Suicide Cows

Suicide cows are a strange, but effective way to intimidate areas for ISIS to strike next. As referenced by the article, ISIS is strapped cows with bombs so they infiltrate farms and houses on the country side of Al Islah, Iraq. What I do not understand is how the Islamic state is lacking manpower to terrorize the areas themselves. “The animals wandered into the outskirts of the community, and when they seemed close to houses, the bombs were detonated remotely, killing the cows, and damaging nearby houses, but not harming any people, Colonel Al-Atyia said” .To me, i feel as if this tactic is wasteful because there is no real strategy or point. Furthermore, as stated by the editor, cows are worth around $1,200 so that in itself is a waste of money and resources that the cows could have been used for. The article also talks about how ISIS will continue to breach these areas that could be strategic for movement, but these farms that the cows are in are not valuable areas for the Islamic State at all. The author says this could be a good strategy in case the islamic state wants to breach these said areas in the future, but these farms and houses are not valuable or causing threats in any way. ISIS will want to target cities and places with officials residing in them. These farms with working people growing food are only harming the Islamic State when they could be benefiting from all the farmland and resources created.