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President Obama seems to have taken the bait of the Islamic State in northern Iraq and Syria launching an aggressive campaign against the militant Sunni group. The US is leading a coalition of 26 countries, in the latest incarnation of a “coalition of the willing.” At a meeting in Paris, the group pledged to combat ISIS “by any means necessary,” but did not specify what those means might be. An expansion to the existing war is already apparent with US air strikes hitting areas south west of Baghdad yesterday.

Meanwhile, former First Lady, Presidential candidate, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an appearance in Iowa over the weekend to bid farewell to Senator Tom Harkin on the eve of his retirement. The event was seen as the latest in many recent unofficial presidential campaign-like moves. Clinton has veered close to openly criticizing President Obama’s inaction toward Syria, all but blaming him for allowing ISIS to emerge. A former aide to Clinton told a reporter that she would take action where Obama has been passive.

Throwing his hat into the presidential fray, unofficially for now, staunch progressive Senator Bernie Sanders was also in Iowa. He referred to ISIS as “a terrorist organization, a brutal organization, a dangerous organization,” and then pivoted to the economy which comfortable terrain for him. Sanders warned against letting the threat of ISIS distract from bread and butter issues for working families.

GUEST: Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he serves as coordinator of the program in Middle Eastern Studies. He is also a senior policy analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus, an associate editor of Peace Review, a contributing editor of Tikkun, and co-chair of the academic advisory committee for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict