With the recent execution of two Japanese journalists by ISIL, and the number of similar dispatchings via the adept knife-wealding of Jihadi John, I have come to a conclusion of sorts:
Stay the fuck out of the Middle East. At least for nowsies.
Seriously, there are apparently a number of issues there of which we Westerners do not have a full grasp. I know, at least, that our military presence in Saudi Arabia is highly contentious, but the king and crown princes seem down with it, so I’m thinking the haters on this point need to take it up with them. All else fails, they go after our military there, but our armed forces are just that: they’re the ones with the guns ‘n shit, so they’re trained to deal with this kind of thing.
Of course, there’s also the potential of terror attacks on coalition soil, but at this point, we’re fairly well prepared for this kind of thing. And I think we all know what happens to perpetrators of this kind of violence when caught: they have indefinite detention, torture, and all sorts of additional persecution to look forward to by CIA agents happy to oblige and nothing but time on their hands.
In essence, what I’m saying is this: if “enlightened”, “morality-minded” first-world wannabe dignitaries want to go waltzing in to a conflict they’re a far cry from fully understanding, they should be free to.
And they should also know that they’re entering an infinitely hostile, CYA environment. As in, you’d better cover your own ass, ‘cuz god knows no one else will.
If you want to go in and let your heart bleed, fine. Just know that your heart may be doing so not only figuratively, but literally. In fact, the eyes of your decapitated head my just get a few seconds to look back at the rest of your body while its main arteries expunge themselves.
So as for me, I’m cool with just staying at home and watching it on CNN.
And where did this moniker “ISIS” come from? That was never this terrorist group’s name. Their name has always been ISIL: the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. And as of June 2014, abbreviated to just the Islamic State. But world leaders don’t want to call them that, for fear of giving them too much legitimacy, apparently.
o.0
First of all, what’s in a name. I mean, if a militant organization wants to be called, “The Apple Cart Upsetters”, then just call them that, right? As in, whatever. But that’s beside the point in this case: this group never fit the acronym ISIS.
So now we’re giving a very bad name to the ancient Egyptian god of health, marriage, and wisdom. Plus, every time I refer to my female Royal Python, Isis, some Homeland Security agent is going to piss themselves with excitement because I obviously must be referring to terrorists, right?
Just drop the ISIS bullshit, k? You look stupid if you call them that, and then you’re just a mindless drone, lapping up whatever the media tells you and doing a fine, Pavolvian job of regurgitating it on cue.
In any case, we need to bail from this Middle Eastern conflagration. It’s none of our business, in a way similar to that of the Somalian civil war of 1993: another example where our intrusion was neither justified nor wanted.
And if we go ahead with it, anyway, my estimation is this: we should head the words of the character “Abdullah ‘Firimbi’ Hassan” in the film “Black Hawk Down”, as he speaks to downed Blackhawk pilot Michael Durant...
Durant: “My government will never negotiate for me.”
Hassan: “Then perhaps you and I can negotiate, eh? Soldier to soldier.”
Durant: “I am not in charge”
Hassan: “Of course not: you have the power to kill, but not negotiate.
“In Somalia, killing *is* negotiation.”
-- ∆☩Y§ ☨♆∀☥✠