I’m not so sure.
Between the sense of entitlement and materialism that dominates our present culture, and the lack of regard for life (as demonstrated by the average opinion of “under 40’s” regarding abortion), once ISIL begins cutting hard into our lifestyle*, I think they will be dealt with harshly. However, that likely won’t happen until ISIL has the strength to cause us many more combat (and other?) deaths than should have ever happened.
*If, indeed, they choose to do so, by disrupting oil supplies and the world economy. They might just be smart enough to at some point consolidate what they have won, offering cease fires and so on, and then make incremental moves so as to not trigger heavy duty Western or other**responses. However, judging by the radicalism displayed so far, I count this as “not probable” (but still possible).
**I would also note the VERY substantial military buildup of the Saudis in recent years. (#4 in the world in military spending in 2013.) If Saudi judges ISIL an existential threat, ISIL will have an existential threat to themselves to worry about.
I'm not so sure about this, Mark.
My understanding is that ISIL is funded by Saudi Arabia, at least the Syrian branch, but the Saudis claim they are not funding ISIL's Iraqi operations; talk about splitting hairs! So this support is maybe one of the reasons they are spending so much... ISIL recruitment and payoffs costs them a lot and they apply this to their defense budget.