Lower Ranks of ISIL: Terrorized into Committing Terrorism

            On a global level, most people think ISIL members are heartless extremists.  Whoever views the brutal videos disseminated by ISIL can feel the chill of their greedy zeal to spread their hatred and twisted rendition of Islam.  Christians are beheaded without mercy, and suicide bombers claim martyrdom tainted with hubris.

            Jihadists are perceived by the West similarly to how the Middle East views American soldiers who were deployed in the Iraq War:  Ruthless invaders, heartlessly killing civilians, forcing their model of government on foreign nations; dying for their country - rather than their god.  In numerous videos, American soldiers reunite with their tearfully happy families.  ISIL members, specifically at the lower ranks, are much the same way.  They just want to be with their families, too.

            What!  No.  Just NO!  How do you want to be with your family if you’d rather die for your god!  What kind of family man beheads people for being Christian?

            This reaction is common and understandable given the information that the media presents daily.  In June alone, there were three traumatic executions.  ISIL drowned five men in a cage by lowering it into a swimming pool.  Another group was trapped in a car and shot with a grenade launcher.  ISIL watched them burn alive in the vehicle.  Prisoners were chained together with explosives around their necks.  There was no escape from the watery suffocation, the fiery chokeholds of those chains, or the ignited gas tank.  ISIL photographed and videotaped their fatal exploits, all for global recognition of their ability to be cruel.  There was even a time when ISIL ran over a man with a tank!

            What kind of sick monster would commit these atrocities?  Is it safe to assume they don’t have consciences?  If there is any good in them, why would they commit these brutal acts?  One answer is that ISIL members are terrorized into terrorizing others.  They act out of obedience to their superiors who are the real psychopaths.  The underlings are just docile followers comparable to the participants in Stanley Milgram’s experiment.  The study was originally done to explain the behavior of the Nazi soldiers.  I believe it could also apply to ISIL.

            Here is a short synopsis of Milgram’s Obedience Study in the early 1960s.  A man dressed as a scientist ordered participants to administer electric shocks to a test taker for each incorrect answer.  The more questions the test taker got wrong, the man in the lab coat would direct the person to increase the voltage and administer another electric shock.  Although the test taker was in a separate room, he could be heard protesting and screaming in pain.  The scientist would reinforce his commands to anyone who questioned him.  The machine was not real, and there were no actual shocks.  Even under the deception of authenticity, the results showed that the majority of subjects were submissive to the man in the lab coat. 

Now imagine that man in the lab coat pointing a Kalashnikov at your head.

That is ISIL.

            ISIL will execute anyone who denounces them, refuses to join them, or even over ridiculous things like performing magic tricks.  Reports of Christians being beheaded went viral, while the deaths of Yazidis and Alawites were not as widely broadcasted.  While researching the different religious minorities in last year’s genocide in Mosul, I was surprised to find that Sunnis were among the fallen.

            Last year, 24 Sunnis were executed by ISIL within a three month period.  Two were Imams; one denounced ISIL, and the other refused to join.  Including the latter Imam, 20 Sunni Muslims were executed just for refusing to swear allegiance to ISIL.  Three Sunni women were killed for refusing to provide medical care to ISIL.

One female doctor who was executed showed audacity by organizing a protest against women being forced to wear religious facial veils while treating patients.  Two more Muslim women were executed, and their crime is unknown. 

Other “crimes” worthy of the death penalty included any form of adultery, which by our standards is probably not very adulterous at all.  The other capitol crime was practicing “witchcraft,” which sounds closer to holistic medicine.  According to Al-Jazeera, two married couples were beheaded for practicing "medicine for magic."  More ridiculously, it has been alleged that ISIL sees performing magic tricks common at American children’s birthday parties as black magic and a defiance of God’s power. 

