How to defeat ISIL

I've been talking about ISIL for almost a year. I traced it's origins as an outgrowth of Al Qaeda. I've traced those origins to CIA programs and shown the circumstantial links to the Saudis, especially Prince Bandar. All to establish my belief that they are a tool of the Saudi Secret Service, maybe P. Bandar, maybe renegades, but certainly a tool of Saudis. But the question becomes. How to actually defeat ISIL?

To Defeat ISIL, a head on attack by USA forces might send them packing. But unless it is a complete extermination it will only send them underground. The fighters might decamp to other battle fields, or carry out terror attacks. Indeed more than likely they will try to do both. Some of them will decamp back home, having established bona fides as warriors. Whatever happens it will feed into the Al Qaeda Salafist propaganda machine. A sort of Arabic Robin Hood narrative of good outlaws versus an evil machine of crooked government enemies. In any case, the fact that we only seem interested in organizations like ISIL when we are protecting our oil transportation lines also feeds into the street narrative of the Arabic world that European, USA and Israel are behind the whole mess. The Saudis would rather hear that narrative than one that points back to them and the gulf states.

So to defeat ISIL we need to make noises about how the Saudis oil interests are at stake. How the Saudis are behind ISIL. And how they are playing a duplicitous game to take the world's eyes of the fact that they use their oil revenues to make a very small subset of Arabs incredibly wealthy while repressing their brothers around the world. Including the Palestinians who are expected to somehow conquer Israel with no help from them, and aren't allowed to resettle elsewhere as citizens of an Arab Brotherhood.

The Betrayal of the Ummah

I'm not strong on Muslim belief. But I believe they emphasize the brotherhood of the Ummah[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ummah]. In that concept the Muslim World ought to be like a commonwealth or the United States, where all Arabs are equal. Heck all Muslims are part of the Ummah. Anyone who has experienced Islam up close knows about this sense of brotherhood. Even Shiah and Sunnah put aside their differences long enough to visit Mecca or other primary holy sites. One goes to a mosque and one senses this sense of brotherhood. Malcolm X experienced it in his trip to Mecca. http://middleeast.about.com/od/religionsectarianism/a/me080220b.htm]He is said to have experienced an epiphany on his trip to Mecca [http://middleeast.about.com/od/religionsectarianism/a/me080220b.htm] which changed his attitude towards both race and religion. Islam is based on a concept of universal brotherhood. It's not supposed to be about virulent hate of Christians and Jews.

In his experience he recounts that people “were hugging and embracing. They were of all complexions, the whole atmosphere was of warmth and friendliness. The feeling hit me that there really wasn’t any color problem here. The effect was as though I had just stepped out of a prison.” To enter the state of ihram required of all pilgrims heading for Mecca, Malcolm abandoned his trademark black suit and dark tie for the two-piece white garment pilgrims must drape over their upper and lower bodies. “Every one of the thousands at the airport, about to leave for Jedda, was dressed this way,” Malcolm wrote. “You could be a king or a peasant and no one would know.” That, of course, is the point of ihram. As Islam interprets it, it reflects the equality of man before God."

Democracy

Democracy is congruent with Muslim theory too. Muslims operated by consensus in their early years, and the purpose of structures like voting is to establish a sense of consensus and a means of re-establishing consensus when consensus is broken that is superior to warfare and internal insurrection.

Compatibility with Secular Government

This equality of man before God is also the belief of other Western Religions. The reason that early Islam was able to conquer much of the ancient Christian world is as much the disunity and hypocrisy of the people running Christian institutions and governing Christian Countries. Had these people accepted the universal principles of Islam, the program of conquest and destruction might have been less successful, and Islam would have been forced to accommodate them instead of trying to supplant it. A "Dhimmi" status might have been appropriate in the early days of Islam, but time has shown that not only are all men equal before God, but God doesn't play favorites between Christians, Muslims or Jews.

Thus modern Islam should not be incompatible with Secularism. The Shia know that Islam went wrong when the Caliphate suppressed the children of Ali. The Sunna lived under the yoke of foreigners for centuries because of their arrogance. It is time for Muslims to accept that secularism is the best way to live up to Islamic theory. It need not be incompatible with secular democracy.

