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They are everyone’s problem now

By Christopher Curran
Posted 11/25/15

The terrorists’ attacks in Paris, France, sent shockwaves across the globe. These low-tech yet devilishly effective assaults on the residents of Paris, which resulted in 130 deaths and over 350 …

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They are everyone’s problem now

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The terrorists’ attacks in Paris, France, sent shockwaves across the globe. These low-tech yet devilishly effective assaults on the residents of Paris, which resulted in 130 deaths and over 350 injuries with 99 of them critical ones, showcased the proposed heinous exportation of the insane zealous paradigms of ISIS/ISIL by means of raining harm on innocents. France’s President Hollande acted immediately and decisively.

However, France’s enemy is the civilized world’s enemy. The Islamic State’s opposition to the Western countries’ manner of conducting our societies, ensuring freedoms, affirming the equal rights of women, and our dedication to securing everyone’s right to observe whatever religion one wishes to observe is anathema to these myopic maniacs.

Moreover, their problem is not just with the manner in which we live in our Western civilizations but with civilization itself. For they envision a worldwide caliphate in which human beings live Quran-adherent lives in a Stone Age type society. Women would be rendered breeding possessions to be exterminated at the whim of a supposedly aggrieved husband. Education would be exclusively assessable to males. Those not of the same mind would by mandate have to convert or bear the horrid consequences of not following their particular brand of Islamic tradition. The most restrictive aspect of life would be the implementation of Sharia law in which a there would be a religious basis for every decision one would make.

Most Muslims do not wish to impose their beliefs on others they simply wish not to be restricted from observing their chosen faith. On the contrary, those Muslims in the ISIS/ISIL movement do not tolerate any religion that is not theirs from being practiced anywhere and they are willing to afflict murder and mayhem to effectuate their objective of the Islamic State worldwide.

The problem does not lie in the text of the Quran, but the zealot’s interpretation of this holy work. Not dissimilar to the Christian Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Talmud, or the philosophies of Confucius, these figurative works are meant to teach morals to be viewed individually through the subjective reader’s prism. In reality, these texts are Play Dough and can be molded to convey whatever message one wants them to.

However, when one infers a literal or personally skewed interpretation of these fables, stories, and anecdotes, and then enlists other to believe what they believe, one can stir a great deal of anarchistic trouble.

The Christian Bible was used as a means of license for the Crusades of the 11th to 15th centuries and the Medieval Inquisitions of the 12th to 14th centuries, where one had to swear a pledge of belief to the pontiff at the tip of a sword. The Book of Mormon was used as a basis for Mormon militias’ actions on their battle-laden trek across North America in the 1800s. The philosophies of Confucius were quoted as justifications of tribal marauders in historical China.

As President George W. Bush pointed out shortly after the 9/11 attacks, it is not the religion of Islam that perpetrated the crimes of that fateful day. More specifically, it was managed individuals who construed an otherwise peaceful moral text into marching orders to commit atrocities.

The present condition of the Middle East in the wake of the Arab Spring and the aftermath of America’s invasion into Iraq and Afghanistan, and our subsequent withdrawal, has left a fertile field for the planting of these extreme philosophies.

Thus, these current circumstances beg a number of questions. First and foremost, how did we arrive at juncture? Secondly, what could we have done differently to have prevented our current dilemma? Third, what is our best strategy going forward to defeat ISIS/ISIL without alienating our Arab friends and committing any further missteps in our foreign policy? Can we make improbable alliances with countries like Russia to defeat our common enemy?

We need a winning strategy to implement while simultaneously assuring the world that we do not hold Islam culpable, only the zealots who have derived the wrong message from their holy texts.

By attacking French citizens while they were enjoying a Friday night out at sporting events, dining places, and entertainment venues, the religious extremists did not just want to kill Parisians – they wanted to make a political statement about the open French society. President Hollande immediately ordered 3,000 French troops to secure Paris, he ordered the French air force to begin a sustained air assault on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq, and he ordered the borders closed and the French police to round up all known possible terrorists. Since apparently these criminals who committed these crimes were radicalized and naturalized citizens, the government is examining immigration and naturalization policies.

France’s once fully permissible society will seemingly be forever changed by these events, and anti-immigrant politicians like far right leader Marine Le Pen will undoubtedly have greater political successes for her party in the future.