            Even people who initially pledge loyalty to ISIL can be killed if they try to leave the organization.  A notorious case was the death of Samra Kesinovic, aged 17.  She was considered the ideal ISIL recruit from Europe, displayed in pictures with armed men.  She and her comrade, Sabina Selimovic, aged 15, were children of Bosnian refugees settled in Vienna.  Together they traveled to Turkey and then to Syria, where they may have married jihadists at that point.  Austrian authorities blame Abu Tejda, a Muslim preacher, for recruiting the girls into ISIL, which he denies. 

Sabina allegedly died in a battle against Syrian rebels.  According to an unnamed Tunisian woman who lived with them, Samra “disappeared.”  It was later reported that Samra became irritated with the Islamic State, and made a phone call home.  Escaping a 13,000 square mile territory is not an easy feat.  When Samra attempted to leave Raqqa, Syria, she was beaten to death.

            In her murders’ eyes, they probably saw her leaving Islamic State as equivalent to leaving Islam, apostasy.  A more practical motive would be that she possessed too much information about IS, their members, their territory, and other knowledge that intelligence agencies would find very valuable.  However, if the latter were the case, they could have just imprisoned her.

            Why would any nice girl want to leave an Austrian utopia for a wasteland full of terrorists?  The media repeatedly says that young women and girls are attracted to Islamic State for the romance and adventure.  I don’t think it’s that simple of a mindset.  In my opinion, you have to hate your culture badly enough to join the enemy.  Still, there is no way to ascertain Samra and Sabina’s true motives.  Their testimony is lost to death.

            Regarding the reasons for joining ISIL, I found an article by Lydia Wilson to be particularly eye opening.  Inclusive to a team, Wilson interviewed six captured ISIL members on death row.  Most of them were illiterate.  They couldn’t read their own holy book!  They had little knowledge of Islam or Sharia Law.  Religious training is no longer a requirement in ISIL.  Most recruits do not hold the extremist views that ISIL’s higher ranks have.  Instead, they tend to have their own personal perspective on Islam.  All the ISIL inmates had one primary drive in common, they hated America. 

That’s no surprise, but it’s hard to tell who hates who more, ISIL or America?  Take a closer look at how these people became resentful toward the United States.

            These ISIL detainees and their generation grew up during the US occupation in Iraq.  With Saddam gone, they were ruled by the harsh sectarian Shia government; hence Shiites have been targeted by Sunni terrorist organizations.  Civil war surrounded these detainees in their early years.  They had no youth; no going out and having fun, no girlfriends.  They lacked father figures at crucial points in their lives.  An ingrained sense of hatred toward their government and the United States developed over time.

            By joining ISIL, they had a means to regain their dignity as Sunni Muslims outside the shadow of the Shia government.  ISIL gave them a sense of identity and solidarity.  They attained a feeling of belongingness that they lacked in their war-torn environment.

            So how does burning people alive in a car give you solidarity?  You might ask that.  The answer is that all the mushy little virtues advertised as promises are the bait.  Financial incentives are also bait.  The catch is the constant threat of consequences.  It makes the “solidarity” less promising.  There is a sense of belongingness that a hostage would feel.  The hostage is forced to commit surreal acts of violence. 

            The main inmate interviewed was no exception.

            Wilson’s article focused on the ISIL inmate who was literate with the highest education; he had finished sixth grade.  He was from the town of Kirkuk.  Between his father’s two wives, he was the oldest of 17 siblings.  As a grown man of 26 years, he had a wife, a son, and a daughter.  If he could spend any free time, it would be with his wife and children.  He prioritized his family over everything else, including ISIL. 

            He used to have a working class job, but he was fired after sustaining a back injury.  Without income, he was in despair, since the chances are, he was the sole provider for his family.  His back injury made him less employable, so he had fewer options.  A friend, who was also his distant relative, approached him with a job opportunity with ISIL.  He could then financially support his family. 

            While operating in ISIL, he was a bomb maker.  One of his explosives was for a moped, but he specialized in car bombs.  Four of his car bombs were set off in his own hometown, Kirkuk.  The bloodied money he was paid went to his beloved family. 

