States would have likely got involved. This is a good example of a conflict with limited involvement by the United States.
For a more current and rising threat this essay will look at ISIS since it has now become the biggest terrorist threat that faces the United States and has the most potential to grow. They have control over a large territory that stretches across the border of Syria and Iraq and has over 30,000 fighters with military capabilities (Cronin, 2015). It has gained enough power and resources to be considered a pseudo-state and one that has the potential to do even more damage to the already unstable region (Cronin, 2015). Currently the United States is taking a limited role that is focused on helping local areas fight back against …show more content…
The current strategy for decreasing the funding of terrorism is taking shape in the United States reaction to ISIS. Since getting involved their first step was to eliminate the external funds that were being given to them by disrupting channels of donations by state sponsorship and popular support (ISIL Strategy, 2016). Since then they have focused on decreasing their territory through enabling local fighters and Iraqi forces to fight back against the opposition by pushing into ISIS territory through military advancements and have been able to reduce production of oil by 30% due to this loss of territory (ISIL Strategy, 2016). It was estimated in July of 2016 that ISIS is making a billion dollars a year; $500 million from oil and gas combined with $500 million from the sale of antiquities, extortion, and taxes they have imposed (ISIL Strategy, 2016). The United States is now trying to decrease that amount by focusing on the smuggling of oil by targeting the oil transporting trucks with drone strikes (ISIL Strategy, 2016). This is a good start to their battle with ISIS and is looking more effective than when they were trying to intercept the FARC smuggling operations or from when they were disrupting the Taliban’s Opium production. However, this tactic is working at a very slow pace and although that is fine it is still allowing ISIS a lot of breathing room with the amount of revenue they are able to maintain. They are also still in control of several major cities. It is unclear how effective they are still smuggling oil or how effective the targeting of oil transports is. It is evident that there is also a large amount of human rights violations going on inside their territory (ISIL Strategy, 2016). With a lack of a perimeter it is much harder to stop an ISIS offensive maneuver if they begin to feel like they are being pushed back. Ramadi is
For a more current and rising threat this essay will look at ISIS since it has now become the biggest terrorist threat that faces the United States and has the most potential to grow. They have control over a large territory that stretches across the border of Syria and Iraq and has over 30,000 fighters with military capabilities (Cronin, 2015). It has gained enough power and resources to be considered a pseudo-state and one that has the potential to do even more damage to the already unstable region (Cronin, 2015). Currently the United States is taking a limited role that is focused on helping local areas fight back against …show more content…
The current strategy for decreasing the funding of terrorism is taking shape in the United States reaction to ISIS. Since getting involved their first step was to eliminate the external funds that were being given to them by disrupting channels of donations by state sponsorship and popular support (ISIL Strategy, 2016). Since then they have focused on decreasing their territory through enabling local fighters and Iraqi forces to fight back against the opposition by pushing into ISIS territory through military advancements and have been able to reduce production of oil by 30% due to this loss of territory (ISIL Strategy, 2016). It was estimated in July of 2016 that ISIS is making a billion dollars a year; $500 million from oil and gas combined with $500 million from the sale of antiquities, extortion, and taxes they have imposed (ISIL Strategy, 2016). The United States is now trying to decrease that amount by focusing on the smuggling of oil by targeting the oil transporting trucks with drone strikes (ISIL Strategy, 2016). This is a good start to their battle with ISIS and is looking more effective than when they were trying to intercept the FARC smuggling operations or from when they were disrupting the Taliban’s Opium production. However, this tactic is working at a very slow pace and although that is fine it is still allowing ISIS a lot of breathing room with the amount of revenue they are able to maintain. They are also still in control of several major cities. It is unclear how effective they are still smuggling oil or how effective the targeting of oil transports is. It is evident that there is also a large amount of human rights violations going on inside their territory (ISIL Strategy, 2016). With a lack of a perimeter it is much harder to stop an ISIS offensive maneuver if they begin to feel like they are being pushed back. Ramadi is