One of the focal reports of Zenko's report is that despite the dropping of tens of thousands of bombs on the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations, recruitment for these groups is increased with every bomb dropped by a foreign power onto indigenous soil.

According to the CFR report:

Last year, the United States dropped an estimated total of 23,144 bombs in six countries. Of these, 22,110 were dropped in Iraq and Syria. This estimate is based on the fact that the United States has conducted 77 percent of all airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, while there were 28,714 U.S.-led coalition munitions dropped in 2015. This overall estimate is probably slightly low, because it also assumes one bomb dropped in each drone strike in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, which is not always the case.

Zenko notes that the strategic focus in the "War on Terror" is to kill extremism into oblivion, with little attention being given to preventing a moderate individual from becoming an extremist.