A look at the ISIS conflict

President Obama finally decided on a strategy this week against the Islamic State (IS) -- the terrorist movement that occupies vast areas of northern Iraq and eastern Syria.

There is little that was new in this announcement, but for a president who has done much to avoid committing U.S. forces against the Islamic State, or in support of defending allies in the Middle East, it was a welcome change.

The three main areas of his plan are air strikes, encouraging a regional coalition against the Islamic State (also known as ISIL or ISIS), and improving arms and training for the Iraqi Kurds and Syrian rebels. Of these steps, arming the Iraqi Kurds and intensifying the air campaign are most likely to have positive results.

The time is long past to arm the Syrian opposition, now dominated by Al Nusra and other movements nearly as awful as the Islamic State. In 2011 and 2012, the legitimate Syrian opposition desperately needed our aid, but received little. Having missed that opportunity, the training, weapons and air support would be better directed on behalf of the Iraqi Kurds and handful of combat-ready units in the Iraqi army.

Candidate Obama in 2008 campaigned ardently in favor of ending the war in Iraq, and took credit during his 2012 re-election for withdrawing U.S. forces. Both the promise to "end" the war -- which merely withdrew the only participant capable of preventing its resurgence -- and the evacuation of U.S. forces -- opened a strategic gap which, accelerated by the disastrous leadership of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The U.S. is now attempting to make up for unnecessarily lost time and progress in Iraq, attempting to reverse gains by a movement that is turning the region into a vast prison. There is even a literal prison, Badush, that represents the evil of IS, and as a reminder to those who believe the West should ignore its rise.

In late spring 2004, while stationed in Mosul as an Army Reservist, I volunteered to go on a mission to the Badush regional prison, with our public safety team, mostly police officers or firefighters in their civilian lives.

Badush had earned a dreaded reputation under dictator Saddam Hussein, who until Iraq's liberation had used it to house his political opponents. His penal system was designed not just to confine, but to torture and execute those who dared question his regime, or failed to report potential disloyalty by coworkers, friends and family.

The signs of repair and improvement at Badush were everywhere, with an attempt to create humane conditions -- even rehabilitation -- for the inmates. Funding by the 101st Airborne Division, under General David Petraeus, and ongoing guidance from our team was having an impact on this formerly notorious penitentiary. While the prison's record since I left Iraq in 2004 was spotty, with reports of prisoner mistreatment and escapes facilitated by terrorists, in the last few months Badush has seen far worse.

The Islamic State took over Badush last June, at the same time occupying nearby Mosul. Removing the approximately 1,200 prisoners, they segregated their fellow Sunni Muslims from the Shia, verifying the identity of each group through religious tests.

Most of the Sunni, whether criminals or opponents of the government in Baghdad, were released, but told to be ready to serve with the IS when called to jihad. All of the Shia -- almost 700 prisoners -- were shot in a mass execution.

With the prison now emptied, the IS filled it with new inmates -- more than 500 women of the Yazidi religious minority. Kidnapped from their homes, these women were given terrible options: convert to Islam and be married to terrorists, or hold fast to their ancient faith, and be raped repeatedly by IS prison guards, destined to die from abuse, neglect and denial of food and medical care. These Yazidi victims, joined later by women of Kurdish, Turkmen, Assyrian and Chaldean Christian origin, were sold for "marriage" for as little as $25.

The crimes at Badush showcase the evil that is the Islamist State, dedicated to the imposition of an interpretation of Islam that is so alien to Muslim traditions and laws that it has united an unusual coalition, from Iraqi Kurdistan to Saudi Arabia to former Sunni tribal allies.

Brutality is not unique to the Islamic State; the world is sadly dotted with movements that use terror and cruelty for their political, theological or economic ends.

What is particularly dangerous about the IS are their ambitions -- imposing their vision on all Muslims, and from there on the entire world -- and the opportunities they have exploited in their region to gain terrain, resources and support than would have seemed possible just a year ago.

Their goal is nothing short of turning all of the Middle East, North Africa and even much of Europe into a vast Badush prison, in which their religious enemies face death, women are enslaved and even fellow Sunni Muslims must accept their new doctrine without question.

Recognition that we are at war with the Islamic State is the necessary, but hardly sufficient, start to the movement's destruction.

The jailers of Badush, with their dreams of imprisoning the entire world, are a greater threat to the Middle East and the West than Al Qaeda, but are being attacked with a fraction of the resources deployed against Osama bin Laden's movement.

The recent accomplishments of this administration in foreign policy, including the disaster that is Libya, do not lend much hope that this will end according to the best interests of the United States.

Wayne Bowen, a U.S. Army veteran, received his Ph.D. in history from Northwestern University. He resides in Cape Girardeau.