The interviewed inmate expressed that ISIL controlled him with fear.  They terrorized him to terrorize others.  Their chain of command is linked with threats.  The higher ranks of ISIL manipulate their underlings like puppets and, in the fatal sense, quickly cut off all ties when anything goes awry. 

There was no defying ISIL.  Last September, 27 ISIL members were electrocuted for being suspected of conspiracy.  It’s a grimmer version of the Milgram experiment, where the participant receives a shock for not shocking someone else.  A more accurate level of morbidity would be that the participant will be killed for not killing someone else. 

ISIL does not care about its own members at all.  If an ISIL jihadist is critically wounded, they leave him for dead.  So much for solidarity!  They expect him to be happy because he is closer to paradise.  Death equates to salvation.

            Despite compelling incentives of unity, monetary gain, and a possible mate, everything after membership leads to death.  Death comes if they refuse to join.  Death comes if they try to leave.  Death comes if they disobey.  Death comes in battle, and no one will save them.  Death comes if they are captured.

            At the moment of apprehension, the interviewed ISIL member immediately surrendered, collapsing to the floor.  He wrote a five page confession.  The death penalty awaited him.  All he wanted was to be with his family.  Soon, he wouldn’t even have that.

©2015 Caroline Friehs

Originally posted:  December 22, 2015

Last updated upon blog renovation completion.

References

Associated Press (2015 Jun 24).  Footage shows ISIS slowly drowning prisoners in a cage. (18+).  [Feat. Graphic video].  Georgian Journal.  Retrieved from:  http://www.georgianjournal.ge/world/30804-graphic-video--footage-shows-isis-slowly-drowning-prisoners-in-a-cage-18.html

Associated Press (2015 Jun 30).  ISIL ‘beheads women for the first time in Syria.’  Al-Jazeera.  Retrieved from:  http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/isil-beheads-women-time-syria-150630073923072.html

CNN Library (2014 Sept. 6).  Fast Facts.  CNN World.  Retrieved from:  http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/08/world/isis-fast-facts/

Mukhopadhyay, S (2015 Sept 8).  ISIS Militants Electrocute 27 Fellow Extremists Accused of Conspiracy.  International Business Times.  Retrieved from:  http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-militants-electrocute-27-fellow-extremists-accused-conspiracy-2086529

Obeidallah, D (2014 Oct. 7).  ISIS’s Gruesome Muslim Death Toll.  The Daily Beast.  Retrieved from:  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/07/isis-s-gruesome-muslim-death-toll.html

Prince, S (2015 Oct. 29).  Watch:  ISIS Executes Man by Running Him Over With Tank.  Heavy.com.  Retrieved from:  http://heavy.com/news/2015/10/new-isis-islamic-state-execution-video-tank-runs-over-man-syrian-army-soldier-and-if-you-punish-punish-with-an-equivalent-of-that-with-which-you-were-harmed-wilayat-homs-full-uncensored-youtube/

(Note:  I chose this resource for the information, and intentionally did not watch the view, because ISIL does not deserve my viewing!)

Santrock, J. W (2000).  Psychology – Sixth Edition.  Publisher:  The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  [p. 563-564].

Sehmer, A (2015 Nov 25).  Isis teen ‘poster girl’ Samra Kesinovic ‘beaten to death’ as she tried to flee the group.  Independent.  Retrieved from:  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/isis-teenage-poster-girl-samra-kesinovic-beaten-to-death-by-group-as-she-tried-to-flee-killings-a6747801.html

Shaheen, K (2015 Jun 30).  Isis militants behead two Syrian women for witchcraft.  The Guardian.  Retrieved from:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/30/isis-militants-behead-syrian-women-witchcraft

Stout, M. PhD (2005).  The Sociopath Next Door.  Publisher:  MJF Books.  Fine Communications.  322 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY  10001.  [p. 60-65].

