A real quandary

The world is faced with a real quandary.

What to do with ISIS?

The ISIS attacks in Paris which left 132 dead and hundreds injured have brought the threat of Islamic terrorists to the forefront. ISIS is no longer seen as a gaggle of terrorist, but as a group able to execute complex plans far from its base. It is certainly not the junior varsity.

It is now clearly a global threat of the first order.

Nations must now decide how to confront it.

Refugees from the Middle East are swamping Europe. Among them are some terrorists using the refugees as cover. Vetting these people is virtually impossible. Some are calling for stopping all Muslim refugees from entering Europe.

Also, attaching a terrorist tag to all Muslims would further ignite the situation. Not all Muslims are terrorists. The west cannot declare war on all the Middle East or, as President Barack Obama said, troops cannot be sent into every country from which a terrorist plot is hatched.

The attack in Paris raises other concerns in light of the fact that the president of France is asking for extended emergency powers to combat the terrorist threats. This raises questions about the impact of these new powers on civil liberties and established rule of law. In America, some politicians are declaring only Christian refugees should be allowed in the country.

Additionally, despite all the effort around the world to detect and prevent terrorism, this attack was apparently planned and even directed in the dark, evading all surveillance efforts. ISIS is using new technology or new methods to confound its enemies.

Still, no middle eastern country has declared abhorrence over the attacks. Little official effort in the region has been made to defuse or even reject the powerful ISIS ideology. Adding to the problems, hundreds of different militia have different goals.

So what can be done? The word most commonly used word to describe the situation is “complicated.”

The president of France calls it a war, but no one has come up with how to fight such a war in both the Middle East and in European countries.

It is a complex problem.

So far, the threatened nations have yet to show the sustained will or even a consensus on what to do.

Yet, nearly every country expects the United States to take the lead. If the past is any indication, that is almost the same as asking the United States to do it itself.

So, maybe, the only quandary is what are we going to do.

Gordon Forgey

Publisher