America May Have 99 problems, But ISIS Should Be Number One

Flag_of_Islamic_State_of_Iraq.svg

Flag_of_Islamic_State_of_Iraq.svg

On September 22, 2014, a terrorist group that at the time very few people knew about released the following statement.

“If you can kill a disbelieving American or European…then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be.”

It has now been over a year since this statement was released and little retaliations seems to have occurred against those who released these remarks. The group that is being referred to is of course ISIS, also known as ISIL or the Islamic State. The Islamic State has carried out various atrocities from the beheading of journalist Steven Sotloff and James Foley, to the killing of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians, and the widespread destruction of Syrian historical sites. Political coverage would have you believe that there are many threats to our way of life, the war on women or the war on illegal immigration. However, all of these issues pale in comparison and gravity that the war against the Islamic State poses.

In February 2014, the Obama administration suggested that the solution to this problem was providing better job programs to poor countries. This is not the solution. Many of the people who are fighting for ISIS are coming from Western countries, and some of these people have even left high paying jobs. ISIS is motivated by Islamic fundamentalism, which believes in the installment of Sharia law for not just Muslims, but non-Muslims as well. Sharia law, unlike the widely accepted Universal Declaration of Human Rights, does not see freedom of Speech and freedom of religion as a fundamental human right. As people living in the Islamic State have found out, this means that you could be subjected to rape, maiming or murder for not being Muslim or the “wrong” sect of Islam.

Which is perhaps the most disturbing part about this issue, is how little attention it has been getting. Hillary Clinton has resigned to simply blaming the problem on the Syrian government and the US involvement in the Iraq War. It is ludicrous to believe that not only ISIS has a right to commit these crime or that American non-involvement in the situation will simply cause it to go away. Donald Trump has put forward the laughable policy that the United States should simply seize the oilfield that ISIS has taken over. As stated before the Islamic State and its zealous fighters don’t care about oil revenue in the way the Saddam Hussein government did. They will continue to kill innocent people and any Americans they can get their hands on. While some of the candidates like Jeb Bush and Lindsay Graham have released very hardline and comprehensive strategies, the media fails to focus on them.

In a country as war weary as the United States, the media understands it is unpopular to focus upon ISIS. It would prefer, like many politicians, do nothing. The United States should not take this Chamberlain approach with ISIS while they continues to gain legitimacy within the Muslim world. The expansion of ISIS into Libya, as well as statements of affiliation with Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram shows their influence is growing.

The only solution left to America, as the protector of democracy, domestically and internationally, is war in which the goal is the complete annihilation of this terrorist state.