I won't refer to them by any new name, because they want to switch names to make propagandist points. These Islamic fascists believe they're on a mission from God/Allah, so like other religious fanatics and zealots throughout history and from all major faiths, they're not only deluded, but you cannot have a rational or reasoned negotiation with them. They desire to be martyred in their insane mission to force (by torture and death) all to follow their warped corruption of Islam. They have been transported through a time warp from the 7th century to the present day. They are so insane, that they will have indoctrinated their followers into believing that by doing that, they are saving the incorrect or non believers from eternal hell. These people make Hamas look like a Gandhi-an ashram which has got a little out of hand and is becoming a little bossy on Hindu scripture. Welcome back to our TV screens, the images of people hanging from lampposts, women buried up to their necks in the penalty area of a football pitch and stoned to death to the cheers of the crowd to entertain and intimidate. Welcome back to the pages of a Khaled Hosseini novel, to systematic paedophillia and rape of women, to the end of poetry, laughter, music and dance.
Faith based fanatics are the hardest of all fascist ideologies to confront because if you believe your doing the work of the imaginary creator of the universe and an all powerful, all consuming father of life and death itself, then a polite discussion on ethics, theology and international law, isn't going to get very far.
It is in this context, that we have to decide what we want our governments to do. Currently the Yazidis, a 5000 year old sect are facing genocide and Christians, who have dwelled in this land for at least 2000 years, are being slaughtered if they refuse to convert and cleansed from their homes and cities. The Kurds are yet again under threat and they, and the Iraqi army, are too weakly armed and organised to oppose them without help. Even insane 'political' ideologies like the Nazis, or fanatics like Pol Pot or Idi Armin, would not be stopped by a UN knuckle wrap, speeches of condemnation, or even sanctions, but these stone age thugs are not even a nation. They have no economy, legislature, judiciary or anything that exists, even in authoritarian regimes. They are a virus that has infected someone else's country and is attempting to set up a state within it, while crossing boarders and getting involved in another nations internal conflict.
They have to be stopped now. There might not be a better time to target the jihadis because they have gathered in one geographical area and are attempting to hold it. Guerrilla warfare is so much harder to combat, as the Vietcong taught the might of the US army, a model used by paramilitary organisations in any part of the world, ever since. I opposed the Iraq war because the pretext, was basically revenge on a Muslim country with a nasty dictator, fuelled by 9/11 and 'the war on terror' narrative, to appeal to a shocked and wounded public who wanted to find the culprits and hit them. With the Soviet Union gone, the neo-colonial West, also needed an enemy to fuel patriotism and get votes by appearing strong. The problem was, Iraq didn't have Islamic fascism like the Taliban in Afghanistan, they had a brutal dictator that kept order amongst the many tribal ethnicities and religions that make up the relatively young country. The US and UK carpet bombed Bagdad, very much like Israel are bombing Gaza, and caused enormous civilian casualties and removed the strong man that had kept religious sectarianism at bay and kept out the sociopaths, who were referred to, as ISIS. Saddam, remember, had been backed by the West in the Iran-Iraq war to serve our interests at the time. Just as the precursors to the Taliban were armed by the West in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets, take note General Sisi of Egypt! Not only that, the legal pretext for the Iraq invasion, WMD's, has been found to be a lie cooked up by Blair and Bush. Invoking the name of God in speeches and interviews, they were seen by many in the Muslim world, as Christian crusaders. The precision bombing was nothing of the sort, and the civilian carnage increased, and let's be honest, air strikes make sure that the western forces minimised their casualties at the expense of the Iraqi civilian population. After Saddam was removed, the vacuum was there to fill and as the Iraqi body count increased, along with resentment at a full-on occupation, the fruit from the tree of hate was ripe to pick. So out of the woodwork, and across the boarders, came the jihadis which Bush and Blair had prepared the ground for, having failed to secure a ready supply of cheap oil.
So the US/UK governments bare a big responsibility for the turmoil that has been unleashed on Iraq, initially as a former colonial power(Britain), for the bombing and years of occupation, torture, contracts for rebuilding won by our companies and after enormous loss of life from our troops as well. Many of whom, did think they were going to topple a dictator and liberate the people. Instead we left them split apart, a destroyed infrastructure and economy and with a bunch of fanatical cavemen to terrorise their fragile nation. The same narrative is playing out in Libya and it would happen if we got directly involved in Syria.
Add to the mix our government's double standards in its blindness to the tragedy of the Palestinians and their oppression by Israel, along with direct military, cultural, economic and political support for the occupation, siege and racist brutality of the Netanyahu government. A coalition, with what only can be described as Israeli supremacists, not interested in a two state solution, only land grabs designed to make a viable future Palestinian State, impossible. More than any other dispute, the plight of the Palestinians and their decades long struggle to retrieve a tiny part of their homeland and to keep their dignity, while being forced to live in a giant prison camp by their never satisfied neighbours, this reality has given the Oxygen and fuel to Islamic extremism. Angry young men, who, for some reason, haven't had a political outlet for their frustration at the West's complicity in this injustice suffered by Muslim Arabs, have turned to political Islam to, in their minds, 'right the wrong'. We have in part, and likely covertly, created ISIS. Islamaphobia and the support for Israel's right to exist, at the expense of the Palestinian's right to Statehood, just fuels it even more.
