Hitting ISIS where it hurts most
Zeroing in on the terrorists' cash network and oil operations in Syria and Iraq would disrupt its centre of gravity By patrick b johnston and benjamin bahney
BUSINESS TIMES
Stopping the flow: Baghdad should engage Turkey, Jordan and the Iraqi and Syrian Kurds to contain ISIS's oil operations, especially stopping it from controlling Baiji, Iraq's largest oil production facility. - PHOTO: AFP
WHEN the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) poured out from the eastern deserts of Syria into Iraq's second-largest city last month, it was an image out of the 8th century: bearded Islamist marauders summarily executing unbelievers, pillaging as they went. But underneath that grisly exterior lurks something more modern and more insidious. As ISIS's most recent annual report shows, the group is sophisticated, strategic, financially savvy and building structures that could survive for years to come. ISIS currently brings in more than US$1 million a day in revenue and is now the richest terrorist group on the planet.
Despite the recent calls from hawks in Congress for a broader offensive, there are few meaningful options available to the United States. There's no political appetite for a ground operation in Iraq. A narrower intervention, like the airstrikes and humanitarian assistance President Obama authorised last week, may be able to limit ISIS expansion, but will not defeat it.
Only the Iraqis and the Kurds will be able to reclaim territory. But there are some options for non-combat assistance that would help degrade the group's finances, which are strongly linked to the group's violence. For one, America could send expert teams to assist Iraqi and Kurdish forces in developing the financial intelligence needed to plan military operations against key ISIS elements. Targeting the terrorist group's bookkeepers, its oil business and its cash holdings could both disrupt ISIS's financing and provide additional intelligence on its inner workings.
Others have called for traditional counter-terrorist methods to target ISIS's wealth - by disrupting international financial flows that support terrorism. But this view misreads how ISIS makes its money. The group has always raised and spent most of its money locally, inside Iraq and Syria. ISIS wants to create its own state, and has long raised funds like many nascent states do, through coercion and co-optation.
READ MORE: http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/editorial-opinion/opinion/hitting-isis-where-it-hurts-most-20140815
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