November 4, 2014
The following essay is really a letter written to my husband, Wayne, by Tim Smith, who was a missionary kid in the Middle East when we were there. I like what he said and can’t say it better. FF
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I have been mulling over ISIL for a while and finally was able to put words to thoughts.
A couple of weeks ago I was reading the BBC news and came across an article describing how Iraqi forces had retaken a town controlled by ISIL. In the article it mentioned that three ISIL members had been taken captive. My first thought was, I hope they cut their heads off with a knife. No sooner than I thought that, I remembered a line from the old POGO cartoon strip; “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
That line started me thinking about ISIL, what it is, and the history of it.
ISIL is the current “bogeyman.” It is the embodiment of evil to those who do not support it and must be fought and “vanquished.”
Those who follow its beliefs and practices, I believe, are made up of several types: those “true believers,” those who want to fight against Assad and see ISIL as the most potent force fighting him, those who are unemployed and need to earn a salary and can’t find work in war torn Syria, ex-army who want to ply their training, and disaffected youths who feel marginalized in the countries of their citizenship. I am sure I have not listed all the reasons that people join and participate.
It reminds me of the post WWII period, “I was not really a Nazi. I had to join to keep my job, or I needed a job and had to join the party.” Or the Chinese Cultural Revolution comes to mind, “I had to participate; otherwise they would have turned on me as counter-revolutionary.”
Which brings up the question is ISIL new? What is new about it?
Is it the idea that “we” have God on our side and are doing His will so whatever “we” do is ”right” and condoned by Him? That idea is an old one; re: Protestants vs Catholics in Northern Ireland, Manifest Destiny, The Spanish Inquisition, Conquest of the New World , The Albigensian Crusade or Constantine’s “In this sign conquer.”
Is it the idea that “my” enemies are sub-human and deserve whatever fate they receive? Have we forgotten Halabja, the My Lai massacre, Deir Yassin, Gas chambers, the firebombing of cities in WWII, Ku Klux Klan, giving smallpox infected blankets to American Indians, Sherman’s March to the Sea in the American Civil War, the Helots of Sparta, the Assyrian conquests?
Is it the idea that those other than “us” are enemies and need to be fought and subdued to protect “us”? Again this is not new, re: Tamils in Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Kosovo, the Cold War, Aryan supremacy, Japanese supremacy over Asia, French-German wars, Punic wars and the Greek and Persian wars.
Is it the idea that the conquered owe tribute to the conquerors? What about The Treaty of Versailles, the Opium Wars, European colonization of Asia and Africa, or the Temple treasure.
Is it the destruction of what one views as pagan buildings? Again, this is not new, re: the destruction of the Aztec temples and palaces in Mexico City or the Inca palaces and temples in Peru?
Is it the practice of slavery? Again, this is not new, re: our own American history, in Europe, Asia, in Byzantium or the Greco-Roman slave trade.
Is it the idea that I can be somebody to respect now that I have a weapon in my hands? Pick any voluntary recruit to any army in any war.
Is it the idea of being a member of a “Band of Brothers” and not just an individual? Pick any voluntary recruit to any army in any war.
Is ISIL new? I don’t think so. It is the newest incarnation of an evil that infects us all. There seems to be something in humans that is readily responsive to the call that “we” need to fight the bad “them.” That”they” are so bad, or such a threat to “us-the chosen, the just” that anything we do to “them” is justified and right.
I hate to admit it, but I think there is some ISIL in all of “us” that says, “those” captured ISIL members should have their heads cut off with a knife.
Yes, “we have met the enemy and he is us.”
Until we as humans change, not superficially, but in our innermost souls, I am afraid ISIL, or whatever its latest name and incarnation is, will not ever be defeated.
Tim Smith