Salute!
Yeppere FDR and BVR, et al. I have not wrapped my arms and remnants of my stroke-impacted brain about any long term strategy than one involving the other folks of the religion in the region to treat the radical as a fringe element of the 2 billion adherents on the planet.
The iranians I flew with during UPT and those my friends flew with and instructed up to the 1979 debacle were not cut of the same cloth. Still of the faith, but like the Pakistan guys I checked out in the Viper, sheesh. Upon the return of the Ayatolla, I had several buddies that were there and had to escape at the bitter end. One even provided embassy cypher-lock codes to the failed rescue party. Anyway, I was asked to ensure the well-being of an Iranian young lady studying in Montongery, as her dad( Air Force colonel )was being persecuted and was likely eliminated. Good news was we had an Iranian military presence due to their attendance at the Air University, and they took care of her. We had gone thru the refugee drill in '75 with the Vee that escaped Ho's folks - students of mine from A-37 days. Coulda bought a car with what we spent getting them outta the camps here at Eglin and in Arkansas, as they had to have a job, lodging and so forth (nothing like the unbridled recent give away programs with no strings attached here for the millions arriving '91-'94 ).
So in the end, both the world and those already there must be involved in a solution. Kinda makes me think of dumping tea into the harbor and colonists meeting a company of redcoats at some bridges in Concord and Lexington about 250 years ago, heh heh. 7 years with much blood shed by both sides, and here we are today talking about a place on the other side of the world causing a big problem.
Saw my own fill of conflict... ten years of my life getting shot at and/or getting ready/training others and myself to get shot at. The words still ring in my brain, "only the dead know the end of war".
Gums sends...