ISIS

All ideologies or systems will eventually find themselves painted into a corner unless accommodations are made to "relax" the macro rule-set during times of constipation.

From my recliner in zip code 48827, it looks as if the current Administration is sorely in need of "relaxing" of their rule-set on the topic of ISIS.

Cutting to the chase, there are no innocent bystanders in ISIS occupied territory.  ISIS, as a matter of policy, routinely slaughters not just "hostiles", but "neutrals" as well.  By definition....ISIS's definition, there are no non-ISIS, non-combatants in ISIS held territory.  ISIS killed or converted them all.

If we find ourselves sucked into this mess, a mess we could have prevented had politicians not made cheap, grandstand plays, it should be with the understanding that ISIS defined this as total warfare.  There is no such thing as collateral damages or collateral casualties.  There need be no concern for cultural heritage or historical artifacts.  ISIS, with their loutish behavior took those constraints off the table.  They are destroying them more quickly than TNT.

If it is inside ISIS controlled territory and it moves....destroy it.  If it has a heat signature at 4:00 AM local time....destroy it.  If it is a crop....burn it.

Food

Siege has a long history as a military tactic.

Iraq can only grow 20% of the calories needed to sustain its population.  That number will be closer to 7% after they lose access to fertilizer and pesticides.  In the longer run, that number will drop to 2%-to-5% as irrigation equipment fails.

The four horsemen of the Apocalypse ride together for a reason.  A famine where calories are cut by 90% does not mean that 10% survive.  It means that nobody survives.  Very few will go quietly into the night so "some" other anonymous person can live.  Starved bodies are vulnerable to disease and pestilence.  At some point burying the bodies becomes too much work.

The mirror image of the Golden Rule is "Do unto others as they have demonstrated they will do unto us."

ISIS has provided us with ample evidence of what they will do unto us, given the chance.