Cubs of the Caliphate

Regular TPQ commenter Daithi O’Donnabhain discusses the IS counter offensive in Mosul, their use of child suicide bombers, and suitable responses from the West to what comes after.
When Islamic States (IS) Caliph decided to split with both its parent organisation Al-Qaeda (AQ), and its Syrian offshoot Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) early in the Arab Spring, one of the main tactical concerns raised within the group was the ability to hold territory in the event of American intervention.
But IS leaders thought that at a minimum, a generation of Islamic youth bearing witness to the Caliphates birth would be epoch making, and nothing would the same even in the event it was subverted.

To give a clue as to the possible scale of their catchment area for their witnesses to this new old civilisation, they had established indoctrination centres and training camps across the areas in Iraq and Syria under their control: in territory that was estimated to hold 10 million people. We have seen the child graduates of these camps appear in snuff films before, usually executing subdued prisoners away from the front lines of battle. Now from the frequency of images coming out of Mosul and other areas, it appears these ‘cubs’ are being used as suicide bombers on the front lines. IS suicide bomber Mosul
IS is looking like losing its territory as they war-gamed, but this loss of territory will not extinguish the idea that has been implanted in its youth. Beyond just the shock value of seeing youth so enthusiastically annihilate themselves and others around them, is the question of what happens to the rest of their classmates if their generals go into hiding before they can be despatched on their own missions? People that have had the authority to install fear in and kill (dreaded) adults at a key time in their psychological growth? Who enjoys playing water pistols after firing AK-47’s into adults as a form of deity worship?
The fact these guys look too much like genuine children to be showing up in the Calais Jungle is a small comfort at least. It gives us time to get our own house in order before the next solution to the last solutions problems is excreted on us by the whoever is allowed to be leading us. But maybe some lateral thinking is required before, so we are not repeating the failed whack-a-mole-and-its-family/village approach that appears to feed the problem its purportedly trying to minimize.

A key component of this will be the distance between the ruled and the rulers. Think back to the Paris “solidarity” march after the Charlie Hebdo massacre when 12 employees of a satirical magazine who published blasphemous cartoons were gunned down by theocratic fascists from one particularly energetic sect they had offended.

En Marche!
The world leaders initially appeared to lead the thing, joining arms in the perfect example of fraternité libertaire.


In it together. Fuck yeah!But the media who of course hold these same powers to account didn’t show us the truest example of what the street looked like. It was completely secure away from the rest of the march, on a closed street. But this was not fake news because it predates 2016 (just go with it).

Giving the terrorists a win?

In fairness to them, they have been vigorously trying to prevent another massacre such as the Charlie Hebdo one. Namely by vigorously enforcing blasphemy laws so they themselves can punish and jail the culprits so groups like the AQ Maghreb branch will not need to commission a response themselves.

Another observation to factor into our thinking is that it is now unusual for a European leader to have any children. For example May, Macron, Merkel, along with Sweden's Luxemburg's, Scotland's and Italy’s leaders are all child free. It leads me to wonder whether this also affects their long term thinking on the type of insecure society they are forcing on us. So we, the public, need to shift their thinking to a shorter term time frame. Perhaps the key obstacle to this is the security our leaders feel in insulating themselves from the consequences of their own decisions. And since they have lauded their citizens for going about normal city living after every terror attack, thankfully it reveals an initial trajectory for us to aim for.

IS suicide bombers that attacked an American base in Kirkuk
I would invite all the Western leaders (by force of law) to share in the stoic bravery of everyday existence with the rest of us by removing all their security details. Armed guards, closing entire traffic grids and bullet proof limos are a signal of their fear, and of course we don’t want to give the impression we are bowing down to fear and giving victory to the terrorists so they all need to go. Immediately. This is not a complete solution; it’s more a first iteration of something we can feasibly do before attempting anything else.
IS Yazidi converts, suicide bombers in Mosul
If the western leaders don’t agree to adjust with us to what we are told by London's Mayor should now be seen as “part and parcel” of city living, they would be doing something analogous to what the older IS operators are instructing the child suicide bombers to do: give their life so that their culture advances, and without giving opportunity for questions like whose culture or whether this culture is worth perpetuating.