The announcement of the death of the ISIS terrorist leader following a US Special Forces operation is of course a breath of fresh air to all those who have suffered the ills of terrorism. Those ills have primarily included the killing and injuring of countless innocent people by radical terrorists, and secondly the indiscriminate bombing and mass murder of innocent people by international coalitions fighting terrorism. Thirdly, the consequences of terrorism have also included radicalization of some sections of Western society who have engaged in wholesale accusations of murder against all the believers of a particular religion, and thus resulted in random acts of terror and vicious hate crimes against innocent worshippers like was the case in ChristChurch, New Zealand. There is therefore now a real chance that a dark chapter that is affecting many people differently, can turn with the winds of hope, and the world is now a safer place for all. The problem about the war on terror is that the end-game was never really clear. One would have expected that it was simply about re-establishing stable, international law-abiding governments for the troubled/rogue countries, and this would result in safety for people around the world as well. However there are other foreign geo-political interests that have come into play since 2001, and these have entangled themselves in local conflicts with no end in sight. Meanwhile these contradicting influences and interferences have proved to have a largely destabilizing effect on political, social and economic life for peoples in the countries from which terrorism is seen as originating from. Today more than any other time in the last decade, there is hope that socio-political and economic normalcy can be re-established in some Middle Eastern countries which have actually been the biggest victims of terrorism themselves, with deadly car bombs and endless other heinous attacks happening somewhere in the region almost on a daily basis. There is hope that this might create a new momentum towards peace in the remaining troubled countries. Clearly peace is what everyone wants to see in those countries. Some of them now have a better chance to focus on development, good governance, nation re-building and multi-lateral international economic ties. This they should do for their peoples rather than beating the tired, now empty-sounding, and almost non-existent war drums of the infamous war on terror which has taken millions of innocent lives, created excuses for state-orchestrated repression of minorities & political opponents, and has to-date cost tens of trillions of dollars of global resources squandered in this man-made political endeavour in the last 20 years, all-nations combined. I expect that a direct focus can be made on terrorist leaders in Africa, particularly in North Africa and the Sahel where they are similarly dealt with, or at least swiftly brought to justice in front of the world. I would like to conclude on the principle of international justice. Why isn't a leading global terrorist and mass murderer like Abubaker AlBaghdadi (or even Osama bin Laden previously) not wanted nor even indicted by the International Criminal Court just like Joseph Kony, yet a president like Uhuru Kenyatta and others have been dragged before The Hague? Or is it that international terrorists are only triable at Guantanamo Bay? The international community, especially the appropriate UN departments, must be relentless in advocating that international justice works as the appropriate platform even against global terrorism, and that the same international justice serves all victims of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity from anywhere and at all times. Failure to do so increases the likelihood of transgressions and abuse of international law by otherwise respectable governments as has been the case at the height of the war on terror. This is well documented by reputable journalists like John Pilger (and of course the leaked information on platforms like WikiLeaks). Promoting a broader international justice perspective that includes terrorism puts the matter squarely away from it's underground/covert aura, and brings countries even closer together on a transparent and respectable common pedestal where justice is served to the victims and their relatives who can also have their say in court in front of the world. This could help demystify terrorism, show to the world it's true despicable face, and how bankrupt it's ideology truly is. That has not really been the case so far on a global scale. For example, I would have really liked to see a prosecutor or the victims of 9/11 themselves face Osama bin Laden in court, and live on global television. Wouldn't that have helped tremendously in the battle for hearts and minds, or possibly even turned other active terrorists around? Where have the victims of terrorism ever met the perpetrators and what would they want to tell the terrorists regarding their lost innocent children, husband, wife and loved ones, or their own life shattering injuries? I am sure these terrorists have never been made to face, see and feel the real-life human consequences of their actions on the innocent. Not only the innocent from other far-off European countries, but also those from their own faith and their own countries whom they have killed or maimed purportedly in the name of their common religion. I am sure that many leading actors in the war against terrorism also understand better today how some of their own disproportionate military doctrines of deploying indiscriminate overwhelming force on entire cities and rural villages, directly leads to new floods of refugees and mass migration towards their own borders. That is most-likely a development that Mr. Al-Baghdadi would benefitted from for his criminal missions abroad.
By Hussein Lumumba Amin 28 Oct 2019. Kampala, Uganda
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