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US military plane at Shannon Airport. Edward Hogan/Shannonwatch

To reduce the threat of terrorism, stop bombing and close Shannon Airport to the US military

There are a number of steps that should be taken to address the threat posed by terrorists, writes Julien Mercille.

THERE HAS BEEN a lot of debate about the roots of the Paris terrorist attacks. But the immediate cause is plain to see: it is a response to western and Russian bombing of Syria and Iraq. Stopping military intervention and closing Shannon airport to the US military would thus be good steps to take to reduce the threats we face.

Although these solutions are sometimes dismissed as mistaken analysis by “the Left”, the fact is that one doesn’t need to be on the Left or Right to agree with them.

For example, one of the world’s foremost analyst of Islamic violence, Ahmed Rashid—who is certainly not a leftist — states clearly in the wake of the Paris attacks that ISIS “is waging an all-out deliberate war against all those countries that are lining up to fight it”.

This is not “an attempt to take down the western order”, nor is it “a reaction to the evils of western heathens”.

Actions of coalition forces 

Plainly, it is “a direct reaction to what is being done to ISIS by coalition forces”. ISIS is trying to force those western countries to pull out of the coalition, but those that will stay “will continue to be targeted by ISIS”.

This explains the recent string of attacks presumably carried out by ISIS, including on a Russian plane, killing 224, two suicide bombings that killed 42 people in a Hezbollah area in Lebanon, and then Paris.

It is easy to connect the dots. Russia is now bombing ISIS and other militant groups; Hezbollah is siding with Assad’s fight against ISIS; and France is a key partner in the US-led coalition against ISIS, which has unleashed no fewer than 8,125 air strikes in Iraq and Syria since the campaign began.

Mideast Syria Inside Kobani Homes destroyed by airstrikes in Kobani, Syria. AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

ISIS itself released a statement in the wake of the Paris attacks which stated exactly the same: “France and those who follow it must know that they remain ISIS’s principal targets” because they have decided to “lead a crusade” against ISIS and “hit Muslims in the Caliphate with their planes”, referring to bombing Syria and Iraq.

Interviews with captured ISIS fighters reveal the same thing. A retired American military general who spent two years in Iraq during the US occupation and interviewed prisoners daily recently talked to a captured ISIS fighter who told him “what really motivated him” to join ISIS: “The Americans came”, he said. “They took away Saddam, but they also took away our security… When you came here, the civil war started”.

Typical profile of fighters

The US General said that the fighter “fits the absolutely typical profile… his number-one complaint about the security and against all American forces was the exact same complaint from every single detainee”.

The efforts by commentators to deny the above statements are mind-boggling.

Some simply refuse to admit that there is any connection between western military campaigns in Iraq and Syria and terrorist responses.

Others believe that we are witnessing an attack on western values (Bono said it was an attack on music). But one has to wonder why music in France rather than in countries that don’t attack ISIS?

Still others argue that a lack of education and poverty lead to terrorism. But research has long found that terrorists are “as educated and economically well- off as surrounding populations”. In fact, they are often well educated and from middle class backgrounds.

According to the available information, the ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdel-Hamid Abu Oud, grew up in a middle class family in Belgium.

Finally, many believe that the cause of the attacks is religion or Islam. Of course, the terrorists are fervently religious, through which they rationalise some of their actions. But it still begs the question of why were the attacks directed at France, Hezbollah and Russia?

Is Ireland a target?

Some radical Muslims have stated that Ireland is a legitimate terrorist target because we allow the US military through Shannon airport. Anjem Choudary, a Muslim preacher based in the UK, recently declared: “You allow the Americans, who are the biggest butchers in the world, to stop at Shannon Airport to refuel and go on kill people in Muslim countries… the Irish government is colluding with them”.

Therefore, in his view, Ireland is a “legitimate target for attack”. Some will beat the war drums and call for bombing ISIS, declaring that we will not be intimidated by terrorists.

11/10/2012 US army out of Shannon Irish Anti War Movement (IAWM in 2012. Pictured (LtoR) John Lannon, Roger Cole of Peace And Neutrality Alliance and People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett. Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

Well, that won’t work, and there’s very good research to prove it.

First, invading and bombing countries creates terrorists. ISIS came out of the destruction caused by the Iraq War. Some Iraqi insurgents who later became ISIS leaders were incarcerated in an American prison in Iraq called Camp Bucca for a few years during the occupation, as the Washington Post reported.

Second, the invasion of Iraq increased terrorism worldwide sevenfold, as a New York University study found. Bombing other countries fosters a terrorist response. Even if terrorists are killed, their ideology can’t be killed.

