Leadership in the modern world of terror
It is a week after another terrible terrorist attack in Paris by terrorists allied to, or part of ISIL (ISIS). Our prayers are with the victims and their families. Not surprisingly, France has bombed ISIL controlled territory in the Middle East and we can only hope that it has hit terrorist fighters rather than killing more innocent civilians forced to live there. This is not only for ethical reasons but also because it is likely to produce a backlash which will support terrorist groups.
While a retaliatory bombing by French forces is understandable, the question is will such reprisals work in the long term? It is an extremely difficult leadership problem and I do not believe there are easy answers. However, I think this is a time for Western leaders to lead more transformationally otherwise we will just continue to deal with the symptom, while the underlying problems get worse. It starts with wider understanding.
Understand the history behind the problem and appreciate the complexity of the situation
We must research the history behind things. As Winston Churchill said; "The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” Too often we have seen the mistakes made by not doing so.
For instance, the prevailing rationale supporting the American involvement in the Vietnam War was the "Domino Theory" - that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. The American Government argued at the time that if Vietnam was allowed to adopt communism, then it would be followed by the rest of Asia joining the Soviet Bloc. A chief proponent of the American strategy in Vietnam, Robert McNamara (the US Secretary of Defense at the time) received a late history lesson when he visited Vietnam in 1997. He could hardly believe it when he heard that Ho Chi Minh had no intention of ever allowing Vietnam to become a communist satellite country, dictated to by China or the Soviet Union. He was told to the affect that, "if you had ever bothered to read about Vietnam's history, you would know that Vietnam has been fighting for independence from China for the last thousand years". In fact, in 1979, just four years after the unification of Vietnam, China invaded Vietnam with heavy casualties, only to leave with both countries claiming victory. The Vietnam War was pointless and the "Domino Theory" was proven to be a myth.
Similarly, the invasion of Iraq by allied forces in 2003 started on myths and ex British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has admitted it contributed to the rise of ISIL. Most people now agree it was a mistake. Perhaps we had all better understand the history and culture of Islam? There are two main denominations in Islam; Sunnis and Shia (a bit like two main denominations in Christianity are Catholic and Protestant). ISIL are Sunnis and ISIL seem to hate the Shia as much as they hate the West. That is why there is the strange situation with the United States and Iran (a Shia country that has been embargoed by the United States for decades) fighting on the same side against a common enemy: ISIL. Conversely, the two main allies of the United States in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, are mainly Sunni and seem to have been doing little to directly attack ISIL, although this may change after recent suicide bombings by ISIL in both countries.
Take a non-partisan perspective and bring people together
The first question is "why are so many Muslims living in the West joining ISIL?" You may not have heard that ISIL suicide bombers set off bombs a few days before the Paris attack in a public area of Beirut controlled by Hezbollah. Hezbollah is designated a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and other countries such as Australia, it governs areas of Beirut and has seats in the Lebanese government; and it is another Shia organisation fighting ISIL in Syria.
At least 41 civilians were killed (and about 240 injured) in this attack, yet the tweet sent by Everett Stern a CEO and 2016 United States Senate candidate was, "GOOD NEWS!!! I HOPE HEZBOLLAH TERRORISTS WERE KILLED". There seems to have been little comment from American politicians or the media generally, or thought on how this partisan comment tends to aggravate people and so push people apart.
Contrast this with what Sayyad Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, said in a speech after the Paris attack. “People of the region of Arab and Islamic countries who are living under the brutality of ISIS are the most aware and sympathetic of what hit the French nation last night. We offer our deep condolences, solidarity, sympathy, moral and humanitarian stand to those innocent who are invaded by [their] barbaric criminal management.”
One antidote to terrorism involves bringing diverse people together, whereas Stern's type of tweet can only further marginalise Muslims and drive more recruits to ISIL.
Avoid stereotyping and differentiate meaningfully
Politicians and the media liberally use the word "terrorist" to cover very different people. Nelson Mandela, the leader of the ANC (African National Congress) was described as a terrorist for many years by the media and politicians, at least up until Margaret Thatcher's government in the UK. This was just three short years before he was released and became an internationally regarded President of South Africa. Few people would consider the ANC to be the same type of organisation as ISIL.
We must see beyond labels and the belief that just killing ever more terrorists will solve the problem. Political and military leaders in the Vietnam War publicised the increasing "body count" of the enemy to prove America was winning the War. It was not. At times terrorism must be tackled with lethal force, but we want to be careful if in the process we radicalise and convert ten times more Muslims to become terrorists?
Far too many people have had the horrible experience where their families have been accidentally wiped out by ruling forces. There are many examples in Third World countries, but there are also examples in the Second and First World countries: in Asia it includes the Russian invasion of Chechnya, and in the Middle East there has been American bombing in Iraq and Israeli shelling in Gaza, all killing innocent men, women and children. If we were a parent whose children were killed in such a situation, who knows what we might do? (That said, I do not in any way ever support terrorist activity).
It is important to recognise that not everyone labelled as a "terrorist" by media and politicians is identical. Some extreme political elements want to demonise all Muslims as the same - do they really believe that all 1.6 billion Muslims in the World are somehow worse people than evrey one of the 2.2 billion Christians? Such demonisation just plays into the hands of terrorist groups.
The Transformational Leadership challenge for Western politicians
Politicians in the West now face some very difficult decisions about what to do. Transformational leadership is always inclusive and looks widely to see the reality, not blindly believing what politicians or the media say. When we become scared we tend to stop thinking like adults and think more like children, and risk following authority figures without question.
ISIL is much more vulnerable to military action than most other terrorist groups, but war can only be a small part of the solution and it has never yet solved terrorism. The "War on Terror" has been divisive, cost trillions of dollars since it was declared in 2001 (the United States alone had already spent on it over 5 trillion dollars by 2011) and an apparent failure, nor do the United States Government use the term anymore. ISIL wants the West to adopt discriminatory policies since this disenfranchises Muslims living in the West, and that is the lifeblood for such terrorist organisations. Let's hope our leaders have the courage and wisdom to make the best long term decisions to solve this very complex problem, not just the popular ones.
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A MarkTwo Health Tip
For many years there have been debates about the safety of vegetable oils in high temperature cooking. Recently, Martin Grootveld, a professor of bionalytical chemistry and chemical pathology found that one typical meal of fish and chips fried in vegetable oil contains up to 200 times more toxic aldehydes than safe daily limit set by the World Health Organisation. These aldehydes are linked with cancer, heart disease and dementia. Conversely frying in butter, olive oil, lard or coconut oil produced much lower levels of these toxins (coconut oil produced the lowest).
Grootveld's research has been backed up by research by Professor John Stein, Oxford's emeritus professor of neuroscience who thinks the the negative health effects are much wider than cancer, heart disease and dementia. So you may want to play safe and do what Stein does now; he just uses olive oil or butter for cooking, and coconut oil came out as the best alternative.
- Research revealed on BBC's Trust Me, I'm a Doctor Program-29 July 2015
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