Strategy for Fighting ISIS-ISIL

We need foot soldiers from the region who are capable of facing-off with the ISIS "soldiers". That's of foremost importance.

Given the desert terrain the transportation of soldiers on the roads is rather limiting. We should focus on a weak spot in North-West Iraq where we can dominate for any period of time. That cuts off the Iraqi ISIS groups from Syrian support.

Since there are only a few roads from the north-west to Baghdad and other parts of eastern Iraq there are no easy escape routes for ISIS groups once they are attacked by overwhelming force.

Focus superior forces on one small location where they have a group and destroy that one group. Then, move on down the road doing the same. We can clear the main road from Syria toward Baghdad that way. Once there is a fork in the road we can either work on one road at a time or simply double the plan and work our way down each other branch toward bigger cities of Iraq. The ISIS groups will have no retreat or support from anyone.

They might seek to move toward Kurdistan, so a strong guard there is needed to keep them boxed-in.

Only once the fighting moves into larger cities could it become more difficult. Keeping civilians out of the way or somehow pushing ISIS fighters away from the citizenry is a tactic which needs some consideration. How can that be done?

Nibbling away at ISIS, one small group at a time means we don't need tremendous numbers of foot soldiers to work with our air forces. But, for a sustained effort it would be good to have sufficient forces to alternate or resupply our foot soldier units. Setting the pace of such a campaign is important and picking the right time of year is helpful. We control those things, not ISIS. We can control where we fight, the time, the manpower on each side, the entire effort.