Since the seventh century, the Sunni and the Shia denominations of Islam have debated on the meanings and true will of God (Allah) meant by passages in the Quran. They have also deduced fractiously where the line of demarcation was between proselytizing their faith and spreading their religion by the means of deadly force.

When the United States attacked Iraq in 2003, we opened a Pandora’s Box and brought to a boil the simmering extremism which spurred the 9/11 attacks in the first place. Our invasion became a recruiting poster for the conversion of moderate Muslims to extremist activities. Since there were no weapons of mass destruction found and no links to 9/11 established between Iraq and the perpetrators, we simply should not have invaded.

Then, when President Obama withdrew our troops without forging a Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government, which would have left 15,000 to 30,000 rapid response troops to quell movements like ISIS/ISIL, we gave our enemy a fertile field to plant insurrectionist zealotry. If Obama had acted prudently, then chances are the zealots would not presently control a sizable portion of Iraq.

Furthermore, if Obama had kept his ultimatum to Syrian President Bashar al Assad and reacted when Assad crossed that “red line” regarding the slaughter of his own citizens, then perhaps half of Syria would not be under ISIS/ISIL control today.

What we need to do now is to form a coalition with some unlikely allies. Since the destruction of their jetliner by the zealots, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has been launching attacks on the Islamic State in Syria, while the Saudis, the United Arab Emirates, the Kurds, the Jordanians, and the Kuwaitis all have a vested interest in seeking the defeat of the Islamic State because of its stated intention of creating a monotheistic universal world.

Thus, we need to form a coalition in a skillful fashion akin to what George H.W. Bush did prior to Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The old adage “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is true today. We cannot prevail against these zealots by continuing to coordinate an American air campaign with the inconsistent Iraqi army and the daring but often out gunned Kurdish Peshmerga fighters on the ground. If the assistance of Russia is contingent upon leaving Assad in power in what is left of Syria, then so be it. Now the importance of defeating ISIS/ISIL is paramount in comparison to the Syrian concerns.

The zealots are promising more attacks on the West, including New York City. NYC Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has said that the threat is credible. President Obama needs to act decisively now and forge a new alliance with these other nations for a common purpose. We will need some American boots on the ground but not nearly as many as before, because we will a member of a determined coalition. For the Islamic State is everyone’s problem now. We must be ever vigilant for we are all in their crosshairs.

Comments

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  • Justanidiot

    Maybe we should just keep our nose out of French Colonial affairs.

    Oh wait, it is because of all the oil and Amerika's unslakeable thirst for Terror Tea that keeps us interested. If it were some god forsaken place like central Africa, we would not care in the least if they genocided their way to the next century.

    Wednesday, November 25, 2015 Report this

  • Straightnnarrow

    Mr. Curran has been blessed with an uncommon talent to be able to produce a lengthy column every other week and he does so with contents that appear unbiased, reasonable and coherent- no small feat. But invariably, he throws in his angle which in today's column regarding the horrible slaughter in Paris by ISIS includes the canard that all religions are equal, that all their foundational books are holy and can be interpreted anyway which way. "The problem does not lie in the text of the Quran, but the zealot's interpretation of this holy work. Not dissimilar to the Christian Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Talmud, or the philosophies of Confucius...In reality, these texts are Play Dough and can be molded to convey whatever message one wants them to." It is too disturbing to point out that one book declares war on infidels and another that the gentiles are like the beast of the field; better to cover up these painful truths and pontificate about how all religions can be molded by interpretation. It is too disturbing to point out that the Christian Bible was written by God to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins through Christ and that its message has no equal in any other of the books mentioned by Mr. Curran.

    Then there is the cheap shot against “anti-immigrant politicians like far right leader Marine Le Pen”. Mr. Curran and his fellow travelers on the far left cannot resist maligning those who dare to suggest that John Lennon ‘s “Imagine” is a lie, and that this dream where there is no heaven, no hell, no religion, no borders etc is just that, a product of imagination written to appease unbelievers. It is much easier to cover up reality with the hope of a universal brotherhood and the dribble about multi-culturalism, diversity, tolerance than to deal with the reality that there is only a brotherhood in sin.

    Thankfully, the day is approaching when the mask will come off and Mr. Curran will write a column extolling the virtues of Hillary.

    Monday, November 30, 2015 Report this