Col. Jack Jacobs explains to Stephen Colbert why the U.S. isn't destroying ISIS

Col. Jack Jacobs explains the trouble with fighting ISIS

(Image credit: Late Show)

On Monday's Late Show, Stephen Colbert asked Medal of Honor recipient Col. Jack Jacobs what the world had done to punish the Islamic State after its terrorist attack in Paris on Friday. Jacobs, now a military analyst for NBC News, said not much, adding that if the really world wanted to stop ISIS, it would take "several hundreds of thousands" of troops and 10 to 20 years. "And we're not going to do it, and we can't get the people in the region to do it," he added, "even though they have an interest in making sure these guys are gone."

After discussing why the region's power players won't step up, and who's to blame for ISIS, Jacobs said that the U.S. could destroy the apocalyptic terrorist "caliphate," even though "they want you to die, and they want to die themselves." But "you're not going to do it by dropping conventional bombs on people," he explained. "Militarily, the only purpose for bombs is to pave the way for people on the ground to seize and hold terrain long enough to create an environment in which there can be a real government to take out the trash and do all the rest. And we're not doing it, and it takes a quarter of a million people to do it, probably just in Syria." That's something to keep in mind. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.