Isis

Four heavily publicized beheadings of innocent people. Approximately 13,000 square miles of controlled territory. Over two billion dollars in assets. As many as 50,000 militants. With the constant mention of statistics such as these in current national media, many Americans cannot be blamed for fearing ISIS as a threat to their country. It is undoubtedly true that ISIS is rapidly expanding in size, both geographically and in its number of members. However, the group has its own ambitions and interests, which at the moment do not largely involve the United States, and there are now ample forces in the Middle East capable of combatting them. With the potential consequences and increased difficulty the group would face regarding an attack the U.S., taking everything into consideration, ISIS is not an imminent threat to the United States.
    It would be wrong to assume that ISIS is a carbon copy of other traditional terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, one which is understandably still a major source of concern after the events of September 11, 2001. Instead of discrete acts of terrorism such as 9/11, ISIS prefers to enlarge its proclaimed caliphate, an Islamic state led by a supreme religious and political leader, capturing large amounts of territory in Iraq and Syria. They also have the ambition to absorb several other nations, such as Israel, Jordan, and Kuwait, into its caliphate. It goes without saying that ISIS is already a terrible threat in the Middle East. It is also a possible truth that now that they are holding substantial ground in Iraq and Syria, they desire to target the West, particularly America. However, for the time being, it is safe to assume that the group's main focus is on expanding its territory further in the Middle East, rather than on picking a fight with the U.S.
    ISIS is now facing pressure from American airstrikes, severely limiting the group's ability to conduct offensive operations. However, our own forces are not the only...