Portman questions experts on strategy to defeat ISIS in Homeland Security Committee hearing

On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, questioned foreign policy experts on how we can defeat and destroy ISIS.

At a Homeland Security Committee hearing titled “Inside The Mind Of ISIS: Understanding Its Goals and Ideology to Better Protect the Homeland,” Portman asked experts what our strategy should be to get at the core of the problem by changing hearts and minds.

Excerpts from Sen. Portman and Dr. Hedieh Mirahmadi, president of the World Organization for Resource Development and Education (WORDE), are below.
 
PORTMAN: “We do need to protect the homeland and that's where my question would be. I don't disagree with the comments about taking on ISIS in the current caliphate that they are developing in Syria and Iraq. I think we need to more aggressive militarily … a military victory is an important victory outside of the military aspect because it shows that they are not invulnerable, it shows that they in fact can be defeated.
 
“But to me, the most difficult part of this and the most important part, which is why this hearing is so important and I thank the Chair and Ranking Member for holding it and I thank our witnesses who have provided a lot of very valuable information, is dealing with the core issue. Some call it the hearts and minds…how to keep this extremism from growing.
 

“The jihadists who have converged in Syria come from all over the world and we know that. We also know that attacks are occurring all over the world. We have a New York Times story from December, some of you know this. I counted up the number of deaths from terrorism, this is not from military actions by ISIS this is really from terrorism. It’s over 1,500 people who have been killed in the last year through terrorist acts, including some we know a lot about like Paris and San Bernardino and others we just don't talk about much.

“If you could each give me a couple examples of what we should be doing to address this third and I think the most difficult problem we face, which is how to get at the core and change these hearts and minds.
 
HEDIEH MIRAHMADI: “We need these countries to train Imams, create curriculum and start creating that kind of groundswell around traditional pluralistic concepts of Islam.”
 
PORTMAN: “We should use our leverage, the United States, diplomatically, economically, whatever leverage we have. There is an urgent need.”
 
HEDIEH MIRAHMADI: “Absolutely.”