What Will ISIL Choose?

Just as the regional al Qaeda franchise, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is holding a couple cities in Iraq, taking advantage of the divide between Anbar's Sunni Arabs and the Shia-dominated central government, Syrian rebels are attacking ISIL forces in Syria, trying to peel away Syrians drawn to ISIL as effective fighters but now repelling some as jihadi thugs.

The question is what will ISIL do? Will they focus on the Iraq front or the Syria front? What do they consider the real war and what do think is the distraction?

Or will each ISIL branch fight on its own, leaving the other front to win or lose on its own resources? That could alienate the two branches from each other, believing they have been betrayed for local concerns.

Let's help Iraq and the non-ISIL rebels in Syria kill as many ISIL members as possible, eh?

We should quietly tell ISIL in Syria that our drones will go after the leadership of any ISIL group that attacks anybody but Assad's forces.

Iraq should have the capacity to launch smart weapons as long as we can help with persistent surveillance and intelligence analysis.