Controversial London-based thinker and activist, Anjem Choudary, told RT the geopolitical maneuvers of IS in Iraq and Syria are a direct repercussion of a “detrimental” US foreign policy in the Middle East.
The age-old adage that violence begets violence is relevant to any debate on international terrorism. But according to Choudary, a self-proclaimed Islamic scholar, IS aggression particularly illustrates this concept.
Citing the Oxford dictionary, Choudary tells RT’s Oksana Boyko that terrorist activities can be defined as “the use of violence against a community or a section of a community for political purposes."
He continues that acts of terrorism are “precisely what the Americans and the British are doing in Afghanistan and what they did before in Iraq to establish their own military and economic interests, no matter what the cost is to the life and the wealth of the people.”
In an effort to justify the ongoing acts of aggression perpetrated by Jihadi IS militants, the fundamentalist Muslim who claims to be an Imam distinguishes between what he calls “pro-life terrorism”, and terrorism he suggests is “against life.”
“I think there is terrorism, which is pro-life and there is terrorism, which is against life. You know you could terrorize the enemy in order to make sure that the war ends quickly. And I think this is what the Islamic State, are in fact, trying to do to scare off the Americans and their allies in Syria and Iraq.”
“And then there’s terrorism, which is against life – which is like carpet bombing, dropping nuclear weapons, and the shock and awe that we saw in Iraq before.”
When asked whether it’s legal under Sharia Law to hold an individual responsible for alleged crimes perpetrated by a collective or state, Choudary who is a self-appointed lecturer in Sharia Law says: “Terrorizing the enemy is, in fact, part of Islam. This is something that we must embrace and understand as far as the jurisprudence of Jihad is concerned.”
“I think the thing that people need to appreciate is that in war Muslims are not distinguishing in general between civilians and military because those very civilians are those who put the people in charge, and those people in charge – Barack Obama and others – are sending their troops to Muslim countries. They’re not making that distinction.”
Probed on what crime James Foley committed against the wider global Muslim community to justify such a brutal and vicious execution, Choudary argues the general rule for American or international journalists who are “tarnishing the image of Muslims” in the battlefield is that they are undeserving of any “sanctity.”
“Journalists in general from the West, civilians from places like America at the current time, are in a position where there is no sanctity for them in Muslim countries. There’s no one to give them that sanctity. We are uprising against our own regimes, and they are seen as enemies of Muslims.”
Watch Oksana Boyko’s full interview with Anjem Choudary on RT’s Worlds Apart on Thursday, September 4.