[August 31, 2016] New evidence has recently surfaced that 72 mass graves were discovered and contain Islamic State victims of industrial-scale murder.1 There are indicators of many more sites but due to ISIS presence, those locations are too dangerous to visit. What students of leadership should review, however, is how world leaders have failed to agree on a way forward to stop this systematic murder.
Thousands of bodies have been recovered of Iraqi Army soldiers who were prisoners, Shia and Kurd tribes people, and women and children. While estimates vary, known victims are believed to total more than 15,000. It appears that most of the victims were executed by being shot in the back.
While certainly not on the massive scale of Nazi and Communist Soviet murder during World War II, it still shocks our senses today that given the strength of many nations like the United States, China, and India, little is being done to blunt the brutality of this terrorist organization. The U.S., Russia, and recently Turkey have entered the fight but with vastly differing goals and alliances.
No world leader has stepped forward in an attempt to bring the majority of civilized nations together to stomp out rogue ISIS terror. Gains are being made on the ground against ISIS but often at the expense of local allies like the Kurds. The United Nations and its members have done nothing other than make condemning statements full of excuses and wobble about making great speeches; all the while murder is taking place on a large scale.
There is simply no good excuse for the world not to come together on this threat to civil society. World War II is not a distant memory. The horrors of that war and the great loss of life and suffering can be studied forever. While ISIS operates on a smaller scale, the evil is nevertheless plain for everyone to see.
Citizens of the United States have begun to ask the president why we haven’t led other nations. Why, we ask, is there no plan for and coordinated effort to attack ISIS? It is within the powers of U.S. President Obama to ramp up our military to make faster gains by placing troops on the ground to destroy (not “contain” as Obama says) the terrorist organization.
In the not too distant future, our children and grandchildren will read about how a small and under-strength terror organization made large gains in the Middle East and created havoc across the world. They will know that the great and strong nations of the day failed to come together to fight and destroy (relatively easily) a vicious, evil terror organization.
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