We heard plenty of blather and pablum from both sides of the aisle after the events in Paris, but not much in the way of actual alternatives. Here is my analysis of the commentary:
1. Take the gloves off the air campaign. This alternative from Ted Cruz at least has the merit of being achievable, and I can imagine some incremental changes along those lines. The fact is, however, that we can’t win this battle through strategic bombing alone (you could ask the North Vietnamese about that), and YouTube videos of “crusaders” bombing innocent civilians would be about the most potent recruiting tools for IS that one could contemplate.
2. Work harder with our allies. Duh: we’ve been doing this from the beginning. The problem is that our allies in the Middle East all have higher priorities than defeating IS. In particular, the Saudis are more concerned about Iran, and the Turks would rather fight Assad and the Kurds than help with IS.
3. Make a deal with Assad and the Russians. Yes, we could defeat IS that way, but it would require us to betray our allies in the region, accept Russian leadership in the Middle East, and tolerate Assad’s human rights violations. Not happening.
4. Arm the Kurds. We’re already doing that. The Kurds are reliable allies, but they are only interested in protecting their homeland, and ultimately in declaring independence; don’t expect them to be willing to go much beyond that. Giving more support to them alienates both the Iraqi and Turkish governments.
5. Send a large force of American ground troops to Syria. Yes, we would win the war–but at what cost? And what happens afterwards? Do we take on Assad and risk war with the Russians? If not, what kind of political establishment emerges?
6. Declare war. Jeb’s option–how does that help?????
The fact is that our best option was, and is, to reach an agreement with the Russians for a transitional government that would protect Russian interests, while introducing some element of real democracy to the Syrian political system. The biggest obstacle to this is Putin’s insistence on supporting Assad.
One hates to say it, but in the real world, successful attacks by IS on the Russians may ultimately be the best hope of peace in Syria.