28 July 2016

Tackling social ills will do more than bombs to defeat Isis and its gospel of hate

Tuesday’s murder of an 84-year-old priest in Normandy by Isis sympathisers was surprising for two reasons. Until now, Isis had avoided attacking religious leaders in the west who had not directly harmed Muslims, in line with the prophet Muhammad’s command. And French security forces had been monitoring both perpetrators for trying to join Isis in Syria.

.... Although military defeat of Isis in Iraq, Syria, and Libya could help make it more difficult for the group to recruit, we will not be able to defeat Isis itself until we find a way to reconnect the neighbourhoods, online communities, and other particularly susceptible social and political settings where attacks continue to find inspiration and support.

The “will to fight” is eminently understandable, and more readily countered, if we are not blinded by our own mindless propaganda about feckless, desperate, cowardly, criminally minded, nihilistic or brainwashed psychopaths. [568 comments]

[TOP RATED COMMENT 170 votes] The best way to defeat ISIS is to ally with the Russians, Syrian Army and wipe them out.

Also, stop the propaganda about "moderate" rebels in Syria. Nobody is buying it anymore.

[2ND 146] France needs to consider internment as opposed to tagging potential terrorists.

[3RD 146] Let me try a third time. To defeat ISIS we must discredit its ideology. However, we are not allowed to discuss its ideology. [Guardian Cif] Read more