SOLVING THE SYRIAN REFUGEE PROBLEM

A terrible consequence of the war in Syria has been the flood of refugees fleeing the fighting and streaming to countries around the world to find safety.  A dear friend of mine has asked how we solve this refugee problem.  While nations grapple with the problem of a sudden influx of refugees on their shores, a long term solution to this must include halting what is making the refugees flee, the ghastly brutality of the war in Syria.

This war will end when some country or countries put a standing army in the field in Syria and take out ISIS, aka ISIL, Daesh, the Islamic State.  The reason we need an army is that ISIS is an army that has moved with a good deal of skill and expertise in racking up its battlefield victories in Syria and Iraq over the last several years.  If you doubt ISIS' ability to wage effective warfare, check out military strategist Dr. Frederick Kagan's testimony before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee 21 May 2015 that my co-author, Pattie Mosure, and I recounted in our book, "Foreign Correspondent."

It matters little whether this army is American, Arab, European, a mix of NATO countries, Chinese, Japanese, or is from Venus or Mars.  Or, whether we adopt Fox News journalist Bill O'Reilly's suggestion and put together a mercenary force of the world's professional soldiers for hire, of which there are many.  But put an army in the field supported by air power, find ISIS' army, and destroy it.  And kill all of its combatants, for the cruelty ISIS has amply demonstrated shows its followers are beyond redemption.

And let this be a warning to young idealists seeking to join ISIS and their parents.  If we catch you fighting for ISIS we will kill you.

In addition to destroying ISIS militarily we must destroy it politically.  That means cleaving from ISIS the support it enjoys in Syria and Iraq from their Sunni populations.  The Sunnis are the major sect of Islam accounting for 80-85% of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. 

So, while we are destroying ISIS militarily we send a day contingent down to Damascus, the capital of Syria, and escort that murderous despot, Bashar al-Assad, and all of his family out of town.  We cannot leave any of his family members in Damascus for they will engender loyalty from their supporters to rise in opposition.  Or banish the al-Assad family from the country and hang Bashar al-Assad from the nearest lamppost. But get rid of him.

Assad is an Alawite, which is an offshoot of the Shia, the principal minority sect of Islam.  Prior to the massive emigration of Syrians fleeing their country the Alawites probably accounted for only 15% or so of Syria's population of somewhere around 23 million.  The Sunnis made up about 75% of the Syrian population.

Put a Sunni or a group of Sunnis in power in Syria.  If ISIS is defeated on the battlefield and also stripped of its support from the Sunnis that will destroy it politically, ISIS will become an ineffective force.  We will have to monitor it for years, but it will not be the major threat it is today.

Leave an international occupying army in Syria for the immediate future to convince the various factions fighting for power in addition to ISIS that they are not going to win.  This should also weigh on Russia that its further meddling will accomplish little, especially with its client, Bashar al-Assad out of the picture. 

And tell the millions of Syrian refugees camped out in foreign lands that it is safe for them to go home.