In the next broadcast of the radio program Talking Foreign Policy, an expert panel will discuss how the extremist group known as the Islamic State quickly emerged as a threat to the United States. The panelists will critique President Barack Obama’s response and offer thoughts on America’s strategy for defeating the militant group.
The broadcast is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 29, at 9 p.m. EDT on WCPN 90.3 FM in Cleveland, and online at wcpn.org. The archived broadcast will be available a week later at law.case.edu/TalkingForeignPolicy.
Talking Foreign Policy is an hour-long radio program produced by Case Western Reserve University in partnership with WCPN 90.3 ideastream. The program, airing quarterly, examines salient foreign policy issues from various viewpoints.
The host is Case Western Reserve School of Law Interim Dean Michael Scharf, who directs the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center and is the Joseph C. Hostetler-BakerHostetler Professor of Law.
Panelists on Monday’s program are: Sandy Hodgkinson, former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense; Paul Williams, president of the Public International Law and Policy Group; Milena Sterio, associate dean of the Cleveland Marshall College of Law; and Shannon French, director of Case Western Reserve’s Inamori Center for Ethics and Excellence.
In just a few months, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) has taken over a third of the territory of Syria and Iraq. The militants have captured foreign nationals, broadcasting graphic videos of beheadings and other acts of barbarism. After initially stating the U.S. had no response strategy, Obama announced on Sept. 10 a “comprehensive plan” to degrade and destroy the Islamic State through targeted air strikes and by arming moderate local forces there.