Take away the terrorists' M&Ms

By Anthony Hegarty

As the next Middle East war gets underway with the bombing of the Islamic State (IS) group across Iraq and Syria, it is worth noting that Western powers still wish to arm moderate anti-Assad activists in the north who will take the fight to IS, thus not requiring a military ground presence. You may recall that this has been done already to take the fight to President Bashar al-Assad, yet these “moderates” now make up large parts of the IS cult, with Western weapons.

Only last year, both President Barack Obama and the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister David Cameron wanted to attack Syria in order to remove President Assad and usher in another Arab Spring, similar to those success stories in Egypt and Libya, not to mention that democratic utopia of Iraq. This desire to attack Syria is a similar model to what was done in Libya with the removal of Colonel Moammar Gadhafi. P.M. Cameron stood in Martyrs’ Square in Tripoli and told the Libyans that ``the British people want to stand with you.” Looking at Libya today, I wonder if the U.K. Prime Minister intends to make a second speech in Martyrs’ Square.

While the West expresses concern for the slaughter of Christians across the Middle East, it is worth noting that under Assad Christians are free to practice their religion, as they were under Gadhafi. Indeed, Saddam Hussein’s right hand man and foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, has always been a practicing Christian. It is only since the removal of these leaders and the isolation of Assad that Christians have been targeted by Muslim extremists.

So as the West inadvertently assists with the de-Christianization of the Middle East why do we concern ourselves with IS? Some might think it’s because they cut off peoples’ heads, but then so does Saudi Arabia, with whom the West has a close working relationship. The last official beheading in NATO member France was in 1977 and the practice was not outlawed there until 1981. Indeed, Saudi Arabia also uses crucifixion as a form of punishment, just like we have seen from the IS. Saudi Arabia practices and exports what is called Wahhabism, an ultra-conservative form of Islamic teachings not unlike those being practiced by the IS.

The justification for the recent bombing missions is that unless we act the streets of our own countries will be threatened. Yet we have had suicide bombings in England, and also the beheading of a British soldier on a London street, which is the result of Britain’s failed multicultural policies and the fact that the country is a safe haven for some of the world’s most wanted terrorists, protected from deportation and extradition by government policies. Thus another bombing campaign is more, not less, likely to stir home-grown jihadists.

If you consider the recent Israel Hamas fight, I suspect that the bombing campaign led by Israel is exactly what Hamas wanted. Out come the images of dead women and children, the media war begins and support shifts.

The media is a vital tool in the terrorist box of tricks and is the first of the “three Ms” they require for success. If you consider the 9/11 attacks, the media coverage was enormous and global. Such mass media coverage leads to the second M ― manpower. As we have seen with the IS movement, they have managed to recruit members from across the globe having used the likes of You Tube, Facebook and Twitter, as well as mainstream news coverage to spread their ideology. With the growth in manpower they are able to gather money, the third M. They do this through increased kidnappings to collect ransoms, as well as placing pressure on some countries to support them financially to avoid attacks in their cities.

Thus a critical component to this fight is to disrupt the three Ms by cutting out the media coverage. Twitter and other outlets can be switched off in the name of national security; the question is whether or not Western governments and their powerful militaries have the backbone to stand up to the liberals who will object to their freedoms of expression being infringed upon.

The writer is a criminologist with MSc Criminology & Criminal Psychology. His email address is helios@discreet-service.com.