ISIS and Terrorism: The Political Fire with the Religious Smoke

In the name of democracy and inalienable human values, the Western powers continue their suppressive and oppressive foreign policies necessitating reactions collectively called terrorism from the Arab world. Whilst at the same time their controlled mainstream media keep tagging the victims of these policies as being generally intolerant amd terrorists from the despicable actions of the exceedingly disgruntled few. The mainstream media is perpetually misleading society into believing that terrorism is religious radicalization and extremism because of the historicity of religion. Admittedly, terrorism is underlined by myriad of causes.Nevertheless, it will be naive to believe that it is an expression of religious belief or as extremist interpretation of the holy book. Let us take an amateur ride into the past in order to throw some light onto the turbulent world that we now found ourselves in and those who actually brought us this far.

G. W. BUSH AND THE WAR ON TERRORISM
The current increasing organized evil saturating our generation is certainly traceable to the responses to the event of September 11, 2001 in US. The world supported G. W. Bush's war in Afghanistan to destroy and oust Al Qaeda led Taliban controlled government and the latter was defeated (or is it scattered). Two years on, in 2003, G.W.Bush pushed for another war in Iraq under the pretense of Saddam Hussein possessing Weapons of Mass Destruction amidst other propagandist allegations in what became known as the war on terrorism.Bush claimed that this war would make the world safer.

However, it is important to know that as complicated as interests are in world politics, particularly in the Mideast, US's foreign policy in that region is essentially pinned on the need to secure and protect Israel. Securing and protecting Israel means weakening all governments seen as perceived or real threats to Israel through any means necessary. Iraq, Iran and Syria were the immediate strategic targeted regimes. The reason Iraq will be attacked under the pretence of sponsoring terrorism (specifically Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda) whereas Saudi Arabia and Qatar known for that internationally, for instance will enjoy not only friendships from US but arms sale as well. In addition, for their own reasons, Saudi Arabia and Qatar wanted Assad removed in Syria. Israel wanted same.

Therefore the war on terrorism as declared by G. W. Bush became a war to weakening and eventually changing governments in that region. The WMDs propaganda worked out in the Iraq. The nuclear programme pursued by Iran was to be capitalized upon through torrents of disinformation and misinformation flooding media, neatly cloaked as "axis of evil" that ought to be defeated else it acquires nuclear weapon. Just that the theatricals failed. Therefore, the confrontational language towards Iran changed to diplomatic tones.

Also with a regime change in Iran that eventually gave up the nuclear enrichment programme for the lifting of imposed economic sanctions, Syria is the only target left in the triangular "axis of evil" nations earmarked for destructions under the guise of war on terrorism propaganda. Due to the debacle of the Iraqi war, fomenting internal struggles to toppling Assad is the best option for US government. This singular interest of having regime change in Syria, seen as too strategic in the bigger picture of securing and protecting Israel in the region, the emergence of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS, was welcoming. Given that ISIS itself is fighting the regime in order to expand its control over some territories. US saw this as a means to achieving its ambition in Syria as it is already arming other opposition militias in the fight against the Assad regime. Deadly ISIS is free to operate.

BUT WHERE FROM ISIS
With the terrorist cells defeated (or is it scattered) in Afghanistan from 2001, and coupled with the destabilization of Iraq in 2003 onwards, all kinds of militia groups previously contained by Saddam Hussein are now forced circumstantially to scramble for power and control against an unstable Iraqi government. Meanwhile the US and its allies sought to manage the situation via various prisons set across the Gulf region. Guantanamo Bay and Camp Bucca are famous prisons used by US government for torturing in the name gathering intelligence against Al Qaeda and terrorism. Prisons whose members are mostly innocent people, most often without trial or conviction of any crime. Suspicion became the crime upon which most people will end up in such prisons and be tortured for many years.

