Washington Free Beacon Managing Editor Aaron MacLean slammed the Obama administration’s tepid military response to the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL) terrorist group on Friday.
"There is a kabuki theater aspect to this," MacLean said on Fox Business. "A cynic might suggest that the purpose of this is not to degrade or defeat ISIS but to give the American people the impression that something is being done on their behalf while avoiding a meaningful commitment for the military in the Middle East."
The United States has carried out airstrikes against IS strongholds as part of Operation Inherent Resolve but has not committed the resources necessary to roll back the terrorist group.
MacLean said a more aggressive military response is necessary to defeat IS.
"Go after them in the Middle East," MacLean said. "Look, so long as they continue to exist as a proto-state living out in the open, they're going to be a banner to which disaffected Muslims, men and women, can rally. It's a cancer and it’s metastasizing—you go straight to the tumor."
The rapid rise of the Islamic State has inspired thousands of recruits and hundreds of Western-based imitators, or "lone wolves." Fox Business host Ashley Webster reported that "49 people have been arrested on suspicion of supporting ISIS" in the United States this year alone.
The State Department reported in June that terrorist attacks increased 35 percent between 2013 and 2014. Deaths due to terrorist attacks have increased 81 percent. FBI Director James Comey said last week that ISIS is a larger threat to American domestic security than ISIS, according to Newsweek.
"What worries me most is that ISIL’s investment in social media—which has been blossoming in the last six to eight weeks in particular—will cause a significant increase in the number of incidents that we will see," he said. "That’s what I worry about all day long."