And indeed Our first treaty with the Barbary states established that the USA, being a Secular Democracy, was not incompatible with Islam:

"Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen [Muslims]; and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan [Muslim] nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

Sane Foreign policy based on principle of freedom of Religion embodied in Secular Government

A sane foreign policy would use this reality in the same way that Adams and Jefferson did in dealing with the Tripolitarian princes in the early 1800's. The divide between Shia and Sunnah is founded on it's surface on disrespect for the principle of freedom of religion. But deep inside the real issue is the respect of those who are elevated to power for those who elevate them. And that means respecting differing opinions. Secularism is not about eliminating religion, but respecting different points of views. In the long run the Muslims must fashion their own secular Federation. They can't impose Shiah or Sunnah, but they can create a government that respects consensus by building it through republican forms.

Practical Recommendations

Defeating ISIL is actually conceptually Easy

Meantime the easiest way to defeat ISIL is to help the folks who find ISIL obnoxious: Sunnah tribesmen, Kurds, local folks, Shiah and just about everyone except their fellow fanatics. It also means shaming the Saudis into admitting that their Salafist Caliphate dreams are not likely to involve the Royal Saud line becoming Caliph if they keep funding terrorists. That would require admitting who funds, supports, trains and creates groups like ISIL in the first place. Sure now their most respected Preacher is criticizing ISIL (the Russians are right on this one):

http://en.ria.ru/analysis/20140821/192225993/While-Riyadh-Denounces-ISIS-as-Evil-the-Saudi-Elite-Sponsor.html

If we want to stop ISIL we have to cut off the money coming to them from our Saudi Frenemies:

"The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) now threatening Baghdad was funded for years by wealthy donors in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, three US allies that have dual agendas in the war on terror… Sometimes the support came with the tacit nod of approval from those regimes," emphasized Josh Rogin, a foreign policy correspondent for The Daily Beast, in his article "America's Allies Are Funding ISIS" published in June, 2014.

The Russians further report:

"ISIS is part of the Sunni forces that are fighting Shia forces in this regional sectarian conflict. They are in an existential battle with both the (Iranian aligned) Maliki government and the Assad regime," said Andrew Tabler, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, as cited by Josh Rogin."

They actually go so far as to suggest that the Saudis were bribing McCain and his buddies:

"However, it looks like the US leadership has no influence on the Gulf elites: Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the head of Saudi Intelligence, openly criticized US President Obama for his "inability" to invade Syria after chemical attacks had been conducted against its civilians. Experts claim that the notorious Saudi prince was behind the sarin gas attacks in East Ghouta and Aleppo, which were aimed to provoke the US to strike Syria. Moreover, according to Wayne Madsen, an American investigative journalist, Prince Bandar had allegedly bribed key US Senators to approve a "shock and awe" military attack on Damascus."

Bandar has recently been removed from office and the Saudis now say:

"The ideas of extremism, radicalism and terrorism ... have nothing to do with Islam and (their proponents) are the enemy number one of Islam," claimed Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh on Tuesday, August, 19, as cited by Al Arabiya.

So to defeat ISIL we have to recognize that we can't protect our oil supply by supporting tyrannical regimes whether secular or religious, but by promoting secular government, republican forms, and freedom of religion. That includes existing institutions such as tribal leaders, mosques, and fostering local leaders. It doesn't mean letting others bribe our officials or run false flag operations using religious fanatics as useful idiots in their efforts to make money by keeping things churning.

And that means recognizing the double dealing of our "frenemies" and stopping our own crooked politicians from receiving their bribes.

Read Wayne Madsen's shocking allegations here:

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/09/12/323583/bandar-bought-support-for-syria-strike/

"“Wayne Madsen, moreover, has learned from multiple intelligence sources in Washington, London, Beirut, and Paris, that Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan has paid off key members of the US Senate and House leadership, as well as key ministers of the French government, with ‘incentive cash’ to support an American and French ‘shock and awe’ military strike on not only Syria but (also) Hezbollah positions in Lebanon,” Fetzer wrote."

Fortunately the man who they wanted to bribe the most didn't take the money. Thank God our President is honest. Something I'm not so sure about with regard to certain Senators.