EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY HAROON ULLAH IN
THE GUARDIAN
"The digital war
against Isis is being lost. What should be done?"
I have no idea how the author reached that conclusion. Or,
indeed, what he really even means by it.
But I do know that concerning all of the ugly operations of
ISIS, if you want them stopped, then you must stop them at source.
The creators, suppliers, and paymasters for ISIS have always
consisted of Saudi Arabia, the United States, Israel, Turkey, Britain, and France,
plus the odd other willing helper.
Yes, at certain times and places, these countries appear to
oppose ISIS, but that is a highly opportunistic response to certain local
situations and bad publicity.
It does not characterize the whole horrible mess.
Only the other day, the former President of Afghanistan,
Hamid Karzai, explained to people the way the United States is using and
exploiting ISIS in his country.
ISIS is a tool. It is a proxy army of mercenaries, working
against targets selected by its benefactors while playing the role of jihadi
extremists. It certainly includes some extremist fools along the way who join
something they don’t even understand, but they do not characterize It, nor do
they control it, any more than an idealistic young American who joins the
Marines controls that gang of professional killers.
ISIS gets used in one place until it no longer serves its
purpose, then it gets used in another. Along the way, it provides such
additional benefits as allowing security forces to identify all the would-be
jihadis who respond to its Internet and other promotions. It also allows the
corporate press and government to keep frightening people so that government
can go right on doing the filthy work they have been doing.
Whenever and wherever it ceases to serve its purpose, it can
be destroyed in a big show of America and its collaborators “fighting terror.”
Such is the complete cynicism of the people in Washington and its allied capitals,
people who manipulate world events and the destiny of nations and treat human
lives as little more than this week’s load of trash to be put out.
