NEW
ENGLISH REVIEW
MICHAEL
CURTIS
|
Thursday,
5 November
2015
A
specter, that
has taken
material form,
is haunting
the world, the
specter of
Islamic
terrorism,
embodied by
the Islamic
State of Iraq
and the Levant
(ISIS or Daesh
in Arabic).
The countries
of the world,
all rational
political
entities,
groups, and
individuals,
must enter
into an
alliance to
exorcize this
specter and to
end all the
corporal forms
it has taken.
ISIS
is the newest
adult version
of a distorted
Halloween, a
determination
to perform
“trick,”
mischief
against all if
no “treat” is
forthcoming.
Fourteen years
after
September 11,
2001 the world
faces this new
type of
terrorist
movement, a
formidable
organization
that began as
an unknown
scission of
the familiar
al-Qaeda group
but
differentiated
itself from
that group and
carried out a
commando
attack in
2006.
Though
it changes its
name from time
to time, ISIS
is different
from all other
terrorist
organizations
in the world
not only in
its excessive
brutality in
the desire to
eliminate all
“impure”
elements but
also in two
other ways. It
is the first
terrorist
group with
ambition to
establish a
government, a
state on
political and
administrative
lines.
The
rapid
development of
ISS led it to
embody the
classical form
of a state and
to influence
actions
throughout the
world. Hopes
by many in the
West that the
“Arab Spring”
would bring
reforms and a
more peaceful
atmosphere
have vanished.
Instead, ISIS
has reinforced
the
manifestations
of Islamism,
Salafism, or
extreme
ideology with
an emphasis on
jihad, that
have grown as
is now
apparent in
Syria, Iraq,
Libya, and
Yemen.
Because of
ISIS, crimes
committed in
the name of
religion are
now the norm.
The
second
difference is
the insistence
by ISIS that
all jihadist
groups in the
world must
accept its
authority, and
many in fact
have done so.
Justifications
or excuses for
engaging in
Islamist
violence are
always the
same:
rejection of
western
values;
economic,
social, and
political
problems in
Arab
countries;
failed or
fragile Muslim
states,
including
Libya, Iraq,
Mali, Somalia,
Afghanistan,
Yemen;
frustration
with corrupt
rulers;
religious
sectarian
differences
among Muslims;
animosity
towards
Christians;
antisemitism
and hatred of
the State of
Israel; tribal
rivalries; or
simply
opportunism.
The last is
clear as in
the case of
Iraqis who
were officials
during the
rule of Saddam
Hussein and
have joined
ISIS in
managerial and
executive
positions.
The
increasing
danger for the
whole world is
that the
influence and
actions of
ISIS have
spread into
northern
Africa and
into western
Europe whose
contours are
being changed
by
immigration,
conversions to
Islam,
Islamist
propaganda,
and terrorist
actions of
which the
attacks in
Paris on
Charlie Hebdo
on January 7,
2015 and the
Jewish
supermarket on
January 9,
2015 were the
most
startling.
Since
its
appearance,
ISIS has
increased its
control of
territory,
changed its
name a number
of times, and
in June 2014
proclaimed
itself a
state, a
Caliphate,
which had been
abolished in
1924, led by
the self
appointed Abu
Bakr
al-Baghdadi
with a capital
in Raqqa,
Syria. The
Caliph,
supposedly a
literal
descendent of
the prophet
Mahomet,
governs a
theocratic
state in
accordance
with Islamic
law.
By
its creation
of a
Caliphate,
ISIS is
destroying the
arrangement of
states founded
after the end
of World War
I, with its
ambitions to
create a
greater Arab
World. Its
control over
territory,
some 81,000
square miles
with a
population of
more than 10
million, means
in effect the
end of the
states of
Syria and Iraq
within the
boundaries
established
after the end
of the Ottoman
Empire.
