Valued or Expendable?

"It's quite transparent that [ISIS] is trying to exaggerate its base of support. They are trying to show that Muslims from all over the world are protecting their Syrian brethren and their Iraqi brethren."
Charlie Winter, Quilliam Foundation researcher, London

"I call solemnly and seriously on all our citizens, and notably our young people who are the primary target of the terrorist propaganda, to open your eyes to the terrible reality of the actions of Daesh. These are the criminals that are building a system of barbarity."
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve

"If that's what he has done to someone then that is what should be done to him. I am like any other father. I am trying not to believe it is my boy, but it looks like him. But I am not going to make excuses for him. He is a grown man and he must face up to what he has done."
"What they [ISIS] are doing is inhuman, this is not the son I brought up. He has been got at -- he has changed."
Ahmed Muthana, Cardiff, Wales

This still image taken from an undated video published on the Internet by the Islamic State group militants and made available, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2014, purports to show extremists marching Syrian soldiers before beheading them. The high-definition video later shows the beheadings of about a dozen men identified as Syrian military officers and pilots, all dressed in blue jumpsuits. The Associated Press could not independently verify the footage, though it appeared on websites used in the past by the Islamic State group, which now controls a third of Syria and Iraq. (AP Photo)

Mr. Muthana, a retired electrical engineer and father of Nasser Muthana who was an aspiring university student studying medicine, surrendered those aspirations, swerving instead toward jihad, travelling to Syria where he joined the Islamic State of Syria and Al-Sham. He distinguished himself by becoming a spokesperson, appearing in a recruiting video to urge aspiring jihadists to join him, fighting for ISIS.

He must have inspired quite a few young British Muslims. Among them his own younger brother of 17, Aseel Muthana. And now Ahmed Muthana can grieve the loss to Islamic State terrorism of two, not merely one son. One of whom was shown, close-up and rather personal in the lineup of knife-wielding jihadists preparing to behead Syrian soldiers awaiting their death in a ritual meant to horrify the West, but one fairly commonplace in the Middle East.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has stated that British jihadis returning to the United Kingdom from Iraq and Syria are recognized officially as enemies of the state and as such could be placed on trial for treason to face the "justice they deserve". U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated that America would not be intimidated at the mass slaughter of Syrian soldiers alongside the beheading of U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig.

"This conflict is between civilization itself and barbarism. If we don't defeat ISIL there will be no viable future for the Middle East. [The terrorist network] could become a rallying point for the alienated and disaffected in every continent, spawning imitators and spurring individuals in far-flung places to commit stupid, destructive, suicidal acts", he stated knowingly. And there you go, from John Kerry's informed mouth to reality; he describes not what could be but what he very well understands is.

The message in the recently released ISIS video was clear enough; a glut of foreign-derived jihadis at the disposal of ISIS; no lack of recruits in actual fact, from every corner of the world. So much for the Western democratic illusion that once a Muslim becomes a citizen and appreciates the values and way of life of the West nothing would deter him from pursuing that life, certainly not the promise of shared hate and violence wreaking havoc in the world.

The ISIS terrorists shown singly, and in close-up, allows them to be identified, not only by ethnic origin as reflected in the number of Asians present, but by intelligence groups of nations understanding full well that their citizens have gone abroad for that very purpose. Through their identification they thus become the property of ISIS; having taken part in an identifiable atrocity they are marked men who cannot return to their countries of origin.

While the overwhelming majority of ISIS jihadis hail from the Middle East and North Africa, the appeal of the Islamic empire conspires to attract recruits from Europe and North America where thousands have gone off to enjoy their opportunities to court martyrdom as jihadists. "We're waiting for death. My objective is to be a martyr", said Maxime Hauchard from France from his ISIS perch to immortality.

An image taken from a propaganda video allegedly shows Isis members, among them a jihadist believed to be French citizen Maxime Hauchard, right. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images