Negotiate.

Editor,

It bothers me that Mr. Obama, who is a smart man and knows what he is saying, is waving a disingenuous rhetorical ploy in the noses of people who will fall for it. He says that IS are so heinous no one can negotiate with them. But IS are not the ones with whom he needs to negotiate.

The parties to the political problem that gave rise to IS and continue to fuel it can be negotiated with, and it seems the president would rather bomb IS than sit down with these parties.

Sunnis are marginalized and brutalized in Iraq. This provides support for IS among Iraq's Sunni minority. Iran can influence Iraq to change this, but the USA refuses to negotiate with Iran to enlist their help.

The Gulf States want Assad and Hezbollah, both of whom Iran supports, gone from Syria and have been introducing jihadis into Syria for the last three years, long since obscuring indigenous Syrians' original grievances with Assad. Negotiating a truce between the Gulf States and Assad would lessen violence in Syria.

But President Obama would rather manipulate public opinion with lofty rhetoric characterizing IS and Assad as "barbaric" and refuse to negotiate with Iran or talk straight to the Gulf States about their aims in the region than defuse the political root causes of this disaster.

Listen to his words next time he speaks and ask yourself: Why all this righteous indignation? Why no talk about negotiating with the parties who are the root causes of this violence?

Re: "A New Focus on Foreign Fighters " (9/25/2014)