Wilson, L (2015 Oct. 21).  What I Discovered From Interviewing Imprisoned ISIS Fighters.  The Nation.  Retrieved from:  http://www.thenation.com/article/what-i-discovered-from-interviewing-isis-prisoners/

Wing, N. & Kolodny, C (2014 Aug. 11).  15 Shocking Numbers That Will Make You Pay Attention To What ISIS Is Doing In Iraq.  The World Post.  Retrieved from:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/11/isis-iraq-numbers_n_5659239.html

Terrorism in Paris and the Middle East - The Four Why's?

                 Before the Paris attacks, Americans were complaining about Starbucks coffee cups, Donald Trump, and Nickleback.  In Beirut, suicide bombers exploded their vests, obliterating life anywhere near them.  This attack was hardly noticed by Americans who were safe at home, lamenting the “War on Christmas,” political correctness, and our petty differences.  Then terrorism stuck Paris. 

                This tragedy grabbed the world’s attention, and held us in its grip for days.  It was an eye opener, because Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or simply Islamic State (IS) was not just isolated to the treacherous middle eastern countries.  They moved like a human plague into Europe, and not just anywhere in Europe – Paris!  Then we carelessly disregard the attacks in Beirut, Baghdad, and all the attacks in Syria.  Why?

                The aftershock of the blazing bombs left burning questions:

1.       Why is Paris getting all the attention?

2.       Why did the terrorists attack Paris?

3.       Why is the United States accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees?

4.       Why are Americans loving or phobic of Syrian refugees?

Before answering these questions, it’s important to go over the incidents in order: Syria, Beirut, Baghdad, and Paris.  Since the first three are not getting nearly as much coverage as the last, I will do my share in spreading knowledge about them.  Each section describes the incident, the reactions to the incident, and an abbreviated list of previous violence their country endured.  This article starts with Syria and ends with Syrians.  They’ve come a long way, and it’s important to know where they’re coming from. 

Syria – March and August 2015

                On March 16 and March 31, helicopters dropped chlorine barrel bombs over the northern Syrian town of Sarmin in the province of Idlib.  Sarmin townspeople heard the sound of helicopters, and then a thunderous noise without an explosion.  Six people died; three of them were children, and 206 others were affected by the gas.  The chlorine poison caused liquid to accumulate in the lungs, making breathing very difficult.

                Only government forces possessed helicopters, putting Bashar al-Assad’s regime under accusation.  The Syrian government heavily denied committing the acts.  Only ten days before the first gas bombing, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning the use of chlorine, as reported by Al-Jazeera.

                On August 21 of this year, there was another attack, and this time mustard gas was used.  Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) committed the gassing.  They attacked the town of Marea while they were in combat with Syrian rebels.  The symptoms included large, painful blisters and burns.  One child died, and a whole family had breathing difficulties and blistering.

                These incidents happened in March and August of this year, but the attacks this blog is focusing on are in November.  One might ask why I included a section on Syria.  There have been over 60 documented incidents of chemical attacks on Syria, and millions of refugees are roaming the world, looking for a place to live.  It’s a political issue that is affecting everyone.  It’s important to understand what they were running from in the first place, and why returning would not be a safe option.

Reactions

                The United Nations and the New York based Human Rights Watch reacted by investigating to reveal information on who the true culprit was for the March gas attacks.  Despite the repeated denial of the Syrian government, the UN believes Assad’s regime is liable considering their chemical based attacks in the past years.  The United States, Great Britain, and France also believe Assad to be responsible.  The UN Security Council was tearful as they watched the videos of doctors struggling to save children’s lives.

Previous violence

1.       Four Year Civil War

·         War between government forces and Syrian rebels who are fighting the secular regime of Bashar al-Assad.

·         The Syrian government started chemical based attacks in 2012, which included chlorine.  The target was the Syrian rebels opposing Assad.

·         On August 21, 2013, the Syrian government dropped Sarin gas on two suburban districts in Damascus, killing hundreds of innocent civilians.  Their target was the rebels.

2.       Syrian Refugee Crisis

·         Over 7 million Syrian refugees fled.

·         1 million fled to Lebanon.

·         800,000 fled to Europe.

·         Others fled to Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey.

