‘Ireland and the War against ISIS’ By Donal Lavery

Pearse once wrote that violence can sometimes and when necessary be a sanctifying and glorious force in the world. Undoubtedly he was referring to the process of ‘creative destruction’, where chaos and revulsion are replaced by construction and overthrowing an old order to form a new. But let’s take a look at things in a far corner of the globe which impact the safety of every citizen on this island.

The Middle East is in flames, with the match having been lit by Bush and Blair’s mindless debacle into the affairs of the Arab world. But the seeds were sewn before that blunder. Thatcher and Reagan armed and financed to the hilt the Taliban regime in the 1980s, as a means of combating the Russians in Afghanistan. They may have been flawed, but neither leader was naive – Just like with the Ulster Loyalists, they knew the type of people they were resourcing. These bloodthirsty Jihadists were the same horrid form then as they are now, with the only difference being that their present sights are set firmly on the West – namely Europe and America.

But how does a small country like Ireland defend itself or prepare for a global conflict of this nature? Surely our status in the EU leaves us open to target by such dark forces, which we never helped create? That’s not a question I can fully answer. But as a student of military history, I view the world and life as a timely game of chess. And sometimes, a stale-mate is a noble existence to aim for.

Unlike the IRA or ANC who the media often wrongly compare them to, these Jihadists in ISIS don’t have a set of clear and deliverable demands or objectives which nation-states can provide, even if they wanted to. They are brutal in methods and rotten in purpose, with pragmatism off the table entirely. The means cannot actually bring about the ends, in their case, for the world will not accept Sharia Law/Jihad being imposed on it; just as many colonised people refused to accept the subjugation of Empires, old and new.

We cannot control how the world or others act in this regard but we can influence how we respond to it as a nation. Some people have asked me bluntly why we simply don’t join the fight and declare war on ISIS? To which I reply  – ISIS is not a thing upon which war can actually be declared; They are not a nation-state, with clearly visible targets and interests. And if you were to make them a “nation-state” and decide to recognise them as a nation, and treat them as a nation, then you would in fact have installed ISIS in the very position they wish to obtain by means of terror. Put simply, to declare war on a non-visible entity would mean waging carnage against a mass of people, most of whom would be innocent, and who would subsequently become enraged enough to retaliate by joining the people we set out to destroy. The methods of any group of people are, after all, decided by the very same approach taken by their opponents. The fairer and more humane we are in our stance towards fellow human beings, the greater depreciation we will have on the numbers euphoric at the thought of joining them.

But this primitive notion of shooting them on sight or occupying Arab states is a bygone fantasy. We are not a Super-Power; And nor should we be aligned with any. Whatever military hardware a sophisticated nation like Ireland may amass, we cannot ignore the fact that even the all-powerful United States could not impose its will on the poor impoverished peoples of South-East Asia.

Our response must be continued neutrality in the face of partisan pressures from both sides. This is not a mobilised army of Hitlers we are fighting, although they are certainly fascist. These people come out of the shadows and blow themselves up over the legacy created by Western Governments. But crucially, they wear no uniform.

Our approach to ISIS must be an Irish solution to a potential Irish problem – that is, we respond with the necessary amount of force only when they set foot on Irish soil. However, we must bear in mind that age old advice that those who would sacrifice Liberty for the sake of Security will in the end enjoy neither. And by that I mean denying anyone the right to due process and a fair trial because of any ethnic or religious characteristics. If we change our way of doing things, our system of laws and rights which have been hard fought for, then their efforts really will have destroyed our freedom and democratic methods. Emergency legislation remains the apparatus of oppression.

As someone who has had relatives serving in the Irish Defence Forces, I would find no empathy with any Minister or President unduly willing to send them into harm’s way, unless with due cause and with all diplomatic efforts exhausted beforehand. But that doesn’t mean we need to be soft either. As a nation, our message to Jihadists has to be firm but fair – ”We have no quarrel with the Arab world and we wish to see all oppression there ended. But as a people who have suffered endlessly at the hands of alien forces using the most brutal reign of murder, we know all too well what terror involves, including combatting it. And if you, or any of your surrogates for that matter, should do anything to harm the sons and daughters of this land, then if the mercy of God spares you in place of us, be it so.”