24 August 2014 - ISNT 1

What to do about the Islamic State of Nightmare Terrorists (ISNT)? The debate rages, but if the goal is that the brimstone never lap your shores, then there’s only one way: Gather NATO in Turkey and invade Syria. Crush all sides of the civil war and occupy the country. Without a firm support base, ISNT dregs can be wiped up over the next few decades. Syria can be released to govern itself after a century or so; the conquistadors took longer, but they didn’t have the advantages of a modern police state. Why are the simple solutions always politically infeasible?