3.       ISIL attacks

Beirut, Lebanon – November 12, 2015

                Two suicide bombings killed 43 people and wounded over 200 in the Burj al-Barajneh section of Beirut.  The first jihadist detonated outside a Shia mosque, and the second detonated outside a bakery fairly closeby.  There was a third suicide bomber, but he died in the second blast before he could set off his bomb vest. 

                ISIL immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.  In their statement they said, “After the apostates gathered in the area, one of the knights of martyrdom detonated his explosive belt in the midst of them.”  ISIL referred their so-called, “knights of martyrdom,” as “Soldiers of the Caliphate,” and referred the Shiite residents as apostates, which is a grave insult in Islam.  Apostasy is the act of leaving a religion, and it’s punishable by the death penalty in some Islamic nations.  To say Shia Islam is turning one’s back on Islam, asserts a sense of invalidation of Shia, and assumes that Sunni is more true and pure.  It’s analogous to calling Catholicism the same as Atheism, and saying that Protestant Christianity is the true religion.

                Regardless of ISIL’s ice cold perception of the Shiites, there was a hero who needs to be remembered.  Right when the bombs exploded, Zein al-Abideen Khaddam carried four bodies while fleeing the blasts.  They were three women and a male friend. 

Reactions

             The White House and Iran condemned the attacks.  The United States would stand by Lebanon and reinforce security measures.  Iran supports Hezbollah, the Lebanon based militia/terrorist organization that is in opposition to Al-Qaeda.  Though Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda have one thing in common – they hate ISIL.  Hezbollah labeled ISIL’s attacks as Satanic.

          BBC News reported that the Beirut bombings were the deadliest since the end of the Lebanon Civil War in 1990.

Previous violence

1. Civil war (1975-1990)
2. Israeli airstrikes (2006), leveling apartment blocks.
3. Series of bombings for the past 18 months (May 2014-Present), by Sunni militants in retaliation Hezbollah’s intervention with Syria.
4. Other struggles:  Political assassinations, street conflicts, warfare. (Undated)

Baghdad, Iraq – November 13, 2015

                In the Hay al-Amil section of Baghdad, a funeral was disrupted by a suicide bombing, killing 18 and injuring 41 people.  Shiites were targeted in the Al-Ashara al-Mubashareen mosque.

                Suicide bombings were a common tactic among Sunni extremists and ISIL.  The claim for the attack was not immediate, but it hardly surprised anyone that ISIL was behind the attack.  ISIL released a statement, including that their motive was to target “a rejectionist Hashid group.”  Hashid describes a Shiite militia that is in opposition to ISIL.

                The funeral was honoring a volunteer paramilitary member of Hashid Shaabi.  Although the ISIL militants believed they were just attacking their enemy, they were ambushing someone’s funeral.  In the United States, military funerals were disturbed by Westboro Baptist Church picketers.  The picketing was emotionally cruel, but a bombing is far more disrespectful and lethal.  What is considered disrespectful to rational people is seen as a tactic to terrorists in getting what they want – to kill Shiites caught off guard in a one-sided battle.

                Sadly, people can not honor the dead without fearing their own death in Baghdad.

Reactions

                After reading articles, and specifically researching the reactions, I could not find any.  There was no mention of countries condemning the Baghdad funeral bombing.  No opinions were voiced, not that I could find.  Only journalists were kind enough to record the attacks.  It is their job to write their articles, but at least the incident will be documented and not forgotten.

Previous violence

1. The Iraq War
2. Persian Gulf War
3. More examples that would make this blog article too long

Paris, France – November 13, 2015

                Eight terrorists attacked six sites, killing 129 people and wounding 352.  Ninety-nine were critically injured.  Seven attackers committed suicide and one was shot dead by police.  There is suspicion of a ninth attacker who has been recently detained for questioning.

The attack sites included a concert hall, a stadium, and four restaurants and bars.  The names of those targeted sites were the following:  Bataclan, La Belle Equipe, Le Carillon, Le Petit Cambodge, La Casa Nostra, and Stade de France.

