Lets look at where ISIS comes from. ISIS evolved out of the ongoing religious extremism in the middle east and the instability in Syria and to a lesser extend Iraq. Back when Hussein and Assad were fully in power there was no way an organization like ISIS could have any real influence in Syria or Iraq. Al-Qaeda's power was limited to only those areas where central control was non existent or at most extremely weak. Once a well controlled country starts to disintegrate organizations like ISIS fill the void.
Why? Place yourself in the shoes of a 20 year old man in the middle east. You have little to no job prospects. Your government and society places restrictions on what you can and cannot do, yet via the internet you see the freedom people throughout the world have. You've been told since a small child how many of those things are a sin. You watch a episode of a US TV show that shows a way of life you have no chance of having. Those people have riches, you're lucky if you'll have something to eat before you go to bed. You're jealous, incensed that you cannot have what others take for granted, and conflicted by your religious upbringing. In a world such as that organizations such as ISIS are inevitable.
These problems are created over decades. All deposing a dictator does is create a vacuum and chaos. Something like ISIS fills that vacuum and those 20 year olds without any prospects for a future are glad to have something that will give their life some meaning and a way to soak up some of that anger.
The so called Arab Spring wasn't a call by the masses for democracy. It was a call for freedom to have a life worth living. Until that happens Al-Qaeda/ISIS will always exist. The true fix is to give the youth in those areas a future they can be happy with. That doesn't come from drones, F16s, or US troops and cannot be fixed in time for the next election. The US cannot mandate this. All we can do is help educate the leadership in those countries to the advantages to changing their society and then support them should they choose to make those changes.
Sadly, our partisan political system has no interest in trying to understand the roots of the problem and helping others in fixing it.
