How Do You Know When Something is Working?
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Someday I expect that the United States and its allies in the fight against ISIS will agree to wall off the new caliphate and cut communications to the outside world. From that point on, any new terror suspects will be thrown over the wall into ISIS territory to keep the threat in one place. And with no outside contact, the society inside the walls will not advance technologically to become a larger threat. Meanwhile, our abilities to guard and defend the wall with technology will grow daily. In the long run, I predict that a prison-caliphate is the only solution. Israel showed that walls can keep danger out. I think we can show that walls can keep danger in as well. And I think we’re heading in that direction. The systems approach ends up there.
You might worry that turning the caliphate into a huge jail would infuriate Muslims outside the caliphate. But keep in mind that no reporters will be allowed into the territory and no news will come out. So allies against ISIS will manufacture some happy-sounding news about how the caliphate is working just great and the people on the inside could not be more pleased with it. And for all we know, that might actually be the case.
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