The burning alive of a Jordanian pilot by Islamic State terrorists appears to have served as a wake-up call for countries around the world to strengthen the 60-nation coalition formed to stop the sadistic Middle Eastern outlaws who now control one-third of Iraq and Syria.
The gruesome, videotaped immolation of the Muslim pilot shows the Islamic State terrorists are stepping up their reign of death, torture and other inhumane acts that only belatedly have drawn a forceful response from a world that, in many cases, seemed to view the threat as isolated to a region. The terrorists now are vowing to extend their killings across the globe, into shopping malls and inside the White House to behead the president of the United States.
The heinous acts of Islamic State terrorists poise a challenge to the world’s nations to end the threat or suffer the consequences of inaction and ineffectiveness. President Obama, who allowed the Islamic State terrorists to grow into a formidable fighting force without much response until they began routinely committing atrocities, since then has learned the group’s evil acts have no bounds.
“Know also that we will cut off your head in the White House, and transform America into a Muslim Province,” an Islamic State terrorist said as he referred to President Obama during a recent videotaped execution of a captured Kurdish fighter.
The same terrorist also threatened the people of European nations, saying, “We will come to you with car bombs and explosive charges, and will cut off your heads.”
Islamic State terrorists’ recent killing of Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, as well as the beheading of two American journalists, two Japanese citizens, two British aid workers and an American aid worker who became Muslim in captivity should jolt people around the world. The tentacles of Islamic State – a radical al-Qaeda offshoot also called ISIS and ISIL – reach far and wide to imperil the safety and security of people in distant places.
The Islamic State terrorists, also known derogatorily as Daesh among many Muslims in the Middle East who are appalled by the group’s inhumane acts, seem to have based part of their economic survival on collecting ransoms for kidnapping Western hostages. But the U.S. government has refused to pay ransoms to avoid funding future atrocities and other violent acts by the terrorists, who also recruit foreigners to join them with promises of jobs for doctors, oilfield workers and engineers.
Outrage about the killing of the Jordanian pilot resounded particularly in the Arab region, with the United Arab Emirates opting to rejoin the coalition’s airstrikes on the Islamic State terrorists after previously suspending involvement after the airman’s initial capture.
In the wake of the confirmed death of Kayla Mueller, a 26-year-old U.S. aid worker kidnapped and held captive by Islamic State terrorists, Jordan’s information minister, Mohammad al-Momani, said “Jordan strongly condemns the brutal killing of the American hostage. We express our sincere grief and are deeply angered by this barbaric brutality. Countries around the world must continue to work together to fight and defeat this evil.”
In a taped message during a recent visit to Washington, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, called Islamic State a “cowardly gang” with “no connection to our noble religion,” Islam.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Sunday, Feb. 22, that a united Arab thrust is needed to counter the Islamic State group.
“The need for a unified Arab force is growing and becoming more pressing every day,” Sisi said.
Egypt recently struck Islamic State targets aerially in Libya to mark the government’s first military operation outside its borders in decades.
The terrorists have murdered thousands of people, including women and children, who sought to live in peace in the Middle East. Opportunities for normal commerce, economic growth, job creation, safe neighborhoods and freedom of religion have been torched by Islamic State much the way it martyred the Jordanian pilot.
In late February, Islamic State terrorists took 262 Assyrian Christians, including men, women, children and the elderly, from their communities as hostages. Based on the terrorists’ past behavior, fears are high that those held captive could be executed or sold into slavery.
A civilized person might say those who died at the hands of the terrorists represent the best among us. People killed by Islamic State terrorists sought to help others at the expense of their self-interest and ultimately paid with their lives. In the latter instances of taken peaceful Assyrian Christians captive, the terrorists once again are exhibiting shocking behavior that has alarmed Muslim leaders.
Muslim clerics from around the world attending an anti-terrorism conference in Saudi Arabia in late February urged reform in religious studies to promote moderation and tolerance. It is the latest example of Muslim leaders stating unequivocally that the terrorists are distorting Islamic beliefs, which do not support murder.
Fourteen people from seven different countries who succumbed to the propaganda of Islamic State terrorists and joined the group ended up executed later by those they perceived to be comrades when they tried to leave after learning of the organization’s mission of indiscriminate killing. Three of those murdered were Chinese.
A United Nations report documented widespread “human rights abuses” by Islamic State terrorists in Iraq between September and December last year. The report found members of Iraq’s diverse ethnic and religious communities, including Turkmen, Shabaks, Christians, Yezidi, Sabaeans, Kaka’e, Faili Kurds, Arab Shia, and others were intentionally and systematically targeted.
“The ally of atrocities is silence,” said Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington, during Feb. 26 remarks at Georgetown University. “Too many people simply are silent. All of us must raise our voices and say, ‘This is wrong. Something must be done.’”
Paul Dykewicz is the editorial director of Eagle Financial Publications, editor of Eagle Daily Investor, a columnist for Townhall and Townhall Finance, and the author of a new inspirational book, “Holy Smokes! Golden Guidance from Notre Dame’s Championship Chaplain.” Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulDykewicz.