascus and Baghdad, are "disenfranchised without a government they can trust." He added that the Sunni population will "ultimately reject this ideology, with us in support," alluding to the natives of the Iraqi and Syrian regions that have been recently seized by the militant group.
In order to defeat the ISIL, Dempsey cited other significant tactics that need to be used outside of military operations, including countering terror financing, stopping the flow of foreign fighters from Syria, and stripping the "mythology" of the ISIL and its "religious legitimacy, this aspiration to be the caliphate." The Chairman described the global coalition as "remarkable" and stressed, "if we are true to the principle, then over time, we believe we can defeat ISIL." "It's a balancing act between the horror of watching the atrocities that this group is willing to commit and, at the same time, doing what we can to stay true to the strategy," stressed Dempsey.
Washington has spearheaded an international coalition that has been staging air strikes on the ISIL strongholds and has enhanced support for the Iraqi government and "moderate" Syrian opposition groups. However, it has remained adamant on favoring a policy of no troop direct involvement on the regional arenas.