In no way do I mean to advocate moral relativism nor am I
arguing that we should empathize with ISIS.
But consider...
The man in black in the videos is the symbol of death, the executioner.
To ISIS, to many Sunnis and other peoples of the Middle East
the man in black is George Bush and now Barack Obama. He holds a knife to their
throats and he also wields his power from a shadowy perch, a distant and
untouchable place.
They represent the faceless power that brings violent death
to the innocent. The individual faces of fighter pilots, drone pilots, marines
in humvees and armoured vehicles, they all represent the forces of death, the
extensions of Bush/Obama that have mercilessly and without reflection or even
hesitation slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people over the past 24 years
in Iraq and even longer throughout the Middle East.
The fact that the prisoners are in Guantanamo-style
jumpsuits is also significant and manifests the decades of frustration and the
perceived injustice of Anglo-American-Israeli policies and how they've been
executed. As the Guantanamo 'detainees' are powerless and all too often
innocent, the ISIS response is a symbolic and literal application of lex
talionis.
I'm not saying this is the right attitude to take. All I'm saying
is you have to take into account what has happened across the Middle East, the
role the United States has played and maybe then you can understand how the man
in black is their response to....
The American man in black.
And I'm not talking about Johnny Cash.
Pilger's most recent article is also helpful in terms of
perspective. He draws parallels with Cambodia. In that situation you can't say
that Pol Pot was an American creation but at the same time he would have never
been if it were not for the Indochina War and specifically the Nixon bombing
campaign. The situation with ISIS is analogous. You can't kill hundreds of
thousands of people without generating murderous fanaticism.
As I've said before if a couple of kids are fighting on the
playground and some bigger kids come along and arm them with some really nasty
weapons and then bring in other kids and make the fight much worse...
The original kids are responsible, but the big
interventionist trouble-making kids also bear a great deal of responsibility.
Here's the link to Pilger:
In terms of why ISIS is attacking aid groups, I've also
written about this before.
Again, I'm not saying they're right in what they are doing,
but you have to understand they're waging a culture war as it were.
If people look to Western aid, they are accepting succour
from the enemy. Yes, we know the people trying to dole out medicine and food
aren't there to enforce American policy, but it doesn't matter.
If they help to bring peace apart from the objective of
ISIS... which is to defeat Western secular influence in the region... then it
represents a cultural and propaganda defeat for them. It would mean the region
can have peace according to the terms dictated by the Westerners.
No peace or stability at the hands of the enemy.
It's a cruel policy but one that exactly parallels how
heartland Americans would act if they were in the same situation.
If China overran the United States and there was great
chaos, and other Chinese NGO's, Chinese cultural proxies and allies came in and
were offering food and medicine to American citizens...
How would the American Tea Party Guerillas respond?
The people who took help from Chinese, or say...Korean or
Vietnamese aid groups that didn't necessarily support the Chinese but operated
largely from the same worldview... the Americans who took help from them would
be considered absolute traitors.
They've gone soft, given in to the conqueror and are making
peace with the subjugator. If they're willing to accept help from Chinese
hands, then they're not committed to the fight and they're not giving it their
all for the cause.
Now also cast this in Constantinian terms... Holy America,
Crusade etc...
I can easily see Americans shooting and bombing other
Americans. No trouble at all. They would believe it necessary to purify and
refine the culture for the true fight.
Just as I can see Americans taking out Chinese aid workers.
It's really not that difficult.
It's all murder. That's what war is... but understanding
that, you have to understand why ISIS behaves as they do.
Are they extreme? Absolutely. The regional situation has
become extreme. The US created this situation and this is the result.
Here are two links to previous pieces I've written that are
related. These deal with Afghanistan but touch on the same issues:
What's happening is a tragedy, but don't buy into the
hysteria. Look at the previous post regarding these emails that are
circulating. They're simply not true but they fit a narrative. People want to
believe it. That's dangerous.