                The Bataclan was hosting a rock concert for Eagles of Death Metal.  Four gunmen rushed inside, shooting people and soon claiming 20 hostages.  Police forces arrived, three gunmen discharged their suicide vests, and one gunman was shot dead by police.  Over the entire ordeal, the suicide bombing gunmen killed 89 people within the building.  Omar Ismael Mostefai, the leader, severed his thumb to evade fingerprinting, however the police still recovered the thumb.

                Cruel chaos surrounded the Bataclan epicenter.  Southeast of the concert hall, 19 people were shot dead at the La Belle Equipe bar.  Directly north of the Bataclan, five more people were murdered in La Casa Nostra.  A short distance northward in two restaurants on the same street, Le Petit Cambodge restaurant and Le Carillon bar, endured 30-second streams of bullets, killing 12. 

                The only good fortune that fell upon Paris that day was that no one was killed by the three suicide bombers at Stade de France.  Only the terrorists died from their own self-destruction.

                The next day, Saturday, ISIL sent a video, taking full accountability for the attacks.  They stated, “Indeed, this is just the beginning.”

Investigation

                President Francois Hollande declared a state of emergency, and locked down all of Paris.  Then police forces started detaining the IS attackers’ family members for questioning.  The two rented cars including the Volkswagen Polo had Belgium license plates, making tracing their identities and families easier.  The coordination of the attacks went undetected by security forces and there was no use of electronic communication.  This was easily done since three of the terrorists lived in the same neighborhood in Brussels.  All they had to do was visit one another and talk quietly in person. 

                Iraqi intelligence informed that some of the attackers trained in Syria with ISIL and later joined a sleeper cell in Europe.  They were trained operatives, not inspired sympathizers.  The one leading the Bataclan attack, Mostefai, had spent the Winter (2013-14) in Syria.  He was on a terrorist watch list for radical Islam since 2010, so authorities were not oblivious.  During 2004-2010, he committed eight petty crimes, but was never incarcerated.

Reactions

                President Barack Obama condemned the Paris attacks.  The Vatican condemned them too.  The whole world condemned the tragedy!

                Poland tightened its borders unless there were “guarantees of security.”

                Germany also renewed border checks, but President Angela Merkel would not restrict the number of refugees entering.

                France initially restored border controls and renewed border checks.  In addition to arresting those with familial ties to the perpetrators, “any person whose activity is dangerous is to be put under house arrest,” according to President Hollande’s statement in the French Diplomatie.  Hollande dispatched ten fighter jets from French bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and dropped 20 bombs on the ISIL headquarters in Raqqa, Syria.

                Syrian refugees were frightened that they would be accused of being potential terrorists.  Anti-Islam protesters held flares and a banner that read, “Expel the Islamists!”  The tension in Paris had reached a peak.

                President Hollande changed his mind for reasons you will see in the Second Why.  He is allowing 30,000 Syrian refugees into France.  A fear induced decision to close the French borders would be playing into ISIL’s hands.

Previous violence

Three days of mass shootings in (January 2015)

·         Targets included Charlie Hebdo magazine office, and a Jewish supermarket.

·         The motive was to retaliate for explicit comics made with Prophet Mohammed’s image.

·         18 people were killed.

The Paris attacks were considered the deadliest in French history since World War II when the Nazis invaded.  In European history as a whole, it was the deadliest attack since the Madrid Bombings in 2004.

The Four Whys?

1.  Why is Paris getting all the attention?

                National monuments all over the planet lit up in French flag coloring.  News stations covered the Paris attacks for days.  World leaders orated in sympathy on behalf of the French.  Safety Check was enabled so anyone could check if their family, friends, and loved ones were unharmed.  Facebook was visually flooded with articles, memes, and #PrayersforParis.  There was even a French flag filter that you could apply to your profile picture.  Anne Barnard from the New York Times pointed out that there was no Lebanese flag filter on Facebook.  Why does the world play favorites with countries?