There are a number of steps that should be taken to address the threat posed by terrorists, such as cutting off their funding, much of which comes from western allies in the Gulf like Saudi Arabia. Police actions to find individuals before they act are also useful.

But there are other solutions that must be part of the mix: stop bombing, and close Shannon airport to the US military. To continue with those policies will increase the risks we face.

Julien Mercille is a lecturer at University College Dublin whose research focuses on US foreign policy. You can follow him on Twitter @JulienMercille

Read: ‘Yes, I mourn for Paris. But, I do so while weeping for the invisible victims in our global world’>

Read: ‘To kill so many people, so deliberately, in such a short time shows determination and training’>

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284 Comments
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    Mute Stephen Devlin
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    May 13th 2016, 10:47 PM

    Probably has 6000 previous convictions .. QUICK .. Someone hand him a 2 year suspended sentence

    221
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    Mute Assel Dannourah
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    May 14th 2016, 7:33 AM

    manslaughter conviction looming

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    Mute screanire
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    May 13th 2016, 11:56 PM

    It’s got to such a ridiculous situation at this stage that I’m actually (in a weird way), rooting for the Hutch faction. I’d prefer if the Gardai started with the vile Kinahan ‘gang’ first. Once they are locked up, lock up the Hutch associates then.

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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    May 14th 2016, 12:45 AM

    Yea and Gerry the formal criminal Hutch too.

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    Mute Seamus McSpud
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    May 14th 2016, 7:19 AM

    I say a mass celebrity death match out of the way in some warehouse in Dublin.

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    Mute Seamus McSpud
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    May 14th 2016, 7:24 AM

    These 2 gangsters were on the front page of every newspaper a few weeks back and only now are arrested … I can only assume they have been in a rat hole somewhere because they haven’t been shot already.
    As I write I’m concluding he probably handed himself in as it’s hard to imagine the guards find him before the hutches

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    Mute Cal McLaughlin
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    May 13th 2016, 10:36 PM

    Great news.
    Important news.
    Hopefully this breakthrough will crack the case open and the people who organised the shootings will be brought to justice.

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    Mute Neil79
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    May 14th 2016, 12:10 AM

    Well done to the boys in blue

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    Mute Ian Phillip Creaner
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    May 13th 2016, 10:45 PM

    Da fugh was dat?

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    Mute Jamie McCormack
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    May 14th 2016, 12:39 AM

    Alan Kelly is the reason we should abandon politics.

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    Mute Jamie McCormack
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    May 14th 2016, 12:44 AM

    Ah I’m only joking, but how do you stop megalomaniacs from coming to power, or are you supposed to just roll with it.

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    Mute paddy
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    May 13th 2016, 10:40 PM

    Wombs of the world untie!

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    Mute Dj
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    May 13th 2016, 10:37 PM

    Two of them might as well been doing a wedding shoot.

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    Mute Wesley Preston
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    May 14th 2016, 12:45 AM

    Loads of commotion on the N32 this evening. Thought it was another shooting

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    Mute Robbie Holland
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    May 14th 2016, 1:48 PM

    Seen that myself loads of Garda surrounded at the side of the road, looked very dodgy.

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    Mute David Conroy
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    May 14th 2016, 3:19 PM

    There were about 14 armed Gardai and they carried out the arrest with precision timing. If the bad guys had have produced a bicycle pump it would have saved the State a fortune ! Job well done !

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    Mute Meehawwl O'Buachailla
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    May 14th 2016, 12:16 AM

    I wonder was it the cross-dresser?

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    Mute Dave
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    May 14th 2016, 12:21 AM

    Yes. It’s the guy who started all this.

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    Mute paddy
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    May 13th 2016, 10:37 PM

    Yeah right

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    Mute Dubabroad
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    May 13th 2016, 10:51 PM

    +234 area code.. Not dodgy at all, must be legit

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    Mute meerkat
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    May 13th 2016, 11:25 PM

    Probably got a shot on winning streak

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    Mute Dave
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    May 13th 2016, 11:45 PM

    Tough luck Patrick.

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    Mute Bill Board
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    May 14th 2016, 9:08 PM

    Young Patrick hutch arrested his brother is the deceased brother Gary “2 KNOWN POLICE INFORMERS” + there father so 3!!! The other arrested was aka MAGO gatley a man who could not leave the hutch faction because they knew he had police informed for previous years and they were going to expose them as a known police informer!!!! Time for the old hutch to get onto there HANDLERS to get the lads out of this

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    Mute james mc donagh
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    May 14th 2016, 11:32 AM

    Great news. Take everyone of those rats off the street,, either in cuffs or a bag…

    5
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