Retired Navy Captain Chuck Nash says President Obama is wrong to distance the terrorists responsible for the beheading of American James Foley from the Islamic faith they claim is driving their rampage across Iraq and Syria.
He also says the lack of a cohesive strategy against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, will hinder progress against the enemy. Nash also believes our porous borders and the troubling number of westerners affiliated with ISIS make our own people very vulnerable.
On Tuesday, ISIS released a video showing a masked terrorist with a British accent beheading American photojournalist James Foley. Another American reporter, Steven Joel Sotloff, was also shown on the video. ISIS vows to kill him next unless the U.S. changes course.
In a statement condemning the horrific murder, President Obama claimed the ideology of ISIS is separate from any religion.
“ISIL speaks for no religion. Their victims are overwhelmingly Muslim, and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just God would stand for what they did yesterday, and for what they do every single day,” said Obama.
Nash says while the vast majority of ISIS victims are Muslims, the president is blurring some very important lines.
“They are radical Islamists and you cannot separate Islam from what’s being done here. There are no Christians, Buddhists, Shintos anywhere in the ISIS organization. Let’s call it for what it is. These are radical Islamists. They have formed together to go step up from terrorism to a full-blown army to achieve what they have wanted to do since Osama bin Laden started this third jihad, and that was (t0) establish a caliphate,” said Nash.
While the actions of ISIS shock the conscience of observers, Nash says they also provide an important wake-up call.
“We’re too comfortable in this country. We’ve got large two oceans that have protected us. We’ve got a sieve on our southern border. There is a lot going on in the world and we were just faced with the brutality of it. We have to realize there are just some bad people on this earth,” said Nash, noting that a lack of border security and reports that at least 1,000 westerners are part of ISIS put our security at great risk.
“I think we’re in big trouble,” said Nash. “Now you’re going to have people coming back who have experience who are not afraid to fight, are not afraid to die. They think they’re the true believers. Those people are traveling on American, British and other European passports, where they can very easily slip in under the radar,” said Nash.
“We’re going to see the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Muslim terrorist. We’re going to see that person. Hopefully, we see that person before they complete their mission,” he said.
Nash does not believe the beheading of an American will result in much change in the U.S. policy toward ISIS. Nash says the existing approach needs a massive overhaul, beginning with a comprehensive strategy.
“The strategy has three major components. You have a diplomatic, you have a military and you have an economic (strategy). Horizontally through all that you have an intelligence component, which informs the decision-makers in the three main pillars,” said Nash.
Right now, says Nash, the U.S. is simply “plinking” individual targets are not working on a long-term plan. In addition to choking off as much money as possible, he says there should be diplomatic pressure to get Turkey into the fight in northern Iraq to assist the Kurds in the east. He says those forces plus a regrouped Iraqi army in the south should have a great impact without involving U.S. ground forces.
“We could totally envelop them and put pressure on all three fronts. They would splinter and at that point you roll them up,” said Nash. “Without that full picture, we’re just flying sorties and dropping bombs. Motion should not be confused with progress.”