                Paris is known for its art, culture, the Eiffel tower, fashion, an exquisite language, and its history.  This city is more than two thousand years old!  Middle Eastern countries are older, but the global attention goes to the city with the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe.  Moreover, Paris was thought to be a peaceful nation that has been safe from warfare since WWII.  When Paris was attacked last week and 481 people were dead or injured, it was a shock to France, to Europe, and to the world, because the city is perceived to be safe and who would want to bomb and cause massacres in such a beautiful place?  The survivors of the Lebanon bombings just one day before perceived their own attack to be a validation of an ever present fear for future violence.

                In some people’s eyes, Beirut is still considered an “active war zone,” and since Hezbollah controls all security measures within Lebanon, the nation’s capital has been labeled a “justifiable military target.”  How would you like to live in a “justifiable military target?”  Because the Middle East has a warlike climate, people don’t give the violence as much attention.  Even if the funeral bombing in Baghdad received the same level of coverage as Paris, people outside the Middle East would just sigh and think, “Not again.”

                Articles about all the attacks are available, but the attention comes from how strongly the news is received.  People reacted more to Paris, a beloved vacation spot.  Just one day before the Paris attacks, 43 people died in Beirut.  Beyond the middle eastern region, people hardly batted an eye, let alone shed a tear.  When children’s lungs were filling with fluid from the chlorine gassing in Syria, no memorial images went viral on social media.  The Western hemisphere did not mourn the deaths of funeral goers in Baghdad.  These countries are on the other side of the planet!  Though, France is across an ocean for me – and millions more, and yet we all cared for Paris.

The apparent lack of grief for Beirut, Baghdad, Syria, and countless assaults in the region once again gave the Middle Eastern people the impression that Westerners think “Arab lives matter less,” since carnage is normalized for them.  This is not the first time these people have felt this way, as I have learned from watching various documentaries on Middle Eastern struggles.  I have heard people interviewed say about the United States, “They think our blood is worth less than their blood.”  The information about their pain, their wars, et cetera is out there, but it’s not advertised as significant.  Maybe more people would feel sympathy if they were aware, and aware of how important these people are, because they are human.  We are all human, equally human.

                On Thursday, November 12, 2015, while Beirut was enduring infernal blasts, Americans were still complaining about red cups not having “Merry Christmas” on them!  While Americans fight an imaginary war on a Pagan holiday hijacked by Christianity centuries ago, Middle Eastern people face real wars.  Then on the fatal Friday, when four gunmen stormed the Bataclan and some restaurant diners didn’t even get a last meal, Americans dropped their wordless coffee cups, speechless.  European eyes widened across their continent.  Even Australia knew what happened.  Distance didn’t matter.  What mattered to ISIL was the reaction.  They got the world’s attention in Paris, not from Beirut.

2.  Why did the terrorists attack Paris?

                The nearly routine violence in the Middle East was not gaining the attention that ISIL demanded.  Attacking Paris achieved global awareness.  That is only one reason why ISIL targeted the French capital.

                The primary reason why ISIL attacked Paris was to retaliate against President Hollande’s airstrikes in Syria.  In the Bataclan, terrorists were yelling about Hollande’s decision to target ISIL in Syria.  One attacker told a captive, “It’s the fault of Hollande.  It’s the fault of your president.  He should not have intervened in Syria.”  In the video released the next day, ISIL confirmed that their attacks were in response to the airstrikes in Syria, and that France would remain the “key target” for future assaults because of Hollande’s actions.

                Another cause for the Paris attacks was a strategic means of motivating Syrian refugees to return to their homeland and be recruited into ISIL.  With a fear rippling to other European nations, it was plausible for their borders to reject refugees.  The refugees would then have limited options of where to go, and ISIL would then hope they would return and be recruited.  President Hollande would not play into that fear, and not let more refugees come back as ISIL operatives.  In the video, ISIL urged French Muslims to relocate to IS territories before the European borders closed.  Thus, ISIL was aware of border restrictions resulting from their plot.

