What about Isis?

                      

                         What about ISIS?     

                          by Kenneth Bagnell

(Supplemented by the text of a sermon by the Rev. Craig Donnelly)

        It’s ironic that on the eve of Remembrance Day, with so many us holding memories of fallen family members, a new book has emerged on a subject of yet another rising world-wide fear: a new terrorist group called ISIS is taking over parts of Iraq and Syria, beheading those it deems questionable and striking fear in the hearts of countless people.

      For those who hope it’s overcome before our family members have to confront it, this new book written by an American law academic (its foreword by an Oxford scholar) is thereby relevant both to you and our collective future. The book’s title will be sufficient to validate that: “Rise of ISIS.  A Threat We Can’t Ignore.” Its writer, Jay Alan Sekulow, is chief counsel to the American Centre for Justice, and is selected by the National Law Center as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the US.

    The book’s opening describes one incident, but it’s telling and sufficient to reveal the serious nature of the issue: a small crowd near an abandoned Iraq village encircles a woman as its members chant ancient and revered words: “God is great, God is great.” The surrounded woman, about age 40, seems perplexed.  Then as the chanting intensifies, a horrifying moment arrives: a man steps into the circle and beheads her. I won’t describe the process, but will only add that once she died, about 30 of her fellow Iraqi men, women and children were similarly dealt with by armed men, known as jihadists, the meaning of which, theoretically, is to “oppose,” or conduct war, against unbelievers.   (Obviously, if you were an agnostic, you mightn’t want them as neighbors.) Their methods – carried out by a group called al-Qaeda (once led by Osama bin Laden) soon became so brutal even bin Laden is said to have rejected them. It then evolved to be The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. As Sekulow puts it succinctly: “It became ISIS.” 

     One strength of “Rise of Isis” is, that though written by a scholar, it’s for readers who aren’t necessarily scholars. It’s not a tome. The issues, given their complexity and intricacy, have to be handled with care, but Sekulow and his editorial assistants have given us a very helpful, if very provocative, book in that it is readily readable, its prose as clear as its conviction. Early in its pages for example he says: “The goal of this book is simple: to understand the horrific jihadist threat to Christians and Jews in the Middle East, a threat that will undoubtedly come to the United States if it is left unchecked abroad.” (I think we can assume he’d include Canada.)

     He doesn’t believe in understatement; midway through the book, early in Chapter Three, he reveals that: “In short ISIS is composed of religiously motivated psychopaths.” That last word will be repugnant to readers who prefer moderate prose, even understatement, thereby free to draw their own inferences based on the book’s facts. Almost every day, enough is revealed to conclude ISIS has very grave and evil intention. But as for whether they are, to the last man, all psychopaths, (defined as entirely without any moral sensibility) I’d be interested in the opinion of the psychiatric experts. That said, I agree with the inference he draws: “They’re no longer a terrorist gang, but a terrorist army possessing greater striking power than any terrorist force in the Middle East, greater striking power than al-Qaeda ever possessed.”  That’s provable.    

   That said, he is correct, both factually and morally, to remind us of the truth that ISIS, and its jihadists, have never had any reservation about killing (either through carelessness or outright intention) fully innocent civilians, women and children, nurses and doctors. In fact, he records, they often surround their firing sites with civilians. The result is that those soldiers, mostly American, who respond to their gun spray, are — given democratic moral tradition in warfare — quite reluctant to machine-gun sites near innocent children and adults. As he puts it: “A terrible and hidden reality of both American and Israeli wars is that hundreds of soldiers have fallen, killed by terrorists, because they were being cautious with civilian lives.”

      It’s not clear why over 90 young men, living in Canada, are now supporters of ISIS, but in my view the reasons for their persuasion rests not in international politics but clinical psychiatry. The dreadful television images of the tall man in the black hood holding the knife, have been to them not sinister as they certainly should be, but highly seductive. The descriptive word for their conversion is, as you know, “radicalized”. Hence Canada’s policy that none be allowed out of the country to head for Syria and ISIS, is not just prudent but absolutely imperative. A few weeks ago, one of them, regarded by the RCMP, as near the top of “high-risk” list vanished for almost two weeks. A few weeks earlier he’d been arrested for passport fraud, then skipped his court appearance, so was well near the top of the list of those the RCMP calls, “extremist travellers.”  Somehow he managed to get to Turkey. Fortunately he was apprehended when he arrived back apparently by a flight from Turkey, the key transit point for those heading for Syria and ISIS.          

    In his book “ISIS, A Threat We Can’t Ignore,” Jay Sekulow, makes the point that the democratic countries of Europe and North America, must not settle for the security of being able, they believe, to control ISIS, to restrain its ruthless hatred and undermine its ugly extremism. To Sekulow the growing power and deadly ambition are beyond diminishing, or even controlling. His objective, if justified, is one that gives no comfort. Yes, I recognize he’s American, an influential evangelical, and has moderate conservative perspectives. So he issues the proverbial “call to arms.” “Wars,” he writes, “do not end when we grow tired of fighting them. They end when our enemies are defeated.” (In October, our federal government by slim margin, agreed to join the US in aerial combat lasting probably six months.) Much as most Canadians hate war we have to recognize a dark fact: day after day, ISIS and its murderous terrorism are advancing. I wish it were not so, but the near future awaits us with deepening concern.

