As IF Times

Source: Islamic State threatens to carry out attacks in Russia ‘very soon’

As the ISIS terrorist group has stepped up their activities, it looks more and more as if they really have no endgame other than mayhem and terror for its own sake.  The targets for their mayhem are of course the west in general,  with the Americans, the French and likely Israel near the top of the list.   But they’ve also kicked the Russian Bear, normally an enemy of the U.S, by claiming to have blown up a Russian airliner.  It’s not clear that they have supporters in the Middle East either, at least not overtly.  The Iraqis and Syrians disavow them and in fact are shooting them.   Though they claim a Muslim basis of justification for their actions, moderate Muslim groups have distanced themselves from ISIS.  They’ve isolated themselves from most everyone.

So what is the endgame? All the violence is notionally in the name of some interpretation of the Koran, but anyone who has a passing knowledge of the Koran knows that there is scant justification for the havoc being perpetrated in its name.  In the Christian Bible, there’s a well known passage about an eye for an eye, but you  don’t see Christians running around going all Aqib Talib every time they suffer a personal slight.

No, this is just pure evil, it seems to be murder for the sake of murder…as sport…that’s the endgame.   Up until ISIS came to notoriety, the first group of infamous evil guys were the Taliban.  Then along came Al Qaeda personified by Osama Bin Laden.  For a while, they were the main progenitors of fear and terror as demonstrated by the 9-11 World Trade center takedowns.  Boko Haram got into the mayhem business in Nigeria by kidnapping school girls, committing piracy on the high seas and blowing up hotels.  Now, some new Islamist group, Al Mourabitoun has claimed responsibility for a terror attack in Mali, taking over 30 lives.   These Islamist groups are appearing out of nowhere like bird droppings on a statue.  Some news sites are comparing the deaths attributed to each group as if they were football stats.  Apparently Boko Haram is now leading.

The west has fallen for the propaganda issued by all of these groups; the nonsense notion that the west has encroached upon Muslim sensibilities and therefore retribution is warranted.   The American president is apparently not too concerned about ISIS and ironically ISIS is not too concerned about the American president.  The west has been careful not to inflame religious sensibilities and  even avoid connecting the word Muslim with the word terrorist.  To this day, there are still idiots who think that the closing of Guantanamo Bay is necessary because its existence only serves to be a recruiting tool for those who would otherwise be peace loving pilgrims minding their own business.  Somehow the imprisonment of Islamist  thugs causes their blood to boil enough to go out to make someone else boil in blood.  There are those who still think that American foreign policy is responsible for the rise and spreading of these terror groups.  Those are the ones who flunked out of history class, where they otherwise would have learned that Muslims have been killing Christians for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Here’s the reality.  All of these groups do not consider their victims to be human.  The victims’  lives are no more consequential to them than flies on a dung pile.  The civilized world had better figure that out in order to fight the various incarnations of these groups properly; they need to adopt the same mindset.  A while ago, when Boko Haram kidnapped a bunch of schoolgirls, the west’s response was a social media campaign to “Bring Back Our Girls” as if an impassioned plea with thousands of likes would do the trick.  Not making that up.

How about civilized society puts together a crack team of the best video gamers in the world and assign them the task of executing kill programs as directed by intelligence agencies.  The various Islamist groups can’t be hard to find.  It’s a matter of political will to pull the triggers.  The Islamists think nothing of killing their victims like video game targets and so neither should there be any guilt by the civilized world in doing the same given the chance.  No second guessing, no hand wringing,  just sprites on a video screen.  We can even name this avenging group… we’ll call them El Kabong!  If it’s a deadly game, we should do our best to win. This is a better idea than those in charge now who think that reasoning, song singing and job offers will get the Islamists to stop killing.  The delusion has to stop. We need more Ah-nold and less Urkel. Bring on El Kabong.

link New drone strike in Yemen kills Al Qaeda militants | Fox News.

Rabid and fanatical as they are, you would think that at least some of the Al Qaeda militants might get an epiphany about the future of their chosen profession.

When they consider that if taken prisoner by the Americans, they can be pretty much guaranteed a civil and protected lifestyle even if it is within the confines of a prison.  They are given clean clothes, a floor that is not dirt, indoor plumbing, regular feedings which will likely make them fat during their stay and above all, respect and support by the American media.   Even the threat of being water-boarded has been removed as a tool in the pursuit of answers to skill testing questions, since, well, that’s inhumane.  The worst that can happen is that they pipe Justin Bieber or Beyoncé music into their cells to encourage cooperation.

On the other hand, if they are just standing around in Yemen or some other middle eastern outpost plotting to do unsociable things, they are afforded no such civility.  They just hear a faint and increasingly loud whistling sound, then nothing.  No pearly gates, no 72 virgins; they become desert vapor. They are not afforded the charade of a civil trial, habeas corpus, interviews by CNN and extended incarceration.  Those kinds of niceties are reserved for militants that actually create havoc and murder people and are lucky enough to be taken prisoner for their deeds.  If you are just standing around looking guilty, you’re legitimately a pest to be wiped out as if you were a fly at a picnic.

Not being lawyers, we aren’t clear on why terrorists who are caught red handed and admit to their activities are feted and given celebrity status whereas people who are merely hanging around with undesirables get the working end of a missile.  We are not seeing the outrage which erupted around the ‘rights’ of Khalid Sheik Mohammed and the resultant turning of his military trial into a civilian show trial.   This should be a strong hint to all potential terrorist inductees.  The glamour part of their existence is over.  The political currency derived from the kabuki of protecting the rights of terrorists has been spent by this administration.  That political theater is done.  Now they’re all expendable.

In truth and for pragmatic reasons, this is a far more efficient way to rid yourself of enemies than the old fashioned of way of sending in troops, suffering casualties and creating havoc.  The previous administration should have thought of that. We can just take out people that may be threats.  Hmm, seems civilized.  Once they figure out how efficient this really is, we can see them using the same methods domestically and Miranda will just be the name of a country singer.  When that happens, people had better choose who they hang out with wisely.