frederic wehrey is a former u.s. force officer who served in and around the middle east, including in iraq. he's now at the carnegie endowment for international peace. and hussein ibish is a senior fellow on the american task force on palestine who writes extensively on mideast issues. we welcome all three of you back to the program. i'm going to start with you, feisal istrabadi. is it realistic to say that the u.s. or anyone can destroy the islamic state? >> well, i think that -- i mean, you obviously can't destroy an ideology, but you can go after the individuals who have signed up for this ideology and who have taken the field. so, yes, i think you can because they have -- they represent a very small minority of the populations of the countries that they are in the midst of. there is a rising consensus amongst all the countries of the region and the peoples of the region that these people represent a direct threat in the region and internationally, and i think that an appropriate response by the countriess of te r

host: we want to welcome frederic wehrey. good morning and thank you for being with us. as you assess what we are doing how arew in the region, we doing? guest: i don't think we are doing that well in iraq. we have had how may weeks of airstrikes and isis is still holding on to territory. the only place with a have vacated has been the most old dam. this is a deeply entrenched organization. they seem to be adapting. we know from past history that airstrikes alone will not dislodge these organizations. host: i want to ask you about the coalition. great britain is now involved here in denmark is involved. how broad is this? to 50 countries. what are their actual contributions? of militaryhare strikes have been conducted by the united states. these other countries contributions are important. the arab states especially, they have conducted airstrikes. this is significant. it shows the world this is not the u.s. come in to solve the region's problem. we should not be under and expectations at they are going to defeat this group by themselves. one of the things that surprised