3.  Why is the United States accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees?

                Although this political issue became suddenly more important after the Paris attacks, the discussion to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the US took place last September.  Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) urged President Barack Obama to admit 65,000 Syrian refugees, and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) wanted the US to assist in taking them back to Syria.  Originally, the US was going to accept 5,000, but after enough arguments and pressure, Obama accepted 10,000 for the next fiscal year.  This year, we’ve had 1,800 Syrian refugees immigrate to the US.  The following chart shows the increase in admitting Syrian refugees per year.  The table specifies how many.  The data was taken from CNN.

                The chart answers half of the next Why question, but the answer to this question is:  The United States wants to help those in need while screening them properly to maintain national security.  The US has been accepting refugees since 1979; 110,000 Vietnamese.  Only after 9-11 under the Bush administration, the borders were more restricted.

4.  Why are Americans loving or phobic of Syrian refugees?

                The cut between American views is deep on the subject of Syrian refugees entering the US.  The right wing wants to keep them out, and the left wing wants to welcome them.  Some people jump to the conclusions that all are good or all are evil.  Conservatives think there could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing among them.  All it takes is one extremist to commit an act, and people could suffer.  Liberals recognize that the attacks in Paris were akin to the struggles the Syrian refugees were fleeing from.  As Christmas approaches, and the Christian Right puts up nativity scenes in their front yards, Left Wing types point out the irony that Joseph and Mary were a Middle Eastern couple seeking refuge, too.

The Right Wing’s Fears

                President Obama wants to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States.  Going from 1,800 to 10,000 refugees within a two year period is a steep jump.  After the Paris attacks, there was no scrutiny or reconsideration in the resettlement plans for the incoming Syrian refugees.  Some could be potential terrorists, ISIL sympathizers, or ISIL operatives who are sly enough to slip in.

House Representative Peter T. King (R-NY) said, “Our enemy now is Islam terrorism, and these people are coming from a country filled with Islamic terrorists.  We don’t want another Boston Marathon bombing situation.”

One of the Paris terrorists had a Syrian passport.  It turned out to be fake made in Turkey, but some conservatives don’t want to believe that.  Fake passports are being sold on the black market, not just to terrorists but also to Syrian refugees who could not get registered as refugees.  Documentation was harder to acquire during Syrian conflicts.  The terrorist who obtained the fake passport in Leros, a Greek island, used it as a good cover to navigate Europe and gain sympathy.  If counterfeit passports are easy to acquire, then how easy would it be for a potential terrorist or ISIL sympathizer to get one?  How do we distinguish a terrorist from an innocent refugee who desperately needed a fake passport?

What angers conservatives is that the screening process and accommodations for the Syrian refugees will cost American tax dollars.  Whether or not they agree with their president’s decision, they will be forced to pay for it.  Syrian refugees get to enjoy hotels at a level of quality they hadn’t known in their lives before, but American veterans are still homeless, jobless, and ignored.  For war-supporting conservatives who always chanted, “Support our Troops,” neglecting veterans is a source of anger for them.

The Left Wing’s Acceptance

                Liberal Americans want to be open, loving, and Christ-like in accepting the refugees.  Rejecting them is consistent with the Right Wing’s prejudice against Hispanic immigrants in the sense that being different equals danger.  Liberals see anyone rejecting of the refugees as cowards, which is echoed in various memes and links on social media.  Thanksgiving is in a few days, and people are reminded that the Native Americans allowed the white pilgrims to take refuge in America after an exhausting voyage.  Christmas follows with the idea that innkeepers turned away a Middle Eastern couple seeking refuge before giving birth to Christ.

                Immigration into the United States is not immediate.  Every refugee will undergo an intense background and medical check, which takes between 18-24 months.  The screening will be done by the National Counter Terrorism Center and the FBI Terrorist Screening Center.

                The Left Wing does not see the refugees as potential terrorists.  They see them as people running from the terrorists.  If they wanted to join ISIL, they would have stayed in Syria.  All they want is a place to live.

©2015 Caroline Friehs

Originally posted:  November 24, 2015

Last updated upon blog renovation completion.

References

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