At Global Guerillas, John Robb, author of the outstanding book Brave New War, explains exactly what he thinks the Islamic State was doing by burning alive Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh. First, he writes, it was a three-part presentation: an interview al-Kasasbeh, footage of Western airstrikes on the Islamic State, and the burning of al-Kasasbeh.
In support of his belief that the Islamic State is especially attempting to target the pilots of the airstrikes, Robb responds to representation of the event by the media (earlier in the post he addresses censorship of the execution video):
• Media: ISIS is mindlessly brutal. JR: a more insightful analysis shows that these brutal punishments (Christians would call them “old testament” punishments) are taken from the pages of the Quran. They are specifically selected to recruit Muslims schooled in scriptural literalism by pointing out that modernist Islam ignores scripture when inconvenient. This punishment was specifically selected for its brutality because the “crime” was push button bombing.
Also, as has been pointed out to me, the execution was carried out near the site of a significant Western bombing raid. Robb’s other bullet points:
• Media: This execution was unjustified. The pilot was innocent. JR: The video spent quite a bit of time justifying the execution. In parallel, ISIS tied the morality of airstrikes to the morality of suicide bombing by offering to trade the pilot for some prisoners in Jordan.…
• Media: ISIS wants to intimidate the west. JR: Not really. ISIS had a more specific target in mind. They are trying to intimidate the pilots of the air campaign. At the end of the video, ISIS offers 100 Gold Dinars (~$18,000) for the heads of specifically named Jordanian pilots they consider criminals. By personalizing this, they have just pierced the veil of anonymity that protects the pilots that make push button air warfare possible.
This is amazing. It suggests that the Islamic State is trouncing the West and especially the U.S. on some of its supposed strengths — marketing and promotion. What I found especially impressive was this idea in the first bullet point:
They are specifically selected to recruit Muslims schooled in scriptural literalism by pointing out that modernist Islam ignores scripture when inconvenient.
It totally turns on its head a motif oft stated in the West and attributed to mainstream Muslim — that its Islamist extremists themselves who twist Islamic teachings to their own ends.