No compassion for IS fighters
THE collapse of Islamic State’s caliphate has forced thousands of the terror group’s fighters back to their home countries.
More than 5500 jihadis from 33 countries have already returned and more will join them, according to a report, Beyond the Caliphate: Foreign Fighters and the Threat of Returnees, by Soufan Group and the Global Strategy Network.
These battle-hardened terrorists pose a significant risk to the West, including Australia, where about 40 returned IS “soldiers” are currently living in the community.
What to do with these returned jihadis is a question that will trouble counter-terrorism authorities for years to come.
The approaches vary dramatically from imprisonment to compassion.
Some countries provide citizens who chose to travel to a war zone to join a terror group with taxpayerfunded housing and counselling to help them reintegrate into society.
But to treat these terrorists as marginalised or naive is an insult to every victim killed, tortured, sexually enslaved and oppressed by IS.
Every returning IS jihadi should be jailed for a lengthy stretch.
Those who travelled to the caliph-strategy. ate from the West knew what IS stood for and instead of being repulsed by the savagery that the group proudly advertised, they chose to join its ranks.
Yet, some countries treat these monsters like victims.
Authorities in the Swedish city of Lund are among those who favour the soft approach in the hope that kindness will reform the radicalised.
Sweden, which has one of the highest number of IS fighters per capita in Europe, plans to rehabilitate extremists who may be guilty of horrendous acts with government housing, financial support, education and assistance to find employment.
The UK – home to the largest number of returning European IS fighters – may emulate the Swedish Under a Home Office plan, codenamed Operation Constrain, British jihadis would bypass long public-housing waiting lists and receive other welfare benefits.
Predictably, the plan has caused uproar among sane members of the community but received praise from rent-seekers in the “deradicalisation” industry, who are already the beneficiaries of tens of millions in taxpayer funds with little to nothing to show in return.
Professor Anthony Glees, a terrorism expert from the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, has dismissed the plan.
“You can’t bribe people not to be terrorists,” he said.
The truth is many Islamist terrorists in the West come from privileged backgrounds while others have been the beneficiary of generous welfare programs and still opted to turn on the country that gave them financial support, and, in many cases, gave them or their family political asylum.
On the other end of the spectrum is the tactic favoured by American diplomat Brett McGurk, who was appointed by Barack Obama as the president’s envoy to the anti-IS coalition.
“Our mission is to make sure that any foreign fighter who is here, who joined ISIS from a foreign country and came into Syria, they will die here in Syria,” he said.
Sadly, we’ve already seen thousands of foreign fighters return home, and with IS losing the bulk of its territory, that number will only increase.
Former director of global counterterrorism at MI6, Richard Barrett, authored the Beyond the Caliphate report and believes IS will live on.
“As the territorial caliphate shrinks and is increasingly denied an overt presence, its leadership will look to supporters overseas, including returnees, to keep the brand alive,” he said. “All returnees, whatever their reason for going home, will continue to pose some degree of risk.”
The threat is not just from returning fighters but also those inspired by IS. Australia has been fortunate.
More than a dozen terror plots have been foiled in the past three years.
But we cannot afford to be complacent, particularly when it comes to returning jihadis.
Only the most extreme bigotry of low expectations would seek to treat these traitorous criminals as victims deserving of sympathy.
BUT TO TREAT THESE TERRORISTS AS MARGINALISED OR NAIVE IS AN INSULT TO EVERY VICTIM KILLED, TORTURED, SEXUALLY ENSLAVED AND OPPRESSED BY ISLAMIC STATE