ISIS
is a potent
military
force, with an
array of
weapons:
tanks,
artillery
pieces,
armored
vehicles,
Humvees,
anti-aircraft
guns, and
surface to air
missile
systems. It
is also the
wealthiest
terrorist
organization,
with financial
resources
coming from
assets from
Iraq banks,
sale of oil
and
antiquities,
ransom from
kidnapping,
special taxes
on religious
minorities,
robberies,
smuggling and
racketeering.
It
has created a
formal, if not
always
realistic,
formidable
central
political and
social
structure, not
only with an
army and a war
council but
also with
ministries,
police force,
judicial
system, media
outlets, and
educational
system, and a
system of
provincial
governors
regarded as
emirs heading
vilayas.
Former members
of the regime
of Saddam
Hussein are
well
represented
among the
officials.
ISIS has
benefited by
appearing to
be much less
corrupt than
neighboring
Arab states.
With
its captures
of Fallujah ,
Iraq in
January 2014,
Mosul, Iraq,
in June 2014
and Palmyra,
Syria, in May
2015, ISIS
became an
important
player,
militarily and
politically,
in Middle East
affairs. With
these
successes and
the failing
states in the
area, the face
of the Middle
East, not only
in Iraq and
Syria, has
changed both
symbolically
and
geo-politically.
Its
highly
sophisticated
and successful
propaganda and
videos has had
two effects.
One is
attracting at
least 25,000
foreigners,
especially
youngsters,
from more than
100 countries
who have
accepted its
religious
ideology and
its violent
jihadist
activities,
and who are
prepared to
die for it.
That
attraction has
dramatically
increased as
the increasing
number of
volunteers
shows. It is
arguable that
the very
violence of
ISIS, its
series of
massacres and
beheadings,
has helped
attract those
volunteers.
Yet
it remains a
mystery why
young people,
often
integrated in
a tolerant
western
society, even
if suffering
some
discrimination,
should be
eager to fight
and murder for
a brutal
Islamist
regime. At
least 5,000 of
them are
Europeans or
Americans, who
as home-grown
terrorists
pose a danger
to security in
their own
countries if
and when they
return.
The
other effect
is its
authority over
groups outside
Iraq and Syria
who challenge
the existing
regimes. They
stretch from
Nigeria to the
Philippines,
Afghanistan,
Uzbekistan,
and Indonesia.
This
territorial
influence
poses a danger
to the whole
world. Among
the
considerable
number of
groups
adhering,
formally or
otherwise, to
ISIS are Boko
Haram in
Nigeria, Ansar
Dine in Mali,
the Nusra
Front in
Syria, the
Islamic State
in Gaza, the
Mujahedeen
Shara Council
in the
Environs of
Jerusalem, the
Ansar
al-Shariah in
Libya (which
was
responsible
for the murder
of the four
Americans in
Benghazi).
ISIS
is a ruthless
state, with
its strict
interpretation
of sharia law,
its use of
executions,
crucifixion,
amputation of
parts of the
body as
punishment,
and use of
chlorine gas
in an attack
against police
officers in
Iraq in
October 2014.
Cigarettes are
banned as are
public
demonstrations.
Women wear
full veils and
are forbidden
to take the
pill.
Homosexuals
are
persecuted.
Secret police
see that rules
are obeyed.
ISIS
by evidence of
its very
brutality has
attempted to
instill fear,
both by its
military
actions, and
by its
destruction of
the cultural
heritage of
the past ,
temples,
statues,
monuments,
artifacts that
challenge its
own ideology.
It
is
unfortunately
true that
western
attempts to
counter
Islamist
groups have
not always
been
successful.
Yet the
western
response
remains
inadequate and
disappointing.
Obviously the
West does not
want to engage
in military
adventure, but
the task of
ending ISIS,
both
empirically
and in the war
of ideas, is
imperative.
This is also a
task for all
Muslims who
cannot accept
the religious
extremism and
the brutal
violence of
ISIS , and who
are concerned
with reform of
their own
societies, in
religious as
well as in
social ,
economic and
political
terms.
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