‘ISIS is just an idea; you can’t go to war against an idea’

Unlike al-Qaeda that has a hierarchical structure and organization, ISIS is just an idea and doesn’t have an entity representing it, Patrick Henningsen of 21st Century Wire told RT’s In the Now show. You can’t go to a war against an idea, he added.

RT:Patrick, were there no signs that Libya would be in disaster?

Patrick Henningsen: There are plenty of signs and we predicted this in our 21 Century Wire’s predictions for 2015 that Libya would be the next major theatre of war with the Western intervention. So this seems to be what has happened. There have been reports of destabilization in the country of Libya now for a couple of years ever since the fall of [Muammar] Gaddafi.

The vacuum that is taking place, the power vacuum has been filled by unfortunately bands of paramilitary Islamist fighters; many of them were working hand in hand with NATO to basically overthrow the Gaddafi government back in October 2011. So it shouldn’t come as any surprise to anybody who has been following this, but unfortunately the public and the US political apparatus especially has a very short-term memory when it comes to geopolitics these days.

RT:If the US really wanted to take out ISIS what would be their position?

PH: US officials and many intelligence analysts in Washington DC are already admitting that unlike al-Qaeda - which has a sort of hierarchical structure and organization - ISIS is just an idea. You can’t go to a war against the idea or a brand… [ISIS] is a brand that anybody can go and take and fly the flag… It’s not an entity essentially.

This is usually problematic especially in the US. If you look at the timing of this event, as if by magic this is the week when Washington and President Obama are mulling over further loosening of the 1973 War Powers Act. So asking for another type of redefinition of what is a declaration of war with regards to the President, executive branch, and Congress. I find the timing of it uncanny if not dubious to say the least. This is what we’re facing right now. We’re looking at it from the Western point of view, specifically in American point of view which is spearheading all this intervention. We’re looking at a redefinition of the concept of military engagement. So it can be really military engagement against anything at any time. And again the regulations just keep loosening, and loosening and loosening the 1973 War Powers Act.

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