Terrorism expert Dr. Walid Phares says the terrorism that unfolded in an Australian cafe is indicative of Islamic terrorist groups focusing on much smaller targets rather than massive events like 9/11 and he says politically correct commentary during and after the crisis only makes the threat worse.
Phares is a longtime professor of Middle East studies and is currently an adviser to the U.S. Congress on the Middle East and terrorism. His latest book is entitled, “The Lost Spring.”
Over 17 hours, a terrorist eventually identified as Mon Haron Monis held numerous people hostage at a Sydney, Australia, cafe and chocolate shop. After 17 hours, police stormed the cafe. Monis was killed but is believed to have killed two hostages before police stopped him. Phares says terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are encouraging followers to carry out simple plots like this as opposed to grand schemes to kill hundreds of people.
“What we see now is the infamous doctrine, which has been pushed by Al Qaeda and applied by ISIS, is death by a million cuts,” sais Phares. “You don’t have to have large operations involving large cells or multiple individuals. What you have to have is one jihadist. That person doesn’t need to be connected to the organization. All that is needed is to inspire that person, to have indoctrinated that person or self-indoctrinated.”
According to Phares, both Al Qaeda and ISIS have issued statements in the past several months encouraging so-called lone wolf attacks against the United States and our western allies in an effort to end all western military action in Iraq and Syria. He says both groups have standing orders to carry out terrorism like the hostage crisis in Sydney.
The standoff took on a new dimension when Monis covered much of the front window with a black flag with Arabic writing. Media in Australia, the U.S. and beyond immediately urged viewers not to jump to conclusions about the motivation behind the attack. Phares says the mystery over motive was erased as soon as the flag went up.
“Where’s the message? The flag is the message. Only the jihadists will use the flag in a violent action, not the Boy Scouts,” said Phares.
“They panicked when they saw the flag and said this was ISIS. In fact, this is a jihadi flag. It would apply to Al Qaeda. It would apply to Ansar al-Sharia. It would apply to ISIS. In this case, as I have studied well, it would even apply to the other side of the Sunni jihadists to the Shia jihadists, such as Hezbollah,” said Phares.
The flag’s universal symbol of jihad is especially significant, given that Monis has dabbled on both sides of Islam’s most contentious divide.
“Yes he was born and raised as a Shia Iranian. He came to Australia and then he shifted. He became a Salafist according to his own website. So he’s a very strange bird, who has mutated from one side to the other side of jihadism. The result is the same. He believes in the general action against the West, against Australia and against, of course, what he considers the enemy of the caliphate or the enemies of the jihadists,” said Phares.
Just as infuriating to Phares as the media’s head-scratching over the motive behind the attacks is the instant hyperbole over the need to stop any anti-Muslim backlash.
“The problem with uninformed, naive or misled reactions is that they create the backlash before it’s created. They start to talk about Islamophobia and backlash against communities before this even happens,” said Phares, who says the strongest backlash against radical Muslims is often from their own neighbors in Middle Eastern countries.
In the hours since the hostage crisis began, activists on all sides have discussed their ideas for preventing future events like this. On the topic of guns, gun rights groups say more individual rights would put people in a better position to stop a lone gunman before they can do any serious damage. Gun control groups assert that more restrictions would stop people like Monis, who had a lengthy criminal record, from obtaining a weapon. Still others fear thick security could become commonplace at public gathering places if these sorts of attacks increase in frequency.
Phares says none of those are the first line of defense.
“Education, education, education. Before looking at guns, before looking at law enforcement, before looking at anything else, we need to educate our public. We need the President of the United States to deliver a speech on what this ideology is. We need Congress to legislate,” said Phares.
“Once that is done, then each has homework to do. Law enforcement are focusing on one issue. Civil society is part of it, and of course we’re going to have NGOs of moderate Muslims who will go against the jihadists. It’s a whole construct. Unfortunately, the leadership, the president and the executive branch, are not on the same page of this strategy as of now,” he said.
