International Affairs

This past week a video was released that showed Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh, being burned to death at the hands of radical terrorist group ISIS. This was met with outrage from the people and government of Jordan. They released a statement saying that they believe that the international community must intensify the campaign against the Islamic State (Associated Press).

While I agree that it is possibly time to stop relying on Kurdish fighters backed by U.S. Airstrikes, I believe that Jordan responded to the brutal killing of one of its own in an undignified way. Jordan responded to Al-Kaseasbeh's death by executing two prisoners that they held captive. They hung these two individuals, one of which was a woman who had tried blowing herself up as a terrorist movement.

In the United States we believe that the death penalty should be handed out sparingly, and for crimes that are equivalently punishment by death. We do not believe that handing over a death sentence as a politic move is justified.

I hope that as an international community we look at this rash and angry behavior and think about what if we were on the end of that anger. Lashing out is not the answer, but using a community combined justified political judgement to fight ISIS is. There is a link below to learn more about this story.

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