Express & Star comment: Whatever it takes, stop IS followers
It may surprise and shock many right-thinking people that the British Armed Forces would assassinate their own citizens in foreign lands.
Many may also find it ethically and morally challenging.
That is understandable.
Britain is a free and liberal nation which led the world in enshrining rights of individuals against the State.
But when British citizens join a proscribed terrorist organisation like the so-called Islamic State, they forfeit those rights.
It has been widely reported that the RAF is targeting British jihadis in Syria and Iraq and killing them through air strikes and drone attacks.
And today we learn that three such jihadis from the Black Country could be on ‘hit list’ of British ISIS targets.
No doubt some people will be appalled by this and be sympathetic to the situation these three young people find themselves in. But in truth they have no-one else to blame but themselves.
In the eyes of the security services and the British government those who flee this country to fight with or support so-called Islamic State are a direct threat to this nation and its citizens.
Islamic State is a barbaric evil that this world has not seen before.
Its attacks are calculated to cause maximum damage. And unlike the IRA, Islamic State gives no warning and its targets are not political leaders but ordinary people.
The rules of combat are changing.
When someone joins Islamic State in Syria or Iraq, they are adding to its infrastructure, capability and perpetuate the threat they pose us.
When someone gives money to support those living under the so-called caliphate, they too are helping and funding attacks on the West.
We cannot be complacent about how crucial their support for Islamic