Excellent comment at the 2/23/2015 Wall Street Journal about the subhumans of the Islamic State

Tom Mathewson13 minutes ago

It’s good to see more people taking this threat seriously.  They have tactical and skill set weaknesses but in strategy, larger tactics, wider doctrine and psychology they are brilliant.

Obama’s wrong.  They’re Islamic to the core.  Baghdadi is a theologian with a doctorate in islamic studies from a Baghdad university.  Many of the leaders are also theologians and clerics.  They know their way around the Koran and the Hadiths, and every action they take is firmly focused on scripture.

They and al Qaeda are also very well educated, as was Mohammed Atta and many of his cohorts.  Zawahiri is a doctor.  More are engineers, chemists, computer scientists, etc.  

On the Shiite side the Hezbollah, Quds Force etc. are highly trained and well disciplined, much more so than al Qaeda.  Central and South America have been their playground for years.

We are not dealing with idiots … except for those in the White House.

Islamic State’s Global Ambitions ISIS—no longer a regional problem—is executing a complex strategy across three geographic rings.
A senior U.S. Central Command official said the "shaping" for the battle is currently underway, and the Iraqi military hopes to begin operations in the "April, May timeframe." The goal is to retake the city before Ramadan begins on June 17. The official said five Iraqi Army brigades will be used in the fight, as well as several smaller brigades, composing a total force of up to 25,000 Iraqi troops. Three brigades of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters will participate as well.