Location, location, location! That’s an expression usually related to real estate, but it’s similarly apt when discussing the various branches of the so-called Islamic State (IS). While the US-led coalition has been bombing terrorists in Iraq and Syria, it seems the White House would like to give a free pass to the group’s fighters in Libya.
Since the Egyptian Air Force and Special Forces retaliated for the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians, the Obama administration has not only pointedly omitted to bless Egypt’s operations, the man behind the desk in the Oval Office has called for political dialogue and urged nations (without being specific) to “put an end to the cycle of hate” by improving human rights and religious tolerance while engaging in “peaceful dialogue.”
It goes without saying that the POTUS failed to explain how those measures might render hardened terrorists toothless when “rights,” “peace” and “tolerance” are absent from both their vocabulary and their behavior. It’s also unclear with whom such dialogue should take place. Does he plan to invite representatives of IS in Libya to a tea party in the Rose Garden?
Obama seems to be fiddling while Rome burns; well, the Italian capital isn’t in flames yet, but Italy has been directly threatened on Twitter by IS in Libya. Italians are having fun with their own tweets under the hashtag “We are coming O Rome.” “You’re too late; Italy has already been destroyed by its governments,” wrote one. “Hey, just a tip…Don’t come in train; it’s every time late,” tweeted another. Such humorous bravado is admirable but if Italy does become a target, there’ll be little mirth around.
Worse, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf has turned herself into an object of national derision by parroting her boss’s unorthodox hug-a-terrorist-type sentiments. “The world cannot defeat the Islamic State by “killing them” she announced on MSNBC’s “Hardball.” “We need…to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs, whether….” When challenged by the host, who argued, “There’s always going to be poor people. There’s always going to be poor Muslims, she said the US should work with other countries to help them improve their governance.
Her arguments are mind bogglingly naïve; they certainly don’t explain why thousands of young men (and young women) from western democracies — many well educated from middle-class families — have left their comfortable lives to join IS. And neither do they explain why most of the 1.3 billion people globally who live in extreme poverty aren’t headed for terrorist training camps.
In response to the public uproar over her fatuous remarks, she said they were too “nuanced” for her critics to understand. That is not only condescending, it counteracts prevailing wisdom. If that were the case, there would have been no armed uprising against Libya’s former leader Muammar Qaddafi who despite his numerous faults, provided free electricity to all citizens, subsidies on new cars worth 50 percent of their sale price, free education and medical treatment and numerous other benefits, including free farmland and a gift equivalent to $50,000 to help newlyweds set up home.
So what’s really going on here? The fact is that the US administration’s nose was put out of joint by Egypt’s military intervention, supported by most GCC States and Jordan, whose monarch, King Abdallah, has vowed to wage a relentless war against the Islamic State when a captured Jordanian pilot was burned to death. The relationship between Washington and Cairo is currently fraught, which has prompted the Egyptian government to seek alternative strategic partners and weapons suppliers. Various deals were sealed during the Russian president’s recent visit to Cairo and on Feb. 6, Egypt signed an agreement with France to the tune of US$ 5.9 billion for the purchase of 24 Rafale fighter jets, a multi-purpose frigate and advanced military equipment.
Egypt is currently reaching out to the international community via the United Nations for the 2011 arms embargo on Libya to be lifted, a naval blockade around regions outside Libyan government control and a UN resolution authorizing a coalition to assist Libyan authorities to return stability and security to their country; requests which were stymied by the US and its allies. Egypt cannot afford to go along with the “jobs for jihadis” theory when it shares an extremely long and porous border with Libya but without the blessing of the UN, it could be reluctant to chase down the IS full throttle. It’s time that the Arab League and the GCC threw their full weight behind the Egyptian efforts, diplomatically, economically and militarily for if the terrorists are permitted to gain the upper hand, they’ll be knocking on every regional door. Let Obama and his minions sing Kumbaya to the terrorists if he so chooses. If the Arab world can’t or won’t take care of its own, the region won’t escape one of the darkest tomorrows in its history.
