On Thursday
January 22, U.S. diplomatic officials reported that the coalition fighting ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant) has killed an estimate of 6,000 fighters, which included half of the top
commanders in the group. The U.S. Central of Command provided the estimate of fighter
casualties and has confirmed that ISIS fighters have been killed in Iraq and Syria
by U.S. coalition airstrikes. The Central of Command continues to keep track of
fighters killed, however it has not been made public. U.S. intelligence
estimates that ISIS has a fighting force between 9,000-18,000 fighters. However
it is said that the terror group can attract many supporters willing to fight,
therefore ISIS could amass up to 31,000
followers. Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters that the U.S. is not keeping
a “body count” because it would be wrong to report such a substantial number to
the public. Kirby refers to use the word “tally” rather than the word “body
count”, because “body count” to him refers to the Vietnam War statistics. In
the Vietnam War the Pentagon reported “body counts” as a measure of its triumph
against the Viet Cong. Kirby explained to reporters that when he used the term
“tally”, it was not used to show its success against ISIS. The only action that
the U.S. has taken against ISIS has been launching airstrikes in the location
of their territory. In Iraq the number of airstrikes has increased in Mosul.
The goal for the U.S. is to completely cut off ISIS’s supply line. Now that the
U.S. has killed a significant number of ISIS fighters, the country could
possibly face war and retaliation in the future. I believe that the U.S. should
develop a plan to foil retaliatory acts.
The U.S. should strengthen its defense systems, so we will be able to counter attack retaliatory acts by ISIS.
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