A Military Campaign Is Not the Way of Fighting ISIL By Harun Yahya The coalition forces are stepping up the intensity of the operations recently set in motion against ISIL. Yet information in the press suggests that the desired results from these operations are not being obtained. The proposed solution to this is a land operation against ISIL. That intervention is currently being carried out by Peshmerga forces, partly at least supported by coalition forces. Yet this initiative on the part of the Peshmerga is not enough to stop ISIL. All these developments seem likely to make the military operations against ISIL more controversial by the day. In fact, military operations harbor a number of inconsistencies. The main aim of the initiative is to stop an organization that employs violence against people and to protect the rights of the civilian populace, especially the right to life. Yet while the operation hopes to do this, the resulting picture is in fact completely different. First and foremost, ISIL is not a regular army. It lives side by side with civilians in rural areas or towns. Bombings will therefore obviously result in large numbers of civilian deaths. Events in the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq are evidence of this. A method therefore needs to be found of stopping ISIL while preventing loss of life. One important factor is that ISIL does not consist of armed militants alone. It finds wide support in Syria and Iraq. These people all live as civilians, but they share the same perspective and life style as the armed ISIL militants. This means that ISIL enjoys extensive human resources. Ten militants may be killed in a bombing run, but many more will replace them. In addition, ISIL supporters do not only live in Syria or Iraq. There are people who approve ISIL’s philosophy, and even join its ranks, across the world, from the Philippines to England and from France to Pakistan and the USA. Military operations can obviously not stop these people participating, and may even increase recruitment because of resulting hatred. Past experience shows that order cannot be imposed through force of arms. The military option leads to vast losses of life and property, and can only be employed at enormous financial cost. In addition, it has proved impossible to achieve stability through military means in such areas of conflict as Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. The inhuman barbarity of terror organizations in the Middle East, and even the entire Islamic world, can be defeated through education. Although some people seek to give the impression that Islam is the source, the main cause of the problems in the Middle East is ignorance and fanaticism. The way to defeat ignorance and fanaticism is through education and enlightenment, not by dropping bombs on them. In that education, people must first be told that violence is not a valid way of seeking one’s rights in Islam. Second, Muslims must be taught that the use of force and compulsion is incompatible with the Qur’an, and that people need to be won over with scientific evidence and gentle language instead. Something else that needs to be explained is that freedom of belief is part of Islamic moral values. By virtue of a program of education based on such essentials, much loss of life can be prevented, billions of dollars need not be spent, terror will not spread and people will be able to live in greater liberty and security. Struggle against the proliferation of
terror should be through education and must definitely be tried, only that will lead to a more humane and permanent solution. The writer has authored more than 300 books translated in 73 languages on politics, religion and science. He may be followed at @Harun_Yahya and www.harunyahya.com.