When such people come out, what do you expect? Today, it is known that ex-convicts from these prisons, particularly Camp Bucca of Southern Iraq made up 25% of ISIS leadership hierarchy. ISIS was potentially formed right in these prisons of Western powers. The torturing and maltreatment that they underwent is what actually hardened them. So much so that when replicating the same on their innocent victims, it matters little to them as it does to their former prison masters.

The members of ISIS were not fossilized into seeing nothing wrong with the clearly inhuman executions that they mostly undertook by readings of the holy book. Rather it is by the extreme torturing techniques designed by US-Coalition psychologists and operationally deployed in those prisons that ossified their emotions. Nevertheless, when ISIS finally appeared on the world stage, the Western powers could have confronted it militarily had it not been that the group is equally fighting the Assad regime. Whilst at the same time seizing key Iraqi towns in order to cease, control and smuggle most of the oil to gather capital for arm purchasing. Let ISIS do the job for US in Syria. So is the vague strategy. It is now spilling over and reaching the homes of the West.

ISIS EVIL REACHES THE WEST
Strangely, ISIS military prowess is increasingly becoming uncontrollable for the Syria Army. Anti-Assad stance by these Western powers allowed it to fester and grow from strength to strength in that region. The occasional maiming and beheadings of Western citizens is insignificant to the hundreds of Muslims killed daily in the region and the hope of Assad's exit approaching. Therefore, it matters little and offering lip services to fighting ISIS became the chorus. Russia, supportive of the Assad regime, saw the need to step in through UN to change the playing field against ISIS. Uncomfortable Western powers will not collaborate, not even in the air let alone in intelligence sharing though they pretend to be fighting ISIS all this while. Of course Russia remained resolute in its mission of defeating ISIS and other groups called by US as "moderate terrorists" in Syria.

The event of 13th November in France is bound to change that stance of some Western powers sitting on the fence unconcerned about the destructive and evil deeds of ISIS in the world. France clearly and actively joined the airstrikes as retaliations of the murdered innocent Frenchs. Again, US is unwilling to cooperate effectively. Remember the last of the triangular "axis of evil" vestige in the war on terrorism is yet to go. Assad's regime must go. This matters to US-Coalition than the innocent lives murdered daily by ISIS.

The 13th November Paris deadly attack was touted by many all over the world as th French version of September 11 per its executions. The disguising modus operandi of terrorism is instilling and ossifying fear in the populace. We can deny it through all sorts of solidarity concepts, yet the thought of where is next is enough to awaken seismic wave of fears in us. Ours is a generation fraught with and immersed in fear, real but unwarranted. Fear now grips everyone, every nation. We are all now on the alert almost every day. Yet, the symptomatic religious smokes are the targets for treatment whilst the causative oppressive policies remain untouched.

CONCLUSION
Thanks to the deliberate disinformation and misinformation of the Western powers through their controlled mainstream media houses laying the causes of terrorism at the doorsteps of Islamic religion. The world must look beyond that ineffective and specious tactics of the West by calling every cruel event involving anyone from the Arab world as acts of terrorism. Interestingly, whilst calling almost all such events involving Arabs as terrorism and terrorists, they never referred to any of the unjustifiable killings of Palestinians and the destructions of Arab nations by Israelis and Western powers respectively as acts of terrorism. What these Western powers had forgotten is that misinformation and disinformation can never defeat evil acts, more so when it emerged from your own actions and inactions.

Evil knows not the creator. It revolves and rotates so much so that the creator is bound to fall in its direction and suffer its consequences. It is time the West reconsiders most of its foreign policies, especially in the Mideast. Terrorism, whatever its causes are, has more to do with political suppression and oppression than religious extremism and radicalism due to extremist interpretation of a holy book. All post 2001 wars on the Asia continent is strategically meant to weaken government not aligned to the wills of the US in order to serve the interest of Israel. With regard to the worsening security situations of the world, the West resembles the problem than the solution. Terrorism is a political fire with just a religious smoke. Here ends the amateur journey into the complexity of the issues surrounding how unsafe our world had become.

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