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Intelligence Squared US Debate: Containment is Not Enough, ISIS Must be Defeated

In collaboration with the Aspen Strategy Group

In June 2014, the Sunni militant group ISIS declared that it had established a new caliphate spanning territory in Syria and Iraq. Since then, the region under its control has expanded, despite airstrikes and the deployment of US military advisors, and Jihadist groups across the Muslim world have pledged their allegiance. What should the Obama administration’s next steps be? Should the US goal be containment, or can ISIS be defeated?

Debating this issue will be the following high level authorities taking part in the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Strategy Group, with ABC News’ John Donvan moderating. The live audience will weigh in with interactive voting and deliver the verdict at the end of the debate.

For the motion:

  • Michèle Flournoy, Co-Founder and CEO of the Center for a New American Security and former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
  • Philip Zelikow, White Burkett Miller Professor of History at the University of Virginia, former diplomat, and former Director of the 9/11 Commission

Against the motion:

  • Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO of the New America Foundation, Professor Emerita at Princeton University, and former Director of Policy Planning for the US Department of State
  • Dov Zakheim, Senior Advisor at CSIS, Senior Fellow at CNA Corporation, and former Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer for the US Department of Defense

Parking is very limited. Please carpool, walk, ride RFTA or ride a We-cycle bike. Information: www.we-cycle.org or www.rfta.com.

Debating this issue will be high level authorities taking part in the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Strategy Group, with ABC News’ John Donvan moderating. The live audience will weigh in with interactive voting and deliver the verdict at the end of the debate.

Event information
Date
Sun Aug 9, 2015
4:00pm - 5:30pm GMT+0000
Location
Paepcke Auditorium
Aspen, CO, United States