Foreign Affairs committee  What I would add, as well, is that we're in an age in which governments have so many more platforms than they did before. There is one interesting U.S. government initiative from the State Department, which is controversial in terms of how effective it is. The State Department h

Foreign Affairs committee  Originally, the equipment came from overrunning Syrian bases and then capturing all the heavy armour, artillery, etc. on the Syrian bases. There are a number of instances in which they've overrun those bases. When they advanced into Iraq in June, they captured a great deal of ter

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, it absolutely does. In terms of breakdowns my assessment is that they have shown pretty good capability in repairing their vehicles. They don't necessarily lose vehicles due to an inability to maintain them. But, yes, they're vulnerable in this regard. I would provide a c

Foreign Affairs committee  This gets into the broader picture of Iraq, where I think the decline of ISIS is not the decline of Iraqi jihadism. Even if ISIS were to cease to exist as an organization, it would be replaced by another organization that I think would be less brutal, but you would still have pro

Foreign Affairs committee  I think there are multiple ways. The Somali community is actually a very good example. In the United States, the Somali community in Minneapolis–St. Paul went from being one of those horror stories to a success story. It's now a little more ambiguous at this point. In the commun

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll start with the most immediate and least effective, which is obviously pulling Twitter feeds, pulling videos, things like that, including getting various services, like Twitter or Facebook, to do so can have a disruptive effect. But I think in terms of a messaging campaign, o

Foreign Affairs committee  On the weapons front, I think they have a clear vulnerability in that they're fighting like a conventional military. They're not fighting like an insurgent force. They're using tanks; they're using Humvees; they're using heavy armour, and they don't have an industrial base to rep

Foreign Affairs committee  They're aiming for a few things. They're taking people who once were in some position of power, whether they're journalists, whether they're fighter pilots, and their subjecting them to maximum humiliation and defeat, and ultimately some of the most disgusting deaths possible.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think that's an excellent question. Ms. Abdo, in her opening statement, talked about how the American Muslim community hasn't been able to articulate that stake-in-the-heart view, that stake-in-the-heart response to extremism. I thought Ms. Abdo's presentation was excellent, a

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. It's an honour to be here. What I want to talk about is what ISIL's strengths are and what their weaknesses are. Right now, we as western polities and those involved in counterterrorism efforts combatting militancy are very much focused on ISIL, as we should be. It's