Putting up a real fight – Why we need a new strategy to destroy IS
By Elmar Theveßen
How about some new realism in our fight against terrorists? Simply, let’s stop and go home. Unless
we acknowledge our continuing naivety in dealing with the threat we will not be able to successfully
contain and destroy this islamist movement. It attracts thousands of young people from Europe and
has repeatedly attempted to strike fear into societies across our continent, but still we are struggling to
find the right measures to stop that.
Of course, I am not really suggesting to give up. But if failure is not an option for us, we should admit
that we have failed in all those years since 9/11. The devastating attacks on New York and
Washington were nothing else but a strategic trap we tapped into due to our ignorance to the plans
and principles the terrorist leaders laid out so openly in their propaganda. Among many examples
there is this audio message of Osama bin Laden from October 2002 calling on young muslims around
the world to be the „knights of the fight“ and the „heroes of the battle“ to restore the dignity and power
of Islam. The leader of Al Qaida urged them to follow in his footsteps: "We men of mature age have
laid out guideposts for the young people of the ummah on the way of jihad and have mapped out the
path for them. Young people, you need not but follow this path.“
Bin Laden has been dead for nearly five years now, but his words resonate more than ever among
young men and women who are longing to be „knights“ and „heroes“ in a fight that the islamists claim
to be a just war against the injustices of our world. The reason this stupid argument works mostly is
our failure to recognize the necessity of new rules and structures after the unprecedented challenge
we saw in September 2001. Addressing the root causes for Global Terrorism could have taken away
the fertile ground for the terrorist generation we have to deal with right now. What guideposts did we
lay out instead? We orchestrated a war on terrorism solely executed by military forces, intelligence
services, and police while almost entirely failing to battle for the hearts and minds of those who were
watching our actions from within our societies.
We fertilized the ground for radicalism instead of spending money and effort for prevention and deradicalisation in neighbourhoods that produce crime and extremism due to the lack of individual
perspectives and convincing explanations for our deeds abroad. Don’t get me wrong. I am not
excusing any of those who turned into terrorists. And I am not suggesting that we should have served
our troubled youth a bright future with great jobs and no worries on a silver platter. But we could have
shown them that we care by creating more opportunities to succeed, by exacting their engagement,
and by sanctioning any display of disrespect for the rule of law. No support, no obligation, no penalty –
all that send a signal of indifference and made it very easy for those who promise those who feel lost
and disenfranchised an obscure way to make a difference in that world of supposed injustice.
It should be of no surprise to us that most of the young people who follow ISIS are losers in our
societies, coming from a criminal background, from dysfunctional families and unsecure
neighbourhoods mostly in our big cities. There are also some intellectuals, doctors and lawyers,
joining the „Jihad“ in Syria and Iraq. But they, as well, want to become vanguards of a self-proclaimed
justice. They are driven by the endless video streams of atrocities from the war-zone that instill the
feeling of powerlessness in both, the intellectuals and the losers. For them ISIS provides a sense of
power, belonging, and self-esteem, they are not able to experience in Western societies.
We need to address that - urgently. Because ISIS is not only using its emotional appeal to draw
fighters into the war in Syria and Iraq, but to open new fronts in different parts of the world, especially
in Europe. The continuous rise of lone wolf or single cell attacks over the past two years is an omen
for what to expect next. The blueprint for it has been widely published through the Internet and,
according to German investigators, is enthusiastically read and spread by young muslims in European
countries. „Muslim Gangs. The future of Muslims in the West“ - the first ebook in the „Black-Flagseries“ - calls for the creation of armed gangs to confront the police and establish no-go-areas in
bigger cities. The increasing tensions between muslims and non-muslims, in the view of the authors,
will fuel the far-right movement: „The neo-Nazis' are already trying to win over politicians, and
influential people in society to their anti-Islamic cause. This division will become more clear in the
coming years when more and more far right Political factions (with neo-Nazi thugs as their militias) are
elected and become rulers of cities and countries.“ This polarisation within society, then, is supposed
to create alienation and seclusion of muslim communities, thereby providing fertile ground for the
recruitment of new followers for the islamist cause.
Although we might be far from this strategy to succeed, it has started to show its impact already. The
perpetrators of the November Paris attacks were lead by Abdelhamid Abbaoud who had formed an
Islamist gang controlling part of Bruxelles’ Molenbeek quarters. In light of an exaggerated threat of
importing terrorism through the great number of refugees coming to Europe, the far-right and antiislam movement is on the rise and, sadly, has been fueled by the sexual attacks on women on New
Year’s eve in several German cities. They were committed by gang-like groups of migrants from North
Africa, although there is no indication of any connection between them and the young islamists ISIS is
addressing with its ebook-series.
„Muslim Gangs“ is not only providing organizational guidance and bomb-making manuals but also
spelling out the ultimate goal to unite all muslim communities in Europa for the final chapter in ISIS
strategy: „With European Muslims surrounding Italy from its West and North, the Balkan Muslims from
its East, the Islamic State will enter into Italy from its South with its missiles and ships. And 'you will
attack Rome, and Allah will enable you to conquer it.'“ The last sentence is a quote from the Prophet
Muhammed’s teachings about the end of time which are arguably the most important reason for young
muslims in the West to join ISIS.
The expectation of the final and victorious battle between Muslims and their enemies lends to their
lives the purpose they all desperately search for. Therefore, ISIS’ propaganda machine is making it
the core of its argument - from frequent references in the daily reports from the front to the countless
articles emphasizing it in the internet magazine of this terrorist organization. The magazine is named
„Dabiq“ after the small Syrian town of Dabiq where apocalyptic battle is supposed to take place.
The self-proclaimed Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is pursuing the same goals as Osama bin Laden a
decade ago. Back then, in November 2001, the leader of Al Qaida said: „The day will come when the
symbols of Islam will rise up and it will be similar to the early days of Al-Mujahedeen and Al-Ansar.
And victory to those who follow Allah.“ Bin Laden was calling for the „the greatest jihad in the history of
Islam“, but al-Baghdadi and his hoards have something to show that he never accomplished: The
mere existence of a Caliphate with its own terroritory gives credence to the original claim and is a
huge recruitment magnet for the Islamist movement.
So, how do we counter all that? Let’s put up a real fight, finally. Let’s show ISIS and its followers an
unrelenting strength of our system – militarily, by fighting this war with boots on the ground in Syria
and Iraq, politically, by using all diplomatic means, economic and political pressures to end the conflict
soon, cooperatively, by sharing and using the information police and intelligence services already
gather to discover, stop und punish extremists in our midst.
But all those measures will not work if we do not act socially, as well, focus on those whom the
terrorists consider their prey: The young people who feel disenfranchised and betrayed for their
chance in society. We have to create opportunities, exact their engagement, and sanction any
disrespect for the rule of law. The same has to be applied to the hundreds of thousands more who are
coming to Europe as refugees. Right now they even could help us to take away the arguments from
the islamists, to prove them wrong, since they are the best witnesses that the alleged „just war“ of ISIS
– and Assad you might add - is nothing but a godless genocide.
But if we treat them with indifference, too, they also could become fertile ground for Islamist
recruitment. Instead we need to give young people - no matter what ethnic or religious background
they are from - valuable guideposts and perspectives on their paths within a more open and
appreciative society. Sounds idealistic? I agree. But if we do not try hard, many will become the next
generation of terrorists – created by ourselves.