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Try Harder: Washington and Co 'Have no Clue' How to Defeat Daesh

© AP Photo / Khalid MohammedIraqi, US and Spanish soldiers participate in a training mission outside Baghdad, Iraq
Iraqi, US and Spanish soldiers participate in a training mission outside Baghdad, Iraq - Sputnik International
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Washington and its allies often say how determined and committed they are to defeating Daesh but political analyst Alan Hart maintains that they have no idea how to really put an end to one of the most brutal terrorist groups on the planet.

"The main problem is that the Obama administration and all Western governments do not have a clue about what must be done if [Daesh] and perverted Islamic fundamentalism in all of its manifestations is to be contained and defeated. What is most needed in all the corridors of Western power is an understanding of what is giving life to [Daesh] and to all other perverted forces," Hart told Radio Sputnik.

US president Barack Obama speaks during a press conference on December 1, 2015 at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris - Sputnik International
Obama Has a Great Strategy Against Daesh, He Just Can't Explain It
The terrorist group has tapped into the grievances of people in the Middle East using the hurt, humiliation, anger and despair of many Arabs and Muslims to its advantage, the expert asserted.

Hart believes that there are two main causes behind this state of affairs, which "cannot be addressed with bombs and bullets." The first issue involves America's foreign policy of the last decade and a half, while the second deals with corruption and authoritarianism in the majority of countries across the region.

© AP Photo / Public DomainISIL marching in Raqqa, Syria.
ISIL marching in Raqqa, Syria. - Sputnik International
ISIL marching in Raqqa, Syria.

The terrorist groups, responsible for countless atrocities committed in the Middle East and beyond, "can be set back by military means but [Daesh] is an idea, an ideology … and you cannot defeat an idea with bombs and bullets. You have to address root causes, not consequences," the expert underscored.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a meeting in Ankara, Turkey. - Sputnik International
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A strategy aimed at defeating Daesh, according to Hart, should include two components. There must be a change in the American foreign policy towards the Muslim world and the US should persuade Muslim regimes to offer more freedoms to their people, he stated.

The political analyst seems to doubt this would happen and noted that "things will only get worse."

Hart also assumed that the Syrian war could have been avoided if Barack Obama discussed the insurgency against Bashar al-Assad with Vladimir Putin. "If Obama had a private conversation with Putin when it all started in Syria all those years ago, … I think, all that happened since then could have been avoided," the analyst observed.

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