How new strategy to defeat ISIS can work.

• Author: Farrell, Lawrence P.
• Position: President's Perspective

President Obama has called for a strategy to confront the insurgency fomented by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. His stated objectives are to degrade and destroy the group.

Although, this goal sounds reasonable on the surface, the president's language does not provide sufficient criteria to formulate military objectives. How does one know when "degrade" has been achieved? "Destroy" offers a more complete political objective, but it still is a bit non-specific. For instance, is "destroy" only fully accomplished when all ISIS members have been captured, killed or scattered?

If ISIS were to relocate its command structure and some surviving fighters to Northwest Pakistan, would we have accomplished our objective to degrade and destroy?

A great example of a political objective with a clear supporting military objective was the first Gulf War. The political objective was to evict the Iraqi Army from Kuwait and return Kuwait to the Kuwaitis. It was thus clear to all when those objectives were obtained and when the war was over. The present objectives are not as definitive, but sufficient for now to plan a military campaign that will most certainly encompass attacks on ISIS leadership, command centers, military formations, vehicles, arms and supply points.

The problem will be knowing when it is over. And depending on how it plays out, that end might not be apparent early on. Remember the enemy has a vote, and we have signaled our intentions early, so he will be already making adjustments, and some of them will surprise us. An intense, sustained campaign that rapidly weakens ISIS leadership at the start will be the best way to have an early indication of success.

We are discovering lately that ISIS forces have grown from the originally estimated 10,000 to 20,000 to more than 30,000. And we already know they are well supplied, well financed, well organized and an effective fighting organization, especially against the Iraqi Army. The surprise has been its effectiveness against the Kurdish Peshmerga. One wonders whether the Iraqi Army can rise to the challenge. The Peshmerga should see success if it is given extensive air support and increased firepower and mobility--better than we have supplied to date.

ISIS is ensconced in Mosul and other cities, so it will be necessary to dig them out. Read that as allied ground forces and precise air attacks. The strategy the president has adopted combines U.S. air power with ground advisors and coordinators...