Vance 1

Ryan Vance
Professor Salgat
English 111
11/16/14

Troops in the Middle East

A very controversial all along the history of the United States has been deploying U.S.
ground troops overseas. Deploying ground troops always causes for some concern. It mostly
means that casualties will happen. Being involved in the Middle East has been a constant thing.
Dating back to the early 1990s, when we became involved in the Gulf War, also known as
Operation Desert Storm. Then there was 9/11 and that started the War in Afghanistan and the
Iraq War. Now, the tables have turned on a new military controversy, the ISIS situation. The
United States should send ground combat troops to Iraq and Syria. If the United States does send
troops to Iraq and Syria then the U.S. would not need to worry about the most radical terrorist
group coming and trying to destroy the country. If the U.S. decides not to deploy troops to Iraq
and Syria to fight and deal with ISIS, then the U.S. could be in very big trouble as ISIS is a huge
risk. ISIS potentially could come and try to destroy the United States. The U.S. needs to send
troops to Iraq and Syria.
ISIS is a radical Islamic group that is out of Iraq and Syria. According to many people,
ISIS is al-Qaeda 2.0. ISIS does not have a distinct location on where they stay and where they
can be found. The CIA has estimated that they have over 31,500 fighters scattered around Iraq

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and Syria. They are a very dangerous and evil militant group that strives to kill anyone in their
way. ISIS has taken random people from countries such as Great Britain, and filmed themselves
beheading these people and releasing the videos to the media. ISIS also has been killing civilians
from Iraq and Syria in towns and also using car bombs and wreaking havoc throughout Iraq and
Syria. ISIS has always vowed they will destroy the United States.
The United States as sort of answered the threats by doing airstrikes over areas believed
to be held down by ISIS. The majority of America believes that there should be no military
involvement in Iraq again or in Syria to deal with ISIS, this would definitely include sending
ground troops. Obama has also stated that he does not want to send troops to Iraq and Syria. He
has sent airstrikes over areas that have been thought to be controlled by ISIS. There are some
pros and cons to airstrikes. A pro to doing airstrikes are that if and only if members of ISIS are
out in the open, they can be terminated by dropping bombs on them. The cons of doing airstrikes
would be that it could potentially kill more civilians than ISIS members. Remember, ISIS is
killing many civilians as this paper is being written and read, there is no need for more killed
civilians. Another con of doing airstrikes would be that nobody really knows where their
hideouts are, and since they are believed to be hiding in caves and underground they cannot be
seen from the air. This is bad because the U.S. would be dropping bombs on nothing if ISIS is
underground or in caves.
Obama has stated he does not want ground troops to the Middle East. Part of this is
believed to be because the U.S. has spent so much time in the Middle East in the past. Especially
in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another reason why the majority of the U.S. believes that ground troops
should not be sent to the Middle East is that they say it is not Americas war to fight. Also, they
believe that if troops were sent over it would cause casualties to our troops.

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ISIS is massively growing, and there is a minority in the U.S. that believes that the U.S.
cannot just sit back and let this keep happening and have a chance of getting way worse. I
personally stand within the minority. Airstrikes will not have much success eliminating ISIS in
the future. To be able to stop or even slow down ISIS, there needs to be boots on the ground and
ground troops such as infantrymen and special forces in Iraq and Syria right now. Obama has
stated he will put a stop to ISIS but what many question is how he would do it, as he will not
send troops over to fight and deal with them. If there were boots on the ground to deal with ISIS,
it would definitely help locate the hideouts where the extremists are hiding. Yes, there are some
known hideouts where members of ISIS are at, but most are unknown but there is a very good
idea where they are. If the hideouts are found and exploited, the U.S. would be able to infiltrate
and take out the ISIS members. This would potentially be a long and very dangerous process but,
this would be the only viable option to even slow down this extremist group.
Some say by stepping in on the ISIS situation would be a very good humanitarian thing to
do because we would be saving the lives of innocent civilians from all over Iraq and Syria. Once
ISIS is stopped, they will not be killing innocent civilians anymore and taking innocent people
from other countries captive and killing them in front of the whole world as an audience. This
would also be a good idea because if the U.S. stepped in, then so will countries like Great Britain
and it would not just be the U.S. against ISIS and would be an everybody against ISIS situation.
As the majority believes that it is not Americas fight or war to step into is blind. It may not be
Americas fight right now, but in the near future it definitely will be Americas war to fight. It
will be the United States fight in the near future because ISIS has been getting Americans to
join their forces and be against their own home country. Also, ISIS has already made threats to
America and saying that they will destroy the U.S. The new World Trade Center has been

