THE EVIL OF BEING A TERRORIST
By Ibrahim Sourie Mansaray
Philadelphia
It was with disbelief and shock that people around the social landscape saw the message of a Sierra Leonean, Mohamed Jalloh purportedly supporting ISIS in the Middle East. This ultimately resulted in the naysayers accusing the APC Youth Wing of associating with terrorist activities. This is absurd, to say the least. To accuse a government of being linked to a terrorist organization is the worst form of injustice perpetrated against the people of Sierra Leone. It is now over a decade since the terrorist attacks in the US and the stigma continues to haunt Middle East origins till today. For example, during the height of the shock and anger to the September 11 attacks, extremist tendencies in the West resulted in beatings and even killings of Muslims. Even non-Muslims that just happened to have long beards or in some way resembled Taliban/Al Qaeda members were targeted. This accusation by some opponents of the APC party labeling the alleged supporter of ISIS will not auger well for the image of the country as a whole. It will affect all Sierra Leoneans travelling through international borders or in congregations. Unsurprisingly, everyone will sooner or later be considered a threat regardless of your political association.
Even in the United States, some of the resulting policies on how suspects will be treated, on how access to personal information will be made available for security concerns and so on, led to debates at all levels on what is considered an attack on civil liberties and what is reasonable for security. The US has waged a war on terror to pursue aggressive policies against states believed to be backers of international terrorism. This can range from economic, to political and even military policies. The Iraq war was one such example, where among other things, the concern of terrorism was used to justify a war against Iraq, even though the terrorism links were not real.
For the United States and other powerful countries to put someone on a ‘no fly list’ is the most embarrassing episode in a person’s lifespan. Sierra Leoneans have gone through their political turbulence through the action of an incompetent bush fighter and for the country to be within the international news media as a supporter of a terrorist organization that continues to kill even Muslims is outrageous and barbaric.
Maybe it could be argued that with hindsight it is easy to make these allegations to score political points against the ruling party, but, the consequences may reverberate on all Sierra Leoneans in the world. Accompany this has been media propaganda, media manipulation, sensationalism, sound-bite journalism and all the various other problems that have minimized coverage of deeper issues and understanding while allowing various claims to go almost unchallenged. The good citizens should now focus on rebuilding the battered economy as a result of the Ebola scourge and not another war on image cleansing.
While visible efforts have been made by some APC Chapter organizations defending their party from such outrageous accusations, Sierra Leoneans should look on this as unfair and wicked (‘bad hart’) politics. With all the vivid imagery, we can only now begin to imagine how other people and societies around the world have suffered in other situations.
We only hope the US government would ignore the devilish accusation of leftists and allow the wheel of justice to roll in judging the case of this Sierra Leonean. Sierra Leone has always been a partner in fighting international terrorism and will continue to promote peace and stability in the world.
May God bless Sierra Leone.
THE EVIL OF BEING A TERRORIST
By Ibrahim Sourie Mansaray
Philadelphia
It was with disbelief and shock that people around the social landscape saw the message of a Sierra Leonean, Mohamed Jalloh purportedly supporting ISIS in the Middle East. This ultimately resulted in the naysayers accusing the APC Youth Wing of associating with terrorist activities. This is absurd, to say the least. To accuse a government of being linked to a terrorist organization is the worst form of injustice perpetrated against the people of Sierra Leone. It is now over a decade since the terrorist attacks in the US and the stigma continues to haunt Middle East origins till today. For example, during the height of the shock and anger to the September 11 attacks, extremist tendencies in the West resulted in beatings and even killings of Muslims. Even non-Muslims that just happened to have long beards or in some way resembled Taliban/Al Qaeda members were targeted. This accusation by some opponents of the APC party labeling the alleged supporter of ISIS will not auger well for the image of the country as a whole. It will affect all Sierra Leoneans travelling through international borders or in congregations. Unsurprisingly, everyone will sooner or later be considered a threat regardless of your political association.
Even in the United States, some of the resulting policies on how suspects will be treated, on how access to personal information will be made available for security concerns and so on, led to debates at all levels on what is considered an attack on civil liberties and what is reasonable for security. The US has waged a war on terror to pursue aggressive policies against states believed to be backers of international terrorism. This can range from economic, to political and even military policies. The Iraq war was one such example, where among other things, the concern of terrorism was used to justify a war against Iraq, even though the terrorism links were not real.
For the United States and other powerful countries to put someone on a ‘no fly list’ is the most embarrassing episode in a person’s lifespan. Sierra Leoneans have gone through their political turbulence through the action of an incompetent bush fighter and for the country to be within the international news media as a supporter of a terrorist organization that continues to kill even Muslims is outrageous and barbaric.
Maybe it could be argued that with hindsight it is easy to make these allegations to score political points against the ruling party, but, the consequences may reverberate on all Sierra Leoneans in the world. Accompany this has been media propaganda, media manipulation, sensationalism, sound-bite journalism and all the various other problems that have minimized coverage of deeper issues and understanding while allowing various claims to go almost unchallenged. The good citizens should now focus on rebuilding the battered economy as a result of the Ebola scourge and not another war on image cleansing.
While visible efforts have been made by some APC Chapter organizations defending their party from such outrageous accusations, Sierra Leoneans should look on this as unfair and wicked (‘bad hart’) politics. With all the vivid imagery, we can only now begin to imagine how other people and societies around the world have suffered in other situations.
We only hope the US government would ignore the devilish accusation of leftists and allow the wheel of justice to roll in judging the case of this Sierra Leonean. Sierra Leone has always been a partner in fighting international terrorism and will continue to promote peace and stability in the world.
May God bless Sierra Leone.
