Following a meeting with congressional leaders on Tuesday, President Obama will talk to the nation Wednesday about the ISIS threat and America’s plan to defeat the terrorist group. National security experts David Schanzer and Lt. Col. Tim Nichols (U.S.M.C. Ret.), in a jointly-written op-ed for ISLAMiCommentary http://islamicommentary.org/2014/09/take-a-deep-breath-and-build-a-coali..., played down the ISIS threat to the homeland and urged the U.S. to build an international coalition, that includes the Middle East, to confront ISIS. Quotes: "We cannot let fear and hyperbole lead us into the trap that ISIS is setting for us. Like al Qaeda before it, ISIS is eager to draw America into a conflict in the Middle East and satisfy its bloodlust on American targets in its own backyard,” said Duke University public policy professor David Schanzer. “An exclusively American air campaign, or, worse yet, American troops marching through the heart of the Middle East, would reinforce the extremists’ worldview that the mighty Christian and Jewish west is dedicated to the destruction of Islam.""Our long term security interests are best served by framing the conflict with both ISIS and al Qaeda as a fight between a unified, multinational, inter-ethnic coalition of civilized nations against a group of militant radicalized barbarians,” said Duke University public policy professor Lt. Col. Tim Nichols (U.S.M.C. Ret). “So let’s cool down the rhetoric (especially the quasi-religious references to the “gates of hell”), beef up what we need to do to protect the homeland from returning fighters, and build an enduring coalition to confront ISIS and other extremist organizations."• Bios: David Schanzer, an Associate Professor of the Practice at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy, is also Director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security. He specializes in counterterrorism strategy, counterterrorism law and homeland security. http://fds.duke.edu/db/Sanford/faculty/schanzer Lt. Col. Tim Nichols, a Visiting Associate Professor of the Practice at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, is also executive director of the Counterterrorism and Public Policy Fellowship Program. He served as an intelligence officer in the Marine Corps for more than 21 years with extensive experience in the special operations and counterterrorism fields. His overseas experience spans deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, East Africa, Central America and the Pacific. http://fds.duke.edu/db/Sanford/twn• For additional comments:Contact David Schanzer at schanzer@duke.eduContact Lt. Col. Tim Nichols at twn@duke.edu
