What ISIS Means to You (ISIS Simplified)

Growing up in the 70s, I learned that ISIS was an Egyptian goddess. I knew this because the Saturday morning cartoons (yes, there was a time when cartoons weren’t available on their own network – 24 hours a day) had a show called The Secrets of ISIS. Nowadays, when we hear of ISIS, we are of course referring to the group who now calls itself the Islamic State. I refuse to change how I refer to them and I think we as a Western society should agree that, no matter what they want, we continue to refer to them as a half-naked Egyptian goddess. Nothing would piss them off more, hence the rationale for doing it. I also think the above picture of their namesake nestled snugly under Rihanna’s bosom should accompany every mention of the terrorist group.

As a reminder … ISIS is an acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (well, not really – here’s a good explanation of what it really stands for)

So … what does ISIS mean to you? Here’s what you need to know:

First of all, ISIS is just one of MANY Islamist jihadi groups. If you don’t know what I mean by Islamist, then read my post Islamic Fundamentalism Simplified. Their unabashed goal is world domination; they don’t mince words or beat around the bush – they really believe they are the vanguard of a future worldwide Islamic state known as the Caliphate. They intend to keep fighting and conquering until they have spread their Islamic State to every corner of the earth. ISIS is not alone in this desire – they are merely the most successful to date of all the Jihadist organizations who have vowed to fight for Islam against the infidels and apostates. Boko Haram, Al Shabab, Al Qaida, etc. all have the same goal of uniting the world under Islam. In fact, for all the talk about their behavior being at odds with Islam, they are, in fact, well within the guidelines of what is expected (indeed demanded) of Muslims (for further reading on this, please look here).

These guys look happy, don’t they?

Ordinarily, armed, successful, and organized fundamentalists bent on world domination should frighten you. So should you be afraid of ISIS? Yes … and no. Are they capable of horrible terrorist acts that may cause death and destruction? Yes, indeed all the Jihadist groups are wiling to use violence in one form or another – they are terrorists after all. Their goal is to make you afraid of them, because fear is a potent weapon (witness how fear of ISIS led to a complete collapse of the Iraqi Army). The reach and capabilities of each group vary. We have been incredibly successful in the past dozen or so years in degrading the international reach of groups such as al Qaida (believe it or not, your government is actually doing some things right), however, ISIS presents a very unique threat we have not really faced before.

For the first time in modern history an Islamist group not only controls enough territory to plausibly call itself a state, but it has declared that their territory is indeed a resumption of the Caliphate! Not only that, but it just happens to be exactly where the prophesized final battle between Islam and the West will occur. Whether you believe in it or not, the marketing value of this is beyond compare and it gives the self-declared Caliph (the leader of all Muslims … whether they want him or not) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi a claim of legitimacy that, frankly, no other Muslim leader can touch. The name chosen by ISIS’ leader – Abu Bakr – is itself indicative of how much the group truly believes it is resurrecting the glory days of Islam; the name is that of the first Caliph following the death of the prophet Muhammed. This shit sells in the disgruntled world of disaffected Muslims who want to be a part of whats going down, and if they can’t make it to the Caliphate, they’ll settle for martyrdom in California.

By several estimates, there are over a thousand Westerners (European, American, Canadian, Australian, etc) fighting with ISIS in Iraq and Syria. All of whom have valid passports and one day can and will return to their homelands as free citizens. These trained and battle-tested ISIS members will be well-placed to wreak havoc in Western cities. It has, in fact, already happened. So from that standpoint, should we fear the threat that an unchecked and continuously growing ISIS presents? Yes, most definitely. It will happen more and more. One day, the news will break about another dramatic large-scale terrorist attack on our homeland – it is sadly inevitable. ISIS will be behind it. Get ready for it. (Editor’s note – As we’ve sadly seen)

Is it just me, or does their flag look like Bullwinkle the Moose?

But should we fear that one day the black flag of ISIS will be flying above the White House? Only if YOU let it happen. I’m going to tell you something you’re not going to like. No matter what the President says, the war against Islamism is not over. It took over fifty years to defeat Communism in the Cold War. It will take at least that long to defeat Islamism. Simply pulling troops out of Iraq didn’t end the war and pulling them out of Afghanistan will not do it either. Picking up our toys and leaving the sandbox is not going to keep the bully from following us to our house and blowing up our bedroom. Like it or not, we are at war with an ideology that has millions of sympathizers and billions of potential recruits. It is disappointing that our leaders continue to see this in either too broad (i.e. “war on terror”) or too narrow (i.e. “war against al Qaida”) a perspective. It is nothing more or less than a war against Islamist ideology and we will not win until we as a society understand who our enemy is and what they want.

