This blog post is dedicated to James Foley, the brave journalist who was beheaded by members of the Islamic State currently terrorising and occupying northern Iraq and eastern Syria.
This morning I woke up, just another random day during the summer. I do not really have anything to do since I am currently without a full time job and simply waiting for my masters degree to start, and since recently I have developed an interest in current affairs, the first thing I did was turn on my laptop and visit the usual Times of Malta, BBC News, CNN and so on. And wow, it was not even 9:30 a.m. and I hadn't even had my coffee yet when I read the words "IS warns US", and there was a picture of some random dude in orange on his knees, and another dude with his face covered and wearing everything in black holding a knife in his hand. (picture is actually provided below)
Well ... you have to be really dumb if you haven't already realised where I'm going with this. The guy in orange is James Foley, an independent US journalist who was kidnapped in late '12 by Islamic extremists while heading from Syria to Turkey while the other guy, is a member of the terrorist group known as the Islamic State. To cut (yes, I know that its gruesome, but the pun is intended) the long story short, James Foley was beheaded on video, with message from the Islamic State to the United States, telling them they they will drown in blood.
But why? Since the departure of all US troops form Iraq in 2011, a new insurgency has risen. Previously it was part of al-Qaeda, but then it moved off to form a separate organisation. Along the years it has had a variety of names such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and more recently, simply the Islamic State (IS). Recently, even al-Qaeda itself distanced itself from this terrorist group because of, and I quote al-Qaeda itself here, "for its brutality and notorious intractability." The aim of this group is to establish a new state in the greater middle east areas for the Sunni population of the areas and introduce the Sharia Law of the Quran as its main legislation. And the worrying thing is that it has made huge territorial conquests in northern Iraq and eastern Syria, with the execution thousands of innocent civilians and the generation of hundreds of thousands of refugees in the process. Recently it has also established what it calls a Caliphate, ruled by the terrorist group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and has imposed its brutal interpretation of the Islamic Sharia Law across these lands.
But why? Since the departure of all US troops form Iraq in 2011, a new insurgency has risen. Previously it was part of al-Qaeda, but then it moved off to form a separate organisation. Along the years it has had a variety of names such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and more recently, simply the Islamic State (IS). Recently, even al-Qaeda itself distanced itself from this terrorist group because of, and I quote al-Qaeda itself here, "for its brutality and notorious intractability." The aim of this group is to establish a new state in the greater middle east areas for the Sunni population of the areas and introduce the Sharia Law of the Quran as its main legislation. And the worrying thing is that it has made huge territorial conquests in northern Iraq and eastern Syria, with the execution thousands of innocent civilians and the generation of hundreds of thousands of refugees in the process. Recently it has also established what it calls a Caliphate, ruled by the terrorist group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and has imposed its brutal interpretation of the Islamic Sharia Law across these lands.
The above map shows the lands actually controlled by IS in dark red, the areas claimed by IS in light red, and the rest of Iraq and Syria in white.
So what has the US journalist James Foley has to do with all this? We'll get to that soon. First of all: the main opponents of this group are the the Iraqi Government in south east Iraq, the Kurds in north east Iraq and the several Syrian tribes, or what is left of them after the Syrian civil war, in south west Syria. Secondly: these opponents have gained the support of western countries like the US and EU member states, and also of other Islamic countries, even Iran!
However, so far, only the US actually did anything to help the IS opponents, by air dropping humanitarian aid in the areas where refugees are located, and more importantly by using air strikes against the Islamic State to aid Kurdish and Iraqi fighters. And that is where James Foley comes in. Foley was beheaded on video as a message that the Islamic State will launch terrorist attacks whenever it can against the United States and all the other countries that oppose it if they continue, or try to intervene and attacking their militants.
I am no expert on war or international politics, and even though I have my opinions on what should be done, that is beside the point and I will not discuss it here. All I want to do is raise awareness about what is happening in the Middle East, which realistically, is not that far away from our own shores. We might be going to work, the beach and to some bar for a couple of drinks everyday while enjoying our summer, and over there western citizens are being beheaded, innocent civilians hanged or crucified, or flogged to death, just because some idiot motherfucker who blindly believes in his own twisted misinterpretation of the Quran, and his followers, decided to do these atrocities.
Just take a minute, and think of the lives that are being lost, even of those who just go there innocently to report the news, for us to know what is going on.
James Foley, all I hope is that your death wasn't in vain.
P.S. The name of this blog post, "A World of Troubles" is the name of James Foley's blog, to whom this blog post is dedicated.
