Top U.S. General: To Stop ISIS The U.S. Will Need To Become Involved In Syria's Civil War

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, brief reporters at the Pentagon, Aug. 21, 2014. DOD photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Sean K. Harp

Halting ISIS Would Require Attacks in Syria, Top General Says -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria cannot be defeated unless the United States or its allies take on the Sunni militancy in Syria, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday afternoon.

“This is an organization that has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision that will eventually have to be defeated,” the chairman, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said in his most expansive public remarks on the crisis since American airstrikes began in Iraq. “Can they be defeated without addressing that part of the organization that resides in Syria? The answer is no.”

But both General Dempsey and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who appeared beside him during a Pentagon news conference, deflected questions about whether the United States military would pursue the Sunni militants from Iraq into Syria, an issue that many defense experts say lies at the heart any attempt to defeat ISIS.

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My Comment: A surprising statement from Gen. Martin Dempsey (but not a surprising one) .... to defeat the Islamic State you will need to go into Syria. And while the generals may want to go into Syria to take out ISIS .... I suspect that the person who has the ultimate authority on what U.S. forces can and will do has a different point of view.