This guy, and thousands like him, are how we fight ISIS.

Can we win? Of course we can. There are many reasons why Islamism is destined to fail, but we can hasten it’s demise in a variety of ways.

• First and foremost, we must understand that our children and their children will be fighting against Islamists somewhere (hopefully over there, not here). That really is the question we face now – where will this war be fought? We can withdraw from the fight over there, but that will only hasten the day when the fight will be at our doorstep. Europe, you’re first! (Editor’s note – this was written over a year prior to the Paris attacks of 2015)
• We have to get over the ridiculous idea that we have somehow caused this hatred and if the West would only embrace democratic reform and human rights in these regions, all would be rainbows and unicorns. Oh sure, there’s no question that Western policies dating back to colonial times haven’t helped. Invading Iraq just because we could didn’t win many friends. But the idea that Islamists are merely a manifestation of the frustration of the people at our policies is both short-sighted and incredibly egocentric. This has been going on since the time the Prophet Mohammed conquered Mecca for Allah, and to think we can stop it by de-funding Israel or supporting elections in Bahrain is ludicrous. Again, we have to KNOW our enemy.
• The thought that we can do this on the cheap is not a viable option. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem joining with other nations to fight this scourge and I’m tired of always footing the bill for everything, but to think we can let others fight for our existence while we provide air cover is cowardice and embarrassing to say the least. As much as I hate the saying, this is going to require “boots on the ground” in many places around the world. The sooner we get there, the sooner we win.
• Muslims around the world must pick a side and be vocal about it. Every Muslim man, woman, and child, is going to have to go out of their way to demonstrate, by word and deed, they reject the Medina verses of the Koran as representing their beliefs and they must continuously proclaim their abhorrence of the Islamist philosophy. In war, loyalties are questioned. In this war, because the basis is religious, it is a simple fact that belief in certain tenets of the religion determine loyalty to one side or the other. There has been a deafening silence from the Umma! You would think 1.6 billion people could make more noise about how much they disagree with what is being done in their names. Step-up Muslims! You cannot sit this one out.
• Germany failed. If Germany couldn’t conquer the world, I don’t see how ISIS or any other Islamist group can do it. World domination takes organization, determination, industrial capacity, naval power, and a belief system that can be spread easily. Islamists are far from being monolithic and I cannot imagine them all working together on anything for very long. Arab Muslim Islamists cannot even work together. If they could, the Iraqi Shiite Mahdi Army wouldn’t be fighting against the Iraqi Sunni ISIS. To think that all Islamists worldwide will somehow suddenly get their shit together and be effective is a stretch. Unless of course Germans begin converting en-masse … if that happens watch out.
• In all seriousness, Islamism is not for the weak or faint-of-heart. It requires dedication and sacrifice to a belief that relegates individualism as subservient to God’s will. In this Kardashian-worshiping society we live in, it’s hard to imagine that self-sacrifice will be an easy sell to the world. People are all about supporting a movement, until that movement prevents them from downloading a movie or driving a car or flying a kite. Conservative Islam is not a belief system that will be embraced by the world. The Islamists know that, which is why they are determined to force it on the world. The best thing we can do is promote all those things Islamists hate. Islamists will gladly tell you what they find disgusting and repulsive about the West. I see that as a checklist of how we fight back. Air drop a hundred thousand copies of Fifty Shades of Gray into Saudi Arabia to prime the pump, then let the market take over. People want to indulge themselves, not sacrifice themselves. Suicide bombing is not a normal human desire, but when you have none of life’s indulgent pleasures to look forward to, it starts to seem appealing. Start at the fringes and work our way in. Ally ourselves with those Muslims who aren’t quite so fanatical about things (e.g. Kurds) and change the society toward the future and away from the Wahabbism of the past. As much as I hate the Kardashians, it’s the only way.

Our Secret Weapon!

The whole thing really boils down to a war between liberal and conservative ideas of human existence. We in this country (at least in the Red States) have been brainwashed to believe that “liberal” is a bad thing and “conservative” good, but taken to the extremes (as in conservative Islam) liberalism means individual freedoms, while conservatism means either convert or lose your head. The only way to defeat a conservative ideology such as this is through promotion of liberal ideals of society. Given a choice between blowing himself up for God, or going down the lake with a keg of beer and some cute girls from school, what do you think the average American kid would choose?

You want to win this war? Give every potential suicide bomber that same choice and ISIS will vanish.

THIS is why we fight!