So what do we ask our governments to do when witnessing a genocide in Iraq, while learning the lessons of recent history? How do we want our so-called 'leaders' to respond and frame the argument for intervention? I'll tell you how I don't want it framed or 'sold' to the public. Exactly how Obama has responded! The crass 'leadership' of national self interest and fear of the polls. So his initial statement talked of American citizens and 'assets' at risk in northern Iraq, the threat to Christians and as a footnote, a humanitarian disaster. No immediate need for a protective enclave, defended by troops on the ground, to make sure we don't repeat the shame of Srebrenica. A humanitarian corridor set up by multi-nationational special forces and defended, to help the cleansed Yazhidi, Tutkmams, Assyrians, Kurds and, yes, Christians. No talk of the secular morality of standing by ALL faiths and races, including mainstream Muslims who will, when the bodies are counted, be the biggest victims of this blood fest. No, not struggling with that, no, 'we have to protect America's interests' 'our' citizens and the Christians, oh and the Yazhidi, but you public don't really know who they are do you? Anyway, Christians are being cleansed! It's those Muslims again! No, what our so called leaders are thinking, is not strong, principled leadership, we haven't had that since Carter. What they're thinking is, how will this play in the polls? What will the press say? Spotty faced spin doctors and advisors will be buzzing around them saying ' there's an election soon, caution how do we appear'? Strong, patriotic, 'yeh', tick, 'but body bags coming home, the votes on Syria, wait a minute'! Do something but not what needs to be done, enough for PR but put this off so it can bite us back big time a few years down the line.
Notice I haven't mentioned Cameron, well there's a good reason for that, he's on his hol's and massacres in Gaza and Iraq, spheres of British influence, don't seem a good enough reason to recall Parliament. Thats our governments idea of leadership and responsibility. Of course, we have to be careful in the West in how we intervene. We have to be mindful of mission-creep, of who we are arming and what the possible consequences could be in the future from short term alliances. However, inaction is not an option. Firstly, and the priority, is preventing a genocide and protecting the civilian populations. That isn't going to happen with a few air strikes and dropping of supplies. Special forces need to be on the ground and securing safe corridors. Other nations, especially countries with muslim populations, need to be involved. Secondly, we have to decide if a break up of Iraq is a containable and sustainable reality, because the Kurds, in all likelihood, will expect something for being the frontline against ISIS and they need arming. Thirdly, the only chance for some semblance of an Iraqi State to survive this catastrophe and remain stable, is an inclusive government. Forget elections, look at the experience of Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan. Our democracies evolved over centuries, to transplant Parliamentary democracy on to fragile, divided and unstable countries with populations that have only ever known authoritarian rule (including colonial dictatorship), is ridiculous. Direct elections increases instability and violence and allows opportunists, corrupt existing politicians, sectarian religious groups and the military to fill vacuum. Political parties have had no opportunity to openly form and build bases, even if they existed underground or in the past. This was the massive advantage that the Muslim Brotherhood had in Egypt when they rapidly advanced to elections. The goal should be representative democracy, inclusive government of national unity. Representatives of ethnic and religious minorities, Trade Unions, Business, Women's groups, Youth and Student organisations, along with voices from intellectuals, arts, journalism and Science. They should be charged with drafting a secular constitution for a modern State and then that should be put to the people in a referendum as soon as that is safe and secure. On a temporary basis, it might need a General or a bureaucrat to head the State, until that constitution is agreed upon. No religious States, not Jewish, not Islamic, not Hindu, not Christian, secularism should be the credo of our age. Not to suppress religious expression, but indeed, to protect peoples rights to believe in the deity of their choice, whether or not it is a minority faith, or the choice not to believe. Inclusivity can only come from a secular constitution where politicians happen to have a particular faith, rather than religious political parties advancing the cause of their religion and plotting to inculcate their beliefs and lifestyle into the State's apparatus and dictate to the entire population.
Many people believe that the Saudi's and Qatar are funding Al Qaida and ISIS and even, Israel, for their strategic interests. However, if it is possible, it begs the question, why doesn't the West confront them? Not only that, why do we cosy up to these authoritarian, misogynistic, archaic States. The co-author of the 'war on terror', Tony Blair, travels the world ingratiating himself with such regimes, and makes a fortune. The reality is that the house of Saud, holds a lot of cards. Oil drives the military industrial complex and raising prices can have catastrophic consequences for capital. The financial system, recovering from the biggest crash since 1929, needs their investments. Given that it's been obvious since the oil crisis of the 70's, and through the Gulf wars of the 90's and 2000's, that our dependency on Middle Eastern oil leaves us so vulnerable, why do we not invest in renewable energy? The sad truth is that short term profits and power for elites, the world over, come before long term sanity. This is insane, not only for environmental reasons just as climate temperatures reach levels that might be irreversible, but because we could have energy self sufficiency, create jobs and prevent more war.
So, should we intervene yet again in Gulf nations that we in the West, clearly don't understand and have failed to act sensitively in the past? Will it be just another neo-colonial disaster? The answer is twofold, first, we can't not act. ISIS have to be halted and genocide prevented. Civilians need protection and stable government has to be established. Secondly, it's how that intervention is conducted. For once, if the rhetoric from our 'leaders' focused on security for the indigenous population rather than, 'our interests' 'our assets'. That they didn't invoke the 'Christian' God and made it clear that the largest group of victims from the ISIS slaughter machine, are muslims and the reputation of mainstream Islam.
One issue remains. In alliance with Middle Eastern forces, is this the moment to not only hold back the psychopaths of political Islam, but to deliver a fatal blow. There might not be a better chance now they've come out into the open, and, it's in everybody's interests in the progressive Middle East. Maybe the brave, young, educated and aspiring people who inspired the Arab Spring, can say that the West finally acted in an honourable and courageous way.
