King calls on world to unite in face of terrorism

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah has urged world countries concerned with countering terrorism and extremism to leave their differences behind and move on to fight “a Third World War by other means”.

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, conducted in March, and the network published part of which on Sunday, His Majesty said: “We will only be victorious if all of us put our differences aside, move away from hate speech and move away from falling into the trap… of giving [extremists] more power than they deserve.”

The King said that regardless of conspiracy talk about how the Daesh, ISIL or ISIS, terror group rose to power, the fact remains that the terrorist organisation targets “young frustrated and deluded Muslims around the world”, many of whom are “from poverty backgrounds who believe in this false claim of this Islamic Caliphate that has no relationship in our Islamic history, and believe the mantra that these people have that come to Syria and to Iraq to fight the war”. 

“They’re basically the cannon fodder. And so what happens is that they are considered the light-shock troops and they are suicide bombers… and they’re the expendables.”

King Abdullah reiterated the need to support Iraqi and Syrian Sunni tribes to fight Daesh and ensure Iraqis a better future.

“How do we all reach out to the Sunnis to feel that there is a future for them and that they are not alone? And if we do not solve the puzzle of a future, political future for the Sunnis in Iraq, then they are sitting there, saying: Baghdad and ISIS, what is the difference? So, I think the key is that unless we can unravel the future of the Sunni part of the future of Iraq, then, the Iraqi puzzle will never be done. And I hope that our friends, especially in the United States, understand that crucial part.”

Doing that and reaching out to the Syrian tribes, “is the beginning of the end of ISIS in Syria and Iraq”, the King explained, adding that “it is not something that is going to happen overnight, but I think that their best days are behind them”.

The King said that as Daesh was “forming and being built and strengthened, they were not being hit. The regime, the Syrian regime was hitting everybody else, but not ISIS. And that raised a lot of eyebrows, you know, why were they allowed to build?

“… One argument was, obviously, because there was such international condemnation of the regime, let’s get somebody out there that’s worse from the regime’s point of view, so that you can swing public opinion back towards Bashar [Assad]. And they have been very successful in doing that.”

However, the danger of terrorism is not limited to Syria and Iraq, His Majesty said, urging a holistic approach to the issue.

“I mean look at Egypt, the support for Egypt is tremendously important because they have problems in the Sinai. The next elephant in the room, the big elephant in the room that nobody is really concentrating upon, is Libya, and that is where Egypt plays a very vital role. And Boko Haram and Shabab, holistically we have to figure out how to tactically and strategically, as part of the international community, deal with these issues, as well as the groups out in Asia. If we don’t do it that way, we cannot just say ISIS in Syria and Iraq, then 2016 look at Sinai and Libya, and in 2017 start thinking about Africa. It has to have a holistic strategy in 2015.”