Manns Medium

Maybe it’s just me but to hear people talk about ISIS or ISIL makes me wish to ask why they invest so much into a group of cowardly people who hide in the shadows and pick on people who they have a pretty good idea won’t fight back. I mean, the media makes ISIS or ISIL seem like an army of real soldiers and highly intelligent generals who can give any minimal trained army a real run for it’s money, while I personally see them simple as nothing more than cowards and bullies. I say this not to disrespect anyone but to make a few points very clear to those seeking to categorizes ISIS or ISIL as a force to be feared.  “ Surveillance footage, cab driver offer clues in investigation in Brussels attack ” for CNN News by Catherine E. Shoichet, Frederik Pleitgen and Greg Botelho.  The article reports “ a break in the investigation may have come from a taxi driver who took the suspects to the airport.  The driver contacted authorities after seeing surveillance footage and gave...

The Islamic State rose into power not because of what they did but because of the sudden and great interest shown by the public about them and what they were all about.  It’s troop levels grew because of the lack of richness in the country, the lack of advancement of its society, the lack of leadership within its ranks and most importantly because of a few who saw an opportunity to get rich quick by jumping on the “infidels bandwagon”.  They used the fear of the people to accept them and grant them overlords to the sparse freedoms that they had.  We made them larger than life by all the reporting and the touting of their power.  Countries trembled at the very mention of their name and citizens turned on one another to avoid their deadly rampage but what many forgot and only a few knew, the Islamic State is just like any other organization in the world.  You hit them hard and heavy with a consistency that only a country like the United States can.  You hit ...

So many are frustrated and confused as to what we have to do to defeat ISIL and many are considering that all that is necessary is to cut off the head of the snake but today, it has occurred to me that this is and never will be the way ISIL will ever get defeated.  Some are correct that military force is necessary but it will never end them.  Some are correct that it will take a diplomatic answer to solve this issue but that alone is also not the case.  So with that, quite a few are confused and frustrated so they lash out at anyone or anything else that is marginally offensive to them in order to find a place for their frustrated-laced anger.  So what do we do?  First we need to understand the problem before we can find the solution. The first thing, I think we need to teach ourselves is ISIL is not one main operating group but a series of self-lead branches which follow their own brand of justice.  The overall message may be the same but the actions ...