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opened, and in 2001 al-Qaeda militants flew commercial airliners into it. An easy assumption
can be made here, ISIS would make an attempt at the new World Trade Center. This is an easy
assumption because the main extreme terrorist group already destroyed the World Trade Center
before, and now that a newer and potentially more powerful extremist group is around, why
wouldnt they make an attempt at it. This could also obviously be a long shot but, also could be
very true and the U.S. needs to step in at least try to make a difference and try to help stop ISIS,
as this would not just be a humanitarian thing to do, but it would also help the U.S.
If the U.S. does end up deciding to start sending ground troops over to Iraq and Syria, this
could be very beneficial to themselves, and to the rest of the world. The U.S. has the most
powerful military in the world and would obviously be a game changer against ISIS. If they were
ultimately eliminated and finished, as stated before they would not be able to make threats to the
U.S. and other countries. They also would not be killing innocent people anymore. If the U.S.
decides to not send troops to Iraq and Syria and keep putting it off, it could really cost them, and
many other people and nations. This would be bad if they did not send troops because ISIS
would keep killing innocent people and also make their way over to the U.S. and come through
with their threats. As ISIS is slowly growing, big decisions need to be made and thought through
a little more. Troops do need to be over in Iraq and Syria because it would not only protect the
innocent people being killed over there, protect the people in the U.S. and in the rest of the
world, and also would start taking out and stopping ISIS.
According to German intelligence, ISIS has now acquired air defense and missiles that
are capable of shooting down civilian air craft. ISIS at first, found old missiles and air defense in
Syria that was old and was believed to be from the Cold War. (Miranda, 2014). Recently, ISIS
acquired missiles and air defense systems from Qatar. Qatar is a very financially secure country,

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and has been under scrutiny because of their role of financially supporting past extremist groups,
and now they are supporting ISIS. (Miranda, 2014). Two allied Iraqi fighter jets flew over an
ISIS hideout and were actually shot down by ISIS militants with the new air defense systems and
missiles they acquired from Qatar. (Miranda, 2014). With ISIS acquiring air defense systems and
missiles, this would be bad for airstrikes if the U.S. keeps sending them flying over Iraq and
Syria because they could be potentially shot down. This is also another reason why the U.S.
needs to start sending ground troops over because ISIS is becoming more powerful and getting
more and more resources and becoming a bigger and more serious threat than ever. This is a
prime example why, thanks to Qatar.
According to an article written by John Bolton from the New York Post, he believes that
the U.S. needs to send troops to Iraq and Syria. According to Bolton, he believes the time to
send troops is right now and not years from now (Bolton 2014). Like stated before, the three
live beheadings represent only a very small number of all of the mass murders by the radical
group (Bolton, 2014). Bolton also agrees that the only way to stop and destroy ISIS is to deploy
combat troops to the Middle East. Bolton states that Obamas goal is to destroy ISIS, just it
requires combat troops. When ISIS fist started executing the beheadings, President Obama said
that he would not send combat troops to fight ISIS, but he said he would put a stop to them. The
President contradicted himself when he said that. How can the most radical terrorist group be
destroyed without combat troops? The answer is that they cannot be destroyed without combat
troops. Bolton also states that it is an ugly conclusion to have to use ground troops and go to war
in the Middle East, but that would be the only way to stop ISIS before they spread to rest of the
world and becoming the most deadly radical Islamic State originating from the Middle East
(Bolton, 2014).

