US Miscalculations About ISIL

Tehran, Sept 6, IRNA - If US thinks that ISIL is posing a grave danger and is acting against its strategic interests, it should take more serious measures to control the terrorist group, said an Iranian political analyst. Seyyed Amir Mousavi made the comment in an exclusive interview with the Persian newspaper ˈIranˈ, published Saturday, adding that Washington and its allies, unfortunately, do not sense such a great danger from ISIL. This is despite the fact that over the past few weeks the terrorists have beheaded two US journalists in retaliation for America’s airstrikes against ISIL positions in northern Iraq, creating a new challenge for Washington in the Middle East. Responding to a question as to why the ISIL, which used to have Westˈs support is now acting against US interests, Mousavi stressed that this is not the first time that the US-created terrorist group is acting against it. In the past, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda were supported by Washington for specific reasons but later turned their guns against it. And now ISIL has taken the same course. The US has proved its inability to manage terrorist groups and showed that it cannot channel these groups after creating and supporting them. The US made the same mistake regarding rulers like Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein and his Baath party who was supported by the West but later spiraled out of control. In fact the Americans pursue certain goals by backing such groups and once they attain their objectives, they stop supporting them. On ISIL’s motive for beheading American photojournalists, Mousavi said that common objectives brought the US and ISIL together and now that those joint goals and interests have ended or are at odds with each other, ISIL has turned away from the US and is killing its citizens in revenge. I think ISIL is settling its score with the US over a dispute like failing to provide the terrorist group with certain intelligence or military equipment. Regarding whether US airstrikes will bring ISIL under control, the political analyst said that Western countries have double standards in the fight against terrorist groups. If the US were serious in confronting ISIL, it would freeze the group’s assets in foreign countries, which are mostly its allies, and would stop training ISIL forces in countries like Turkey and Jordan, or would block routes through which logistic supports are provided to ISIL, he pointed out. There are currently three routes leading to Turkey, Jordan, and Syria, through which reinforcements, ammunitions, and military equipment are supplied to ISIL. If the US is honest to counter terrorism, there’s no need for airstrikes against ISIL. It can simply weaken and eventually contain the group by taking the three above-mentioned measures, he suggested. The ISIL is committing atrocities like decapitating US journalists in the name of Islam. The US believes that these crimes serve its interests at the end of the day because they are portraying a cruel and barbaric image of Islam to the world through these actions and in the long run this will help the West implement in the best possible way its Islamophobia campaign which it has sought for decades, Mousavi said in reply to a question that the US still seems to have some common interests with ISIL and is battling the group for some temporary reasons. Western countries do not explain the difference between Takfiris and Muslims to their people and what their people see is a hateful picture of Islam and consequently think that all Muslims are like the Takfiris.