ISIS's savagery is recruiting more to resist

By Mitchell Blatt
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, February 21, 2015
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On Feb. 11, President Obama for the first time proposed Congress give a war authorization to fight ISIS. His proposal could allow for limited deployment of ground forces. Up until now, his administration has been bombing ISIS in Syria and Iraq and denied the need for troops on the ground.

Obama's push for official war came one day after American aid worker Kayla Mueller died in the hands of ISIS. Around the world, ISIS's brutality has been the most effective recruiting tool for getting foreign militaries involved in Syria.

Less than one year ago, Americans were tired of war. They wanted to forget about Iraq. In 2013, after the Syrian government was accused of using chemical weapons, the public was so opposed to getting involved that Obama backed down from plans to strike Syria. In July 2014, after ISIS took over large swaths of Iraq, 55 percent of Americans thought the United States didn't have a responsibility to act, and 45 percent opposed air strikes in June 2014.

Everything changed when ISIS beheaded the American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and broadcast the video on social media. In September, American support for air strikes rose to 71 percent. It would be hard to create a better propaganda video to increase American support for war than the one ISIS itself created.

This very process has repeated itself with almost every country ISIS comes into contact with. In January, ISIS filmed their burning to death of Muadh al Kasasbeh, a Jordanian pilot, in a cage. They released the video with a gloating voice-over. In a country where the public was skeptical about fighting ISIS, there was unity in outrage. Around the world, outrage united groups with little in common. Iran, Qatar, Hezbollah, both the Egyptian government and the Muslim Brotherhood, overthrown by that government, all condemned it.

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