"If Graeme Wood's analysis in the Atlantic is correct, wouldn't multilateral military action be seen as a fulfillment of prophecy, strengthening the resolve of current devotees of ISIS and attracting previously infra-marginal believers? Since believers do seem to be going to ISIS's territory - unlike Al-Qaeda adherents that dispersed through the enemy populations to seek revenge - wouldn't it be better to allow persecuted people in their territories to leave and establish lives elsewhere, and allow the believers to gather and wait for a war that never comes?" - Kevin L