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Unlike al-Qaeda that has a hierarchical structure and organization, ISIS is just an idea and doesn’t have an entity representing it, Patrick Henningsen of 21st Century Wire told RT’s In the Now show. You can’t go to a war against an idea, he added.
RT:Patrick,
were there no signs that Libya would be in disaster?
Patrick Henningsen: There are plenty of signs
and we predicted this in our 21 Century Wire’s predictions for
2015 that Libya would be the next major theatre of war with the
Western intervention. So this seems to be what has happened.
There have been reports of destabilization in the country of
Libya now for a couple of years ever since the fall of [Muammar]
Gaddafi.
The vacuum that is taking place, the power vacuum has been filled
by unfortunately bands of paramilitary Islamist fighters; many of
them were working hand in hand with NATO to basically overthrow
the Gaddafi government back in October 2011. So it shouldn’t come
as any surprise to anybody who has been following this, but
unfortunately the public and the US political apparatus
especially has a very short-term memory when it comes to
geopolitics these days.
RT: If the US really wanted to take out ISIS
what would be their position?
PH: US officials and many intelligence analysts
in Washington DC are already admitting that unlike al-Qaeda –
which has a sort of hierarchical structure and organization –
ISIS is just an idea. You can’t go to a war against the idea or a
brand… [ISIS] is a brand that anybody can go and take and fly the
flag… It’s not an entity essentially.
This is usually problematic especially in the US. If you look at
the timing of this event, as if by magic this is the week when
Washington and President Obama are mulling over further loosening
of the 1973 War Powers Act. So asking for another type of
redefinition of what is a declaration of war with regards to the
President, executive branch, and Congress. I find the timing of
it uncanny if not dubious to say the least. This is what we’re
facing right now. We’re looking at it from the Western point of
view, specifically in American point of view which is
spearheading all this intervention. We’re looking at a
redefinition of the concept of military engagement. So it can be
really military engagement against anything at any time. And
again the regulations just keep loosening, and loosening and
loosening the 1973 War Powers Act.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.