Genocide according to The American Heritage Dictionary is defined as "The deliberate destruction of an entire race or nation. The Holocaust conducted by the Nazis in Germany and the Rwandan genocide are examples of attempts at genocide."


An upcoming report from the "U.S. Holocaust Museum" will clearly define the actions of ISIS against the Yezidi and other minorities as genocide. Which, according to several reports, will be followed by the Obama admiration designating the actions of ISIS as genocide, in a few weeks.


Should the United States declare the actions of ISIS genocide, then it requires the application of the UN convention against genocide, adopted in 1948. Unfortunately the UN convention is not specific on what that action should be. According to the convention:


"Article I: The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish"


This convention describes what genocide is and who may be punished, from heads of state to private individuals. It does not however give any indication as to the extent the world powers may go to prevent or how to punish. This was evident in the past as actions in Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur were defined as genocide and some of the perpetrators were caught and punished, long after the fact.


With the exception of Darfur actions has been after the fact and even in Darfur the combined UN/African Union mission is too small to effectively protect civilians. Additionally while the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Bashir it is unlikely to ever be served.


There is no doubt that what ISIS is doing is genocide, they have admitted it, in the case of the Yezidi that they intend to destroy the people and the culture. The questions now are, why it has it taken the world so long to come to this conclusion and what do they intend to do.


Now more than one year after the start of ISIS attacks into Iraq and the genocidal slaughter of the Yezidi, Christian, and Muslims who disagree, the US is prepared to declare it genocide. Then what? While the US did declare what happened in Darfur genocide a declassified State Department memo advised then Secretary of State Colin Powel that making "a determination that genocide has occurred in Darfur would have no immediate legal--as opposed to moral, political or policy--consequences for the United States." The determination was however the first time a US official had called an ongoing conflict genocide.


The administration is going to study the report for a few weeks before making a determination. The problem is that by doing so the White House and the State Department are concerned that by declaring ISIS is committing genocide what will this do to the US commitment to Iraq from a military standpoint. Unlike Darfur the United States has a political stake and military forces on the ground.


By failing to declare genocide and committing all available resources to the fight the US and the rest of the world is condoning the actions of one of the most barbaric organization that has infected the world in a long time. The preamble to the UN resolution, formally known as "The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" states "in order to liberate mankind from such an odious scourge, international co-operation is required." International co-operation cannot happen if each county is more concerned over internal politics or ideology then about the moral correctness of position.


The Kurdish Peshmerga with the help of the US and anti-ISIS international coalition have just liberated the town of Shingal which will protect the Yezidis and allow them to return to their homes, but it will not eliminate ISIS. To do so will require a full out assault by multi-national forces who will not give up until all vestiges of ISIS are gone. Until that time the scourge of genocide will continue to haunt mankind and the failure of all nations to rid us of it will render all conventions and treaty's calling for its end as meaningless pieces of paper.


Paul Davis is a retired US Army military intelligence and former Soviet analyst. He is a consultant to the American intelligence community specializing in the Middle East with a concentration on Kurdish affairs. Currently he is the President of the consulting firm JANUS Think in Washington D.C.