Tuesday, February 3, 2015

ISIS burns the captured Jordanian pilot alive. Yahoo/Reuters

A capture from the video reportedly showing Lt. Mouath al-Kasaesbeh. Yahoo/AFP

ISIS released a video today showing the graphic death of a Jordanian pilot who had been captured after his plane had crashed. Yahoo/Reuters. The pilot, Lt. Mouath al-Kasaesbeh, was in a cage before he was set on fire by the militants. To say that Jordan is furious with the execution is an understatement. In response the country has vowed to execute several Islamic militants they have captured, including Sajida al-Rishawi. Rishawi, a female militant involved in a suicide bombing. ISIS had claimed that they were willing to trade Kasaesbeh and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto for Rishawi, but nothing came of the offer and Goto was murdered as well. Jordan did not believe that Kasaesbeh was even alive when negotiations were taking place. Jordan will increase the rate of airstrikes against ISIS and may even send commando raids against ISIS leadership. The people of Jordan and the family of Kasaesbeh have called for revenge. 

My Comment:
 Yet another brutal execution by ISIS. Lt. Kasaesbeh did not deserve to die this way. Nobody does. To murder a prisoner is of course a war crime but ISIS has demonstrated time and time again that they don't care about the rules of war. They have killed thousands of innocent civilians and soldiers that have surrendered. And they are killing people now, on video, for propaganda purposes. In short, ISIS is pure evil with no redeeming features whatsoever. They need to be wiped out.

One wonders if this is an effective tactic for ISIS. These executions do spread terror and make them look completely insane with may help ISIS in combat. They are also a propaganda tool that helps with recruitment. I wonder though, if ISIS ever wonders what the quality of recruits they are going to get when they get people who want to join the organization so they can behead people or light them on fire while they are alive. Just like advertising the fact that ISIS members are allowed to rape Yazidi and other non-Muslim women is a bad thing in the long run. Won't this just attract the wrong type of people? Sure, having an army full of rapists and psychopaths might work in the short term when they have innocent people to take out their wrath on. But what happens when the war is over? Not that I think that ISIS will win, but if they do they will have a huge rape and murder problem.

Of course the rational of not committing war crimes is that you open yourself up to being a victim of one. This is already happening in Iraq.  It is very unlikely that ground forces involved in fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq are going to be willing to accept surrenders. These forces will of course be much less likely to want to surrender as well. After all, if your choices are to die fighting with honor, with a decent chance of surviving or die horribly after surrender with almost no chance of living, which one would you choose? Long term, this strategy will not pay off for ISIS. 

In the short term it may help ISIS a bit. After all, everything I said about people not wanting to surrender is true for ISIS fighters as well. And any atrocities committed by the enemies of ISIS will be used as a recruitment tool as well. The execution of Rishawi will be a recruitment tool as well. Though Rishawi probably does deserve the death penalty, her death will be used as a rallying cry for ISIS. 

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