BEIRUT // ISIL and the fear of terror attacks will weigh heavily on the minds of many Americans when they vote on Tuesday.
Terrorism is again a top concern in the United States after mass shootings by ISIL supporters in San Bernardino, California and Orlando, Florida in the past year — as well as dozens of ISIL-related arrests — and even deadlier attacks by the group in Europe.
Dealing with ISIL has become a cornerstone of the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Both candidates agree that the group has to be defeated and quickly, but they differ on how it is to be done and in the way they present the threat to the American people.
Either out of ignorance or to manipulate fears, Mr Trump regularly exaggerates ISIL’s strength and its threat to the US. Although the group has been losing territory in Iraq and Syria — in part thanks to US air strikes and special forces on the ground — he has said that the US was “not winning” the war against ISIL. He has regularly claimed that ISIL controls much of Libya’s oil when in fact it controls none and has nearly been vanquished in the country. He says ISIL has “a lot” of members among Syrian refugees being resettled in the US, despite a rigorous screening process.
It is not just terror attacks in the US and ISIL domination of the Middle East that Mr Trump warns about: he has also said the group could conquer the US.
“They are hoping and praying that Hillary Clinton becomes president of the United States, because they’ll take over not only that part of the world, they’ll take over this country, they’ll take over this part of the world. Believe me,” he said at a rally last month.
Mr Trump has promised to deliver a swift and total victory over ISIL, to “knock the hell” out of them. He claims to know more about ISIL than the generals in charge of the war against them, but has been vague and inconsistent about his strategy to defeat the group abroad. At various times he has suggested an intensified bombing campaign, the introduction of either “very few” or tens of thousands of US troops, and a greater role for US allies. His praise of Russia and Syria in combating ISIL could signal an openness to working with those countries as well.
At home, Mr Trump has advocated a travel and immigration ban on people from countries compromised by terrorism in response to the San Bernardino and Orlando attacks, even though they were orchestrated by people either born in the US or naturalised citizens.
Mrs Clinton’s portrayal of ISIL is much more grounded and her strategy to defeat it is clearer, more conventional and less dramatic. She acknowledges the advances made against the group and advocates continuing on the course that president Barack Obama’s administration has set out, with some changes.
In the second presidential debate on October 4, Mrs Clinton said she hoped that by the time she took office, ISIL would have been pushed out of Iraq and the focus would be on confronting the group in Syria. She has promised not to use ground troops and instead target ISIL’s leaders and ramp up support for US allies. She has also called Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria America’s “best partners” in the war and said she would consider directly arming Syrian Kurdish forces – angering Turkey, another key US ally against ISIL.
Her anti-ISIL strategy includes greater US involvement in resolving Syria’s civil war, which she says will help to defeat the group. However, her Syria policy is much more aggressive than Mr Obama’s, including the creation of no-fly zones and safe havens for refugees in the country that would require US military force and could put Washington in direct confrontation with Damascus and Moscow.
The former secretary of state has attacked Mr Trump’s campaign rhetoric, such as his call to ban Muslim immigration. Targeting an entire religion, she said, gave ISIL “exactly what it’s wanting in order for them to enhance their position”.
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US election coverage from The National’s foreign correspondents
■ Rob Crilly: Fed up with Trump, Republican women campaign for Clinton
■ Dalia Hatuqa: American Muslims used as political pawns in vicious US election campaign
■ Laura Mackenzie: Meet the Muslims who support Donald Trump
■ Samanth Subramanian: How Russia's Vladimir Putin took centre stage in the US election
■ Josh Wood: Former Middle East diplomats discuss perils of a Trump presidency
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jwood@thenational.ae
