I think that it's here in trying to deal with the money flows that ISIL is a particular threat, because it is probably one of the most self-sustaining groups that we have seen arise, particularly from not only the Sunni community in the Middle East overall, but perhaps of any country or any proto-state in the region. I think you've seen efforts to try to cut down on its illicit oil sales and trying to cut off transfers of money. It's a little difficult because, while Sunni states in the region have an interest, I think that in cutting off financing to ISIL it does not necessarily mean that overall Sunni society feels the same way. It's the unfortunate by-product of authoritarianism. States and their leaderships have divergent interests from their general populations. And it's there where private money transfers to some jihadist groups in Syria, not just ISIL but Jabhat al-Nusra and other groups, have proven very important.
In the case of ISIL, they were very important in terms of start-up money. That isn't necessarily the case going forward. In order to avoid the situation of having to have boots on the ground or more direct military intervention by the United States or by Canada or other countries in the future, we need to incentivize those Sunni countries that back the opposition in Syria. It's also the Sunnis that represent the sectarian basis for ISIL. We need to incentivize them to use every means at their disposal to defeat ISIL. In the case of Iraq, there's more or less some agreement. In the case of Syria they want President Assad to go as part of a transition in that country and they're adamant about it. Until now, the Obama administration, in particular, has been unwilling to fulfill that pledge which was outlined by President Obama in August of 2011 but has not been followed up upon in terms of military force since then. That's precisely what these countries want in order to defeat ISIL. I suspect that they will go along with the coalition to defeat ISIL but will not do everything they can to defeat it until we make such a concession.