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According to Alessandria Masi from the International Business Times, she states that if
the U.S. does not send ground troops to Iraq, then they would have to win from the air (Masi,
2014). The U.S. has sent 1200 troops to Iraq but, they are not ground combat troops. They are
called military advisors, and are not combat troops (Masi, 2014). Masi also states that if the U.S.
only uses airstrikes, then ISIS would hide more in cities and underground. (Masi, 2014). The
main problems with this would be if ISIS hides underground then they cannot be detected and
eliminated. If they hide in cities, then the airstrikes would kill many more innocent civilians, and
that cannot happen. Especially if troops are there to stop ISIS from killing civilians, then we
obviously do not want the airstrikes killing civilians. After a poll made by NBC News, 41% of
Americans that participated in the poll, believe that airstrikes AND combat troops should be
involved in fighting and defeating ISIS. Whereas 35% think it should be only airstrikes should be
taking place. 15% believe that no military action should be taken. (Dann, 2014). In September,
the same poll was put out by NBC, and it was the exact opposite of the response in October. 40%
wanted just airstrikes and 34% wanted both airstrikes and combat troops. (Dann, 2014). Also,
more Republicans feel that combat troops would be a good decision, Democrats are more neutral
towards the situation (Dann, 2014). Also, six in ten American now believe that military action is
the best decision for the United States, and a majority of Americans (including Democrats) are
disapproving of the job President Obama is doing in handling the ISIS situation (Dann, 2014).
Lastly, according to Alessandria Masi of the International Business Times, she quoted Democrat
Representative Nancy Pelosi about sending troops to the Middle East.. Nancy Pelosi said I dont
think the American people are up for it. According to this poll taken by NBC News, it shows
the majority of the American people are up for it. Arizona Republican John McCain, also wants
troops in the Middle East to fight ISIS. McCain says ISIS is winning and we are not. McCain

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also said sending Special Forces to Iraq would improve in targeting the ISIS radicals and make it
easier to eliminate them. (Carroll, 2014).
ISIS hideouts are relatively unknown, but what the world does know is the area in Iraq
and Syria controlled by ISIS. This map will be labeled as Figure 1 from now on.
(http://dougsboomerrants.wordpress.com/2014/08/30/isis-and-the-continued-selling-of-fear/) In

Figure 1, it
shows the

areas controlled

by ISIS. The

red area shows the

areas within

Syria and Iraq

controlled by

ISIS. The yellow

area is Iraq

and Syria. While

the rest of the

map shown in

Figure 1 is other countries in the Middle East. Figure 1 also shows many main big cities in Syria
and Iraq, and all but one that is shown is controlled by ISIS. This is obviously not a good thing
because ISIS is spreading to the most populous cities in Syria and Iraq and ultimately controlling
them. As shown in Figure 1, the area controlled by ISIS is the more northern area of Iraq and
Syria. More of Iraq is controlled by ISIS than Syria is and more of the main cities in Iraq are
controlled by ISIS than Syrias main cities. ISIS controls more of Iraq for the time being, but are
moving quickly into Syria and will soon control most of Syria and Iraq. For all the information
given, ISIS could start spreading to the rest of the Middle East after it takes over all of Iraq and
Syria first.
In conclusion, ISIS is rapidly growing and becoming more and more dangerous and
becoming a massive threat to the whole world, and not just to the United States. The United

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States seriously needs to rethink the military strategy on how to deal with the ISIS militants. As
ISIS keeps growing, the threat of them coming and making it our war with them also grows. As
some people may say, we should stay out of their way because it is not out fight, we should join
and fight them because it will be the United States fight sooner than later. ISIS has sworn they
will destroy the United States and that cannot happen. The United States needs to send combat
troops to the Middle East to fight and destroy ISIS. If the U.S. does not send troops, ISIS will
come and attempt to destroy America. The U.S. needs to send troops to Iraq and Syria.

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Works Cited
Bolton, John R. Send US troops: Beating ISIS requires Americans in Combat. New York Post.
September 15 2014.

Miranda, Charles. ISIS Acquires Air Defense Missile System capable of shooting down
passenger airlines, Qatar blamed. News Corp Australia Network. October 29, 2014.

Masi, Alessandria. Does The US Need Ground Forces To Fight ISIS In Iraq And Syria? The
Impact of Airstrikes Vs Combat Troops. International Business Times. September 17, 2014.

Dann, Carrie. More Americans Back US Ground Troops in ISIS Fight. NBC News. October 15,
2014.

Carroll, Rory. McCain urges ground troops to defeat ISIS: Theyre winning, and were not."
The Guardian. Los Angeles, California. October 12, 2014.

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