The objective of war...

... is to win the peace.

To date I've heard no one - Democrat or GOP; American or French or German - propose a strategy against ISIS/ISIL that does anything more than blow stuff up and kill the "leaders".

Haven't we learned from past 14 years that killing the "leaders" - of al Qaeda, of ISIS, of this group or that group - accomplishes NOTHING.
We've killed enough "leaders" in the past 14 years to populate a battalion or a brigade.
The groups whose "leaders" we have killed are not diminished.
Hydra-like, each assassinated head grows 2 or 3 or 5 more.

We erred in both Afghanistan & Iraq by believing defeating the enemy militarily would be enough.
Defeat Mullah Omar's minions, capture or kill bin Laden.
Defeat Saddam's Revolutionary Guard, drive into Baghdad.
We've NEVER had a plan to WIN THE PEACE!

Now we face a diffused terrorist threat from ISIS/ISIL.
Bombing, targeted killings of "leaders" - this continues to be our response.
(The "our" here now includes European allies - France today bombed ISIS's self-proclaimed capital: Raqqa, Syria.)

Stop the madness!