End the war on ISIS. Now!

The saddest thing about alle these terror attacks, maybe even sadder than all the suffering caused, is you get used to them. The second saddest thing though, is that everyone seems to forget what a terror attack really is. A terror attack is not just some random act of violence committed by some crazy Muslim, because – you know – that is what crazy Muslims do. Terrorism is the use of “indiscriminate violence […] in order to achieve a political, religious or ideological aim” (thank you Wikipedia), in this case the aim being stopping us from fighting ISIS.

It is very important to remember this, for two reasons. First of all, if we forget to mention this, we feed the idea that crazy Muslims commit random acts of violence, because that is just what they do (thank you Western media for your objectivity). Second, and most important, is that, although everyone is ready to condemn the terror attacks themselves, nobody seems to be questioning our involvement in the Syrian and Iraqi civil war.

We should however gravely question this involvement in Syria and Iraq. Why are we fighting ISIS? Why are we not fighting Assad? (Hate to say this, but thank you Mr. Trump for actually giving it a tentative try recently.) Assad is clearly the biggest terrorist of them all. He just bombs entire neighborhoods of his own civilians, and has killed many, many more people than ISIS. The only difference is he does not post it on YouTube.

People mourning the Manchester terror attack

Furthermore, Assad has actually helped create and sustain ISIS. Remember, the Syrian civil war started as peaceful protest until Assad begun firing on protesters. Little known fact is that, at the same time, he also released all religious radicals from prison, because he hoped that the resistance against him would turn into violent religious extremism, which would make it harder for Western forces to stand up against him. Success achieved! More than that, Assad waited for a very long time to attack ISIS, but kept his attention on the less radical opposition, because he knew that ISIS would divert attention away from him. Again, success achieved!

Bombing your own citizens, releasing terrorists from prisons and giving free leeway to the most horrid terror organization this planet has ever seen, you have to give Assad one thing, he is very cunning in finding ways to hold on to power. Assad is a cornered lion, a ruthless dictator that will go to any length to cling on to power, without any regard for his people, or for the population of the entire world for that matter.

But suppose you really want to continue fighting these ISIS bastards. Ok, fine, but why are we making such a poor effort? They are not an organized army, they are just a bunch of rebels, many of them runaway kids from the West, who, before they joined ISIS, had nothing better to do than skip school and score drugs, driven more by blind faith in their so called religion than by proper military training. We could easily wipe them out with the combined effort of Western forces. This would be, in my opinion, utterly devastating to ISIS, because not only would we destroy their army, most of all, we would destroy their ideology.

This needs a little explanation. Again, the image that seems to exist in the media of crazy Muslims committing random attacks, is not very helpful here. Know your enemy, this is one of the most important strategies in winning any war. One has to understand that ISIS is different from other terror organizations. If you look further than the videos of beheadings, and you take a closer look at its propaganda, you realize its success is based upon the idea of the Caliphate, the creation of an ideal ‘Muslim’ paradise (I put ‘Muslim’ between brackets, because one can argue whether they are really in line with Islam). That is why so many people flock to its cause, that is why people are even ready to blow themselves up for it. Their ideology is based on Muslim apocalyptic thinking, which professes an everlasting, invincible Muslim empire will emerge. The moment their so called ‘Caliphate’ is defeated, their whole ideology crumbles to pieces and they lose all credibility.

The succes of ISIS is based on the idea of a professed
invincible 'Muslim' caliphate. Defeat them, and they
lose all credibility.

Has no one ever wondered why the terror attacks are increasing as of late? Not because the Muslims suddenly got more hateful, it is just because they are losing the battle. In the first years of the civil war, when ISIS was still on the winning hand, there were no terror attacks in the West at all. And the recent wave of attacks is clearly linked to ISIS being close to defeat. Rather than hate crimes, the terror attacks are desperate counterattacks. They are the acts of desperate man, who see their dream of an everlasting Holy Kingdom slip through their fingers.

So, to conclude, either we stop fighting ISIS, either we start fighting Assad, or either we ‘bomb the shit out of them’ (thank you again, Mr. Trump). My final remark, is directed towards our politicians. They seem to be indecisive on either three, and have just been letting the Syrian civil war have its way for the large part. We should not only blame ISIS (or Assad, or Trump for that matter), but also our own politicians, because it is their lack of decisive action that has caused this situation to continue, this situation which gives rise to the Islamic State terror attacks. So yes, let us mourn the victims, yes, let us be upset about ISIS, but let us not just talk about increasing security, or banning Muslims or the like, let us talk most of all about the root cause of the whole situation, which is, in my honest opinion, the situation in Iraq and Syria. Let us do something about that. Thank you.