                         ___________ 

         Rise of ISIS, (published by Simon &Shuster, Inc.) is now available at all major booksellers. Price $15.50.

 

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      Mr. Sekulow’s book is well worth reading for all the practical reasons mentioned but in particular its succinct clarity. Still, his book is but one reflection of the larger and more complex issue that surrounds us all: getting along together in a daily and deeply changing world.  On Sunday at an Armistice Day Service in one of Toronto’s large churches, Eglinton St. George’s United, Rev. Craig Donnelly delivered a sermon relating to that larger complex culture. It was an important, and helpful message for all present, well prepared and delivered. He gave permission for its appearance on today’s blog for which I am grateful. I commend it.                                

             

                               30

      Sermon:  Rev. Craig Donnelly, November 9, 2014

 

In the days leading up to this year’s Remembrance Day ceremonies,

there is an unmistakable air of importance in our country and around the world.

This year feels a little bit differently than recent years,

as if we are all collectively holding our breath, and our hearts in our hands,

waiting for the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month,

to somehow make sense of a world which finds itself in conflict and turmoil once again.

 

What comes to your mind when I say: Yesterday we went to war?

Perhaps you might remember from your history lessons the crises in Europe,

when on June 28th, 1914, just over 100 years ago, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie triggered the events of the First World War.

Or perhaps you might think back to September 1^st, 1939 when Germany

invaded Poland without warning, sparking the start of World War Two.

 

 

I’m going to guess that not many of you, when hearing the phrase,

“Yesterday we went to war” would immediately think of October 7, 2014.
On October 7, 2014 our government voted to launch an aerial combat

mission against ISIS, and on that day, we officially went to war.

 

Canadian military planes took up positions in Kuwait

as part of the U.S. led coalition’s offensive against ISIS.

The Canadian mission is only to last six months, but could be extended.

 

The House of Commons was divided, as it often is,

Conservatives on one side, NDP and Liberals on the other,

on whether to join the combat mission against ISIS,

but the motion passed 157-134,

and suddenly the Canadian military

found itself involved in war.

 

Three of our CF-18 fighter jets took off armed

with GBU12 500-lb laser-guided bombs, aka “smart bombs.”

An oxymoron?  We dropped those bombs on a strategic target

of construction equipment. We blew up dump trucks. 

 

But here’s part of the problem in that part of the world.

Yes, ISIS terrorists rightfully garnered the distain and disgust

of the international community by posting the public beheadings

of U.S. journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley.

 

These events eventually led to our government’s decision

to join the aerial attack against ISIS military locations and outposts.

But even so-called ‘smart bombs’do not always hit their intended targets.

A new study out of Brown University suggests that at least 132,000 civilians

have died in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 10 years of conflict,

during the war on terrorism, and that’s a conservative estimate.

 

Sometimes, those who are labeled ‘terrorists’ is simply a matter of perspective,

a matter of which side of the bullet or bomb you find yourself.

 

 

According to an article that appears on the website Costs of War

‘People have been killed in their homes at night and in markets

and on roadways during the day. They have been killed by bombs, bullets

and fire and by weapons whose acronyms have newly entered the lexicon,

IED’s or improvised explosive devices, and RPV’s or remotely piloted vehicles. 

Civilians die at checkpoints, as they are run off the road by military vehicles,

when they step on a mine or a cluster bomb, as they try to collect wood

or tend to their fields, and when they are kidnapped and executed

for purposes of revenge or intimidation.

 

They have been killed by the U.S. and they have been killed by its allies

and they have been killed by insurgents and sectarians in the civil wars.

Death even happen weeks or months after any given battle.

In March 2002, Human Rights Watch documented the results

when one U.S. cluster bomb that failed to explode on impact

was detonated by five boys on their way to a picnic in Afghanistan.

Ramin, 15, died immediately, Soraj, 12, lost both legs,

Ismaeel, 16, sustained a chest wound, Farhad, 18, injured his foot,

and Waheed, only 5 years old, received chest and head injuries.”

When I was a child growing up in Orangeville,

we did not go to school on Remembrance Day.

I recall walking with my Cub Troop in a Remembrance Day Parade down Main Street,

along with the veterans, to the cenotaph located in the park behind the Town Hall.

Wreathes would be laid, tears shed, songs sung, Flanders Fields read.

Veterans would be thanked for their service.

 

We would remember those who bravely fought for country,

who marched in the mud, who suffered through the trenches,

who missed their family member’s birthdays, hugs and goodnight kisses.

We thought of those who died cold and alone on battlefields.

We prayed for the ones who came home scarred and broken.

And we were very thankful for the freedoms they fought and died for.

It made me feel sad. It made me feel proud.

It was important and it seemed oh so real. 

 

 

 

So this leads me to a very important question,

that once again seems oh so real to oh so many people.

Where is God in all of this talk of war and terrorism?

Has God somehow gone ‘MIA’ Missing in Action?

Are there any signs of hope and healing for the nations,

in an often difficult and divided world?

 

Our scripture text for today, taken from Hebrews 10, frames the question this way,

“Remember those earlier days . . . when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution (war and terrorism);

at other times you stood side by side with those

who were so treated and suffered along with them.

So do not throw away your confidence (and your hope) . . .

for we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed,

but to those who have faith and are saved.”

 

I could never adequately answer the question,

“Where is God in all of this talk of war and terrorism?”

Instead, I only draw your attention to the recent events

that unfolded at the National War Memorial in Ottawa

and in the hallways of the House of Commons.

 

I do not have any easy answers,

just some important and necessary questions.

You can draw your own conclusions.

 

Canada was shocked by the recent deaths of warrant officer

Patrice Vincent, run down by a car in a parking lot in Montreal,

and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, shot at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

MPs stood and applauded Sergeant-at-Arms, Kevin Vickers,

the man credited with bringing down the gunman who killed Cirillo. Parliamentarians accustomed to nasty sparring in the House of Commons

were not divided on this day and broke from their partisan positions to embrace each other.

 

Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was unresponsive when Ottawa nurse Margaret Lerhe 

rushed to his aid moments after he was shot at his post at the National War Memorial.

Five people ran towards the danger that day, instead of away from it.

 

 

One was a government lawyer, en route to a meeting, (I’ll to come back to her in a moment) who flung her coffee and briefcase aside to begin chest compressions on the soldier.

 

Another was former nurse, Margaret Lerhe, whose medical instinct,

developed through years of experience with trauma, instantly kicked in,

telling her to put pressure on one of Cirillo’s wounds.

 

Yet another was a corporal, also patrolling the war memorial site, Cirillo’s best friend,

who rushed to his comrade’s side, putting pressure on the other gunshot wound.

There was a colonel there too, who had been walking by on the busy street

and he began giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

 

Completing the team was someone who kept the fallen soldier’s legs

elevated to help increase blood flow to his heart and head.

 

Each performed a role and together they tried to save the life of the 24-year-old. They had never met before and didn’t have a plan, but they all had the same goal.

“We were five complete strangers and nobody focused on anything

but that soldier and trying to save him,” said Barbara Winters,

the government lawyer who rushed to Cirillo’s side.

 

I kept telling him repeatedly that he was loved, that he was a brave man.

I said look at what you were doing, you were guarding the dead.

You were standing at the cenotaph. I said we’re all so proud of you,

your parents are so proud of you, I said your family loves you,

everybody here that’s working on you loves you.”

 

If I was to try to place God in this situation, God would look a lot like Barbara Winters.

I would point to the tender embrace and loving words of this passerby and say there’s God.

God is like this lawyer, this woman, a very present help in time of trouble.

 

And I don’t want to stop just there today.

I want to push the limits of our theological capacity and compassion this morning.

I want to draw our attention to another woman connected to this tragic event.

 

 

Do you know the name of the gunmen who shot Cpl. Cirillo?

His name was Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. Michael has a mother. Her name is Susan Bibeau.

The following is an excerpt from an open letter sent to Postmedia by Michael’s mother.

While the rest of Canada was painting him with the single brush stroke of terrorist,

his mother sought to bring a semblance of humanity to her deceased son.

 

“For me, mental illness is at the centre of this tragedy. 

At some point in his life, my son had a serious addiction to drugs,

I don’t know if he overcame it, but much of it would have left

permanent marks and led to his current mental state. 

His conversations were often very strange. Was he crazy?

I never could have imagined that he would do something like this,

but he was not well either. He refused any of my help, he preferred

staying in the homeless shelter rather than coming to my house. 

I will always be left with the question if I could have said something else,

insisted more to help. The emptiness and pain are overwhelming.”

 

Sometimes, those labeled as ‘terrorists’ is a matter of perspective,

a matter of which side of the bullet or bomb you find yourself.

No more than 5 minutes separated 2 men being gunned down that day.

One rightfully regarded as a fallen soldier, the other labeled as a terrorist.

 

Two woman were also caught up in this terrible tragedy.

One a passerby who stops to offer help in time of trouble,

speaking words of comfort and love to a dying stranger.

 

The other is a mother, who knew better than anyone else

the troubling demons of mental disorder that haunted her son,

and she loved him even so, loved him enough to speak up on his behalf.

 

Two very different men, yet both tenderly embraced in the arms of love,

by two strikingly similar women, doing what they could in a difficult and deadly world.

 

And right there, in that moment, at the National War Memorial,

Cpl. Cirillo is tenderly passed from the embrace of a woman

into the everlasting arms of a loving and benevolent God.

 

And less than five minutes later, another man loses

his life in the halls of the House of Commons.

So here is the question I must ask myself:

can I allow this man to also fall into the arms

of a benevolent and merciful God,

who loves each one of us,

as a mother loves her child?

 

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All my past blogs are archived on my website: your comments are welcome there: www.kennethbagnell.com.