Kampfmueller 1

Avery Kampfmueller
Mrs. Pettay
English 111, 2B
16 October 2014
Informative Paper
Starting as a group that broke off of al Qaeda, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
has recently rose to great power and dominance. ISIS overarching goal is to create an Islamic
state and dominate regions across the Sunni areas of Syria and Iraq. With the growing threat of
this militant group, the President of the United States had to take action and formulate a plan of
action. On September 10, 2014 President Obama released his 6-Point Plan for defeating ISIL,
which outlines different components of what course of action he decides to take.
The first component of the Presidents 6-Point Plan is to expand the bombing campaign
in the Iraq area where known base locations are of ISIS branches. Though we were previously
bombing these locations, he did not establish any strong foreign allies to assist us with these
efforts which he realized to be a vital asset in this endeavor. The President hopes to train and
arm the Iraqi army and Kurdish troops so the United States is not the only force attempting to
fight this battle. Armies are not the only necessity in this campaign. The President plans to
reach out to other regional figures from Saudi Arabia and other European locations to help stop
ISIS international influence. It has been declared that the Europeans will assist the United
States with addressing ISIS international presence as well as interdicting international funding
for the militants. Lastly, the President plans to keep United States Troops out and away from the

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Syrian and Iranian governments. This is a serious limitation with his strategy. Without
American forces in the area, the effort rests entirely on the Iraqi and Syrian forces.
One question or concern that was not well addressed when the Presidents plan was
brought up was how much it would cost to actually defeat ISIS. Ted Harrison, an economic
analyst for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments released figures that estimate
how much different scenarios cost if implemented. Currently, Harrison estimates that the United
States has already spent between $780 million and $930 million with the operations that have
already taken place. Furthermore, if moderate air operations were to continue and an estimated
2,000 deployed ground forces, the cost would likely be between $200 million and $320 million a
month. Before the President tackles such a huge and international issue as defeating ISIS, there
are many factors that need to be taken into account when moving forward.

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Works Cited
Beauchamp, Zack. "Obama's 6-point Plan for Defeating ISIS." Vox. Vox News, 10 Sept. 2014.
Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
Brannen, Kate, and Nathaniel Sobel. "How Much Will It Cost to Defeat ISIS?" Foreign Policy.
Foreign Policy Group, 29 Sept. 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.
Library, CNN. "ISIS Fast Facts." CNN. Cable News Network, 23 Sept. 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.