ISIS Social Media Experts Under Attack

[Michael Hardner]

Quote

But late one night, Mr. Hussain left an internet cafe alone, and minutes later a Hellfire missile killed him as he walked between two buildings in Raqqa, Syria, the Islamic State’s de facto capital.

Mr. Hussain, a 21-year-old from Birmingham, England, was a leader of a band of English-speaking computer specialists who had given a far-reaching megaphone to Islamic State propaganda and exhorted online followers to carry out attacks in the West. One by one, American and allied forces have killed the most important of roughly a dozen members of the cell, which the F.B.I. calls “the Legion,” as part of a secretive campaign that has largely silenced a powerful voice that led to a surge of counterterrorism activity across the United States in 2015 as young men and women came under the influence of its propaganda.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/24/world/middleeast/isis-recruiters-social-media.html

I doubt many will shed a tear for these operatives, however there is something different about this approach.  The US is openly assassinating its enemies now.  This wasn't always the case in the past.  The challenge is in the scale and form of the threat, and the US's response has scaled to that threat.

[?Impact]

7 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

The US is openly assassinating its enemies now. 

 I have highlighted the operative word. I think there were many covert operations all along, only when the results would have really made them obviously overt were they avoided. 

[BubberMiley]

If I were Rosie O'Donnell, I'd be very nervous.

[BC_chick]

12 minutes ago, BubberMiley said:

If I were Rosie O'Donnell, I'd be very nervous.

I'm laughing so hard.  Well played!

[Derek 2.0]

4 hours ago, Michael Hardner said:

The US is openly assassinating its enemies now.  This wasn't always the case in the past.

Yes and no........the ways and means are different, but the CIA has been bumping off enemies of the State since its inception.........why use an axe when a scalpel will do?

[Argus]

19 hours ago, Michael Hardner said:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/24/world/middleeast/isis-recruiters-social-media.html

I doubt many will shed a tear for these operatives, however there is something different about this approach.  The US is openly assassinating its enemies now.  This wasn't always the case in the past.  The challenge is in the scale and form of the threat, and the US's response has scaled to that threat.

That's because today's war is a war of ideas and propaganda. in the past it was your tanks against their tanks. No point in assassinating government leaders or propaganda ministers. Though the US did deliberately Target Japanese general Yamamoto in WW2 because he was so capable.

In essence, since a primary aspect of the 'enemy''s method of operation is to propagate its violent philosophy it's far more effective to take out those who do so rather than wait around to defend against those inspired by it to commit acts of violence.

[kimmy]

Yes, I certainly don't see any point in treating ISIS agents, whether they be military or propagandists or financiers, by the same standards we'd treat diplomats of a nation we were at war with.

I have also had the thought that it might be good if people who made substantial cash contributions to ISIS also started turning up dead, as a message to other would-be donors.

 -k