March 12, 2016
David Sterman wrote for CNN about the number of foreign fighters flowing into Syria and what that means for the war on ISIS:
On February 9, National Intelligence Director James Clapper testified that 6,900 Westerners have traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight for foreign terrorist organizations—an increase since the last time the United States released an official foreign fighter count.
Though the number sounds alarming, it reveals less than it may seem. The official foreign fighter count cited by Clapper can only get larger and so risks stoking public fear unnecessarily. The total number of foreign fighters who have ever gone to Syria doesn't matter nearly as much as stemming the flow and reducing the current number of fighters. Recent advances and policies may have begun doing just that.
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