On February 17, 2019, President Trump, in a tweet, threatened to release over 800 European ISIS fighters captured by the U.S. troops in Syria, if their respective countries do not come forward to claim them and put them on trial. Those ex-ISIS fighters originated from countries such as Germany, Britain, France, and other European countries.
Even though the President's tweet caused some outrage from European officials and security experts who frowned at such a high-stake disclosure, there are indications that the world, as a whole, hasn't learned any important lessons from past events.
Is history going to repeat itself?
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was a brutal offshoot of Iraq's al Qaeda that regrouped shortly after the Allied Forces' unfinished business in Iraq. The group's reign of terror, which escalated after they declared their Caliphate, saw anyone who toyed with them and their ideologies brutalized, including Shia, Sunnis, Christians, and Sufis. At the peak of their nefarious activities, bombing and killing, ISIS had assets and weapons worth well over $2 billion.
There are some cogent questions begging for earnest answers. However, the common position embraced by many intelligence pundits was that if the U.S. and the Allied Forces had completely demolished al Qaeda's structure in Iraq then, there wouldn't have been ISIS in the first place.
Many countries that have citizens among ISIS fighters, from places like Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, are at a crossroads about how to properly manage this post-ISIS era.
Revoking citizenship
Britain, through its Home Office, just taught the entire world how not to deal with this post-ISIS crisis when it revoked Shamima Begum's British citizenship.
Shamina Begum an ISIS bride, together with her son, was rendered stateless by this decision as Bangladesh, a country she was supposed to claim as her other nation, refused her entry.
Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain's main opposition party, has condemned the Home Office's move and called for Shamina Begum's 'return to Britain' to access all the necessary support facilities she seriously needed.
In the same vein, President Trump had instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to allow America-born ISIS bride Hoda Muthana to return to the United States. A decision that has been challenged in the court by Hoda Muthana's father, who believed his daughter should not be barred from seeking help after going through some traumatic experiences in ISIS camp.
Hot-headed decisions?
The truth must be told: The reactions hoped for by national stakeholders, at this dicey moment, are not a bunch of hot-headed decisions. We are dealing with a nightmare that may turn into a grave threat in a short period of time.
No one is cheering the wayward youths, many of who thoughtlessly joined ISIS as a minor.
However, the world should also not turn their backs on them, in their current situations, as they seem to be seeking a way out of the quagmire they have mistakenly put themselves.
Shutting the doors in the faces and rejecting them from the societies may harden them and instead motivate them to become a new, harder group of heartless terrorists.
