His Excellency Mr.

Haider Al Abadi ID: LFG-2017-0041

Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq

Office of the Prime Minister

Baghdad

Iraq

December 31st, 2017

Re: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi,

I am sending you this letter in concern over some remarks that you have made to members of the press
and to the international community I believe, in which you have asserted to my knowledge a victory
over the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in the Republic of Iraq. While I do believe that centralized
portions of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have been defeated, I do not believe that the world will
see an end to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s movement. Further, I believe that instead of being so
centralized, I believe that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria will start to rely on solo operations or other
things that are like that for political statements to be issued through terrorist attacks across the globe.1

I believe that the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is not over. I do not believe that
defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria will be able to be won solely through countries declaring
war on terrorism or having a war on terrorism ideology. I believe that countries that are doing so are
actually doing more harm than they intend to do good. I believe that these war on terrorism
declarations or ideologies always finds a way to infringe on the domestic and the international rights of
the people and further I believe that those things give governments around the world way too much
power to violate the procedural due process or other rights that a targeted individual has. That needs to
change.

I believe that the best way to combat terrorism is not by countries declaring war on terrorism but by the
international community making investments in job opportunities, job development, job growth,
transportation for individuals to get and to keep those things, as well as an investment in educational
opportunities. Education I believe is one of the most powerful weapons that can be used to change the
world. Educating extremist individuals and giving areas in our world that experience poverty jobs
opportunities I believe will help decrease all forms of crime, in which terrorism is a category of crime.
Countries that solely rely to sending drones to other countries as an attempt to totally dismantle a
foreign terrorist organization are not going to be successful as to truly dismantling a foreign terrorist
organization and I am afraid that the actions of the countries that are involved in the drone strikes,
especially whenever the operated drones strike innocent civilians or innocent families, will be used by a
foreign terrorist organization as propaganda as from them to commit retaliatory acts of terrorism as a
form of some type of political statement.

1
It does appear as if the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is making political statements each and ever time that they
are involved in committing a terrorist attack across the world.
In conclusion, I hope that the government of the Republic of Iraq will request the international
community to make investments in job opportunities, job growth, job development, transportation for
individuals to get and to keep those things as well as investments in education. I believe that those
things are surely the best ways to help dismantle crime altogether in which terrorism is a part of. As the
year moves forward, I am hoping that the government of the Republic of Iraq will seek those things and
will work hard as to helping make sure that those things become a reality and that their will be
procedural safeguards in place that will protect innocent civilians and their families from being
accidentally or deliberately being targeted through the use of drone strikes by other countries in the
Republic of Iraq. Again, I believe that whenever drone strikes target the wrong individuals, I believe that
those incidents will be used by entities, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, as recruitment
propaganda or other types of propaganda to be used to help individuals engage in the issuance of
political statements through terrorist acts.2

Respectfully,

Isaiah X. Smith3

2
Even if entities such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria completely ignored drone strikes by other countries that
have targeted innocent civilians or family members accidentally, I still believe that innocent civilians and their
families have or should have a right to not be targeted accidentally or even deliberately by a drone strike.
3
www.isaiahxsmith.com