University of Notre Dame Professor of Political Science Michael Desch, an expert on international security and American foreign and defense policies, says...

"Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a very polished and effective speech on ISIS and global terrorism today at the Council on Foreign Relations. She stands head-and-shoulders above any of the Republican candidates in terms of having a concrete and reasonable strategy for dealing with ISIS. That said, I think she is glossing over some fundamental tensions within her approach. These include:

1) She advocates continuing U.S. leadership in this fight but also wants us to limit this to airpower and SOF and avoid a major ground commitment while admitting that a ground campaign is essential. Also, if we lead, what incentive do other regional actors have to do much of anything themselves?

2) She rightly wants local actors to play a major role on the ground but she glosses over the paradox that the most effective actors in the fight vs. ISIS (e.g., the Kurds and Assad/Hizbollah) create problems with other allies (Turkey, Israel, and the Iraqi government).

3) She is right that the Iraqi government in Baghdad needs to get its act together and embrace the Sunnis but neglects the fact that we tried this once, it worked for a while, but eventually it fell apart given the realities of Iraqi history and politics.

4) She wants to marginalize Russia and exclude Iran from the fight against ISIS in Syria but this neglects their major role in it, the overlap of interests we have with them in opposing ISIS, and the fact that whether we like it or not the Assad regime is probably not going anywhere soon. Indeed, $500 million in support to the "moderate opposition" in Syria produced 4-5 actual fighters!

5) In general, Secretary Clinton is quite sanguine about our ability to micromanage political change in Syria and Iraq that seems to fly in the face of our unsuccessful efforts to do that previously in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.

Secretary Clinton ended her remarks with a heart-warming vignette about a French Muslim working at a Kosher grocery store who protected Jews from a previous terrorist attack. This is a comforting notion that makes for great copy but if this is the sort of radical change we need to defeat ISIS, our task is much greater than the Secretary's remarks suggest."

Desch, co-director of the Notre Dame International Security Center, is available ffor further comment at 574-631-2792 or [email protected]