ISIS scores big
‘The Brits are the best’ according to a long standing tradition in the international security establishment. And they have done a rather good job of pre-empting serious threats in the long war against terrorism. This is, after all, the first time Downing Street has had to raise the threat level to ‘critical’ since the 7/7 London bombings of ’05. Yet, as the Manchester attacks prove so powerfully once again, even the best prepared remain vulnerable to savage ISIS attacks as the terrorist outfit spreads its tentacles across Europe. This was clearly a major hit for the ‘caliphate’.
A lot of thought must now go into understanding ISIS’s appeal in both Muslim and Christian countries. Even on the run on the ground, it is able to strike deep inside Europe. Clearly there’s a need to do more than send more planes to drop more bombs on Syrian children once grief turns to anger. Despite a multinational effort against it, nobody has yet been able to cut off ISIS’s funding – somebody, somewhere is funding it since it stopped selling oil as everybody watched – or put some dent in its unending supply of light and heavy machinery.
There’s more; and it’s more unpleasant. The photo doing the rounds of the Libyan suspected of carrying out the bombing did not appear the kind of crazed head-choppers Taliban and ISIS videos usually show. Such people are, rather, the embittered and angered product of recent catastrophes in the Middle East. NATO was not so behind, when the US ‘led from behind’, and Saudi bought foot soldiers stormed through Libya not so long ago. As happened with Pakistan in the Afghan war and Turkey in the Syria war, the effects of over-reach, in ways, are now coming to haunt Europe. Tragically, more innocent than guilty fall on both sides in this ugly war. Save a few countries, the international community is guilty of dilly-dallying the ISIS matter, in every way, for far too long. Standing with Manchester now requires not just erasing ISIS physically, but also burying its ideology forever.
