‘We Can’t Kill Our Way Out’ Of A War With ISIS: State Dept Says More Jobs Will Fix It

State Department Spokesperson Marie Harf

February 17, 2015

By Lorra B.

The U.S. cannot “kill our way out,” said Marie Harf. Harf, a State Department spokesperson, was referring to the war on ISIS. Instead, her solution is to create jobs which, in turn, will put the brakes on the terrorist Islamic group.

“We’re killing a lot of them and we’re going to keep killing more of them, so are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians,” stated Harf. “They’re in this fight with us. But we cannot win this war by killing them; we cannot kill our way out of this war. We need, in the longer term, medium and longer term, to go after the root causes that lead people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs.”

Harf went on to say that, according to Fox News, “We can work with countries around the world to help improve their governance. We can help them build their economies, so they can have job opportunities for these people.” (If she hasn’t noticed, we haven’t been able to create enough jobs in our own country.)

Harf’s position may be a bit flawed, however. To suggest that poverty can and will lead to one’s loss of value, integrity or plain good sense and that it could then lead them down a path such as becoming an ISIS terrorist seems absurd. 

“This is an insult to all the people in the world who are actually poor and are not blowing people up and not targeting Christians,” stated Laura Ingraham of Fox News. “This is a religious war. The rest of the world is waking up to this and there’s one person…who doesn’t get this, and it’s the President of the United States.”

If one were so inclined to do a little research they would find that a lot of the ISIS recruitment’s came from upper and middle class families. These new ISIS members also had jobs with opportunities for advancement.

To say, Marie Harf, all that needs to be done is give those around the world who are poor a job opportunity and that it will then lead to the cessation of ISIS seems a bit naive, don’t you think?