At Least They No Longer Hate Us for Our Freedom

Our freedom fries, maybe.

The United States and its allies cannot defeat the Islamic State simply by killing militants, said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, adding that it must target the underlying reasons people join the group, such as the lack of job opportunities.

  RT

Oh yeah, that’s it. Anything but our continual and ubiquitous droning campaign.

“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 – they’re in this fight with us,” Harf said. “But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war. We need in the medium to longer term to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s a lack of opportunity for jobs, whether…”

Sadly, Chris Matthews interrupted her or we’d know what other reasons jihadists sign up.

In return, Harf suggested a soft power-like approach: “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.”

She conceded, however, that there is “no easy solution.”

In light of this brilliant analysis, you’re asking yourself if Marie is, in the tradition of the Bush administration’s staffing with fresh out of college Young Republicans, a bit wet behind the ears. Is she over 18?

Apparently not much.