Since the terrorist group ISISL, the Islamic State of Iraq, Syria, and the Levant began its push into Iraq, the country has been ablaze in terror. Its leader, who uses the nom de guerre “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” was released from prison by the Americans in 2009 after spending five years in the Bocca Camp in southern Iraq. He has now established a caliphate in the territory he controls naming himself the Holy Leader, better known as the “Caliph.”
The group has left nothing but carnage and death in its tracks; brutally killing innocents, beheading, and crucifying anyone who isn’t a pure Muslim, whether Shia or Sunni; in other words a kafir.* YouTube videos reveal such unspeakable horror―one must sign-in proving age to witness the madness first-hand—filmed by ISISL itself for the world to see on social media.
Innocents are literally lined-up and shot from behind Nazi style; others are shot by roving gangs in their cars as they drive or walk innocently on the road; some are chased down and shot simply for being in the wrong place. In one video, three truckers are stopped on the highway to Syria, they are then asked by an ISISL man if they are Sunni and how many times a day they pray. When it is discovered the men are Alawite, a Shia form of Islam, they are quickly placed on their knees and shot to death, their trucks set on fire. More film footage shows several men having their hands severed with swords―all this while holy music plays in the background.
The idea that religion is behind such insanity is almost impossible to believe in the 21st century, but it is. Indeed, the human animal has not travelled far from the Stone Age cave, better known in Islamic terms as jahiliyya, the godless days of ignorance.
US wanted poster of Abu Du'a better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISISL Caliph. Image: rewardsforjustice.net
In my opinion, the Western powers should not interfere in this conflict any further. Too many lives have been lost and too much hard earned taxpayer dollars have been spent on attempts to bring peace and democracy to both Afghanistan and Iraq; over $2 trillion US to date. And to what end? Radical Islamists like ISISL among others such as Hamas in Lebanon and the Taliban in Afghanistan believe "democracy is against Islam because it placed in the hands of people authority that properly belonged to God. Therefore, anyone who voted was an apostate, and his life was forfeit.". (1)
It’s time for the West to step away and let the warring parties settle the issue themselves i.e., countries like Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iran. For many years, the media has warned leaders in the West, specifically the United States that the adventure into Iraq and Afghanistan would end in disaster, much like Vietnam. But the conservative religious right in America pursued the endeavor for one reason only, to defend the interests of its allies in the region Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. It was never really about oil; oil was the excuse. If America had spent as much time and money on developing its own resources as it did in defending its allies in the region, it would have been energy self-sufficient twenty-years-ago.
There is no doubt Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Iran have allowed extremists to fester in their lands for decades, encouraging jihad with money and asylum. This has now taken a turn for the worse with ISISL, who are even feared by the Taliban for their form of takfirist* beliefs. ISISL will hold them all accountable for their unholy alliances and apostasy with the West. It was never in doubt that after the Western powers left, the radicals would turn on each other with a fury unseen in human history.
In every dire situation from the Six Day War in 1967 to the Gulf War of 1990, Israel and Saudi Arabia have called the emergency line to the White House asking for military assistance. Therefore, it was no surprise to see the Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki ask President Barrack Obama to intervene militarily to destroy ISISL.
In my view, American military intervention with boots on the ground should be denied. Why, because it’s time to let the radical Islamist extremists devour each other while Western politicians tighten their borders and protect the interests of the people they were elected to serve―with a major focus on energy self-sufficiency. After more than 50 years of Middle East death, terror, and war, nothing could be cheaper, safer, or easier to achieve.
* Kafir an Arabic term used in Islam, usually translated as "unbeliever"or "infidel." The term refers to a person who rejects God in Islam or who hides, denies, or covers the "Islamic version of truth." The practise of declaring another Muslim as a kafir is takfir.
*A takfir is a Muslim who accuses another Muslim of abandoning their religion.
(1)Wright, Lawrence. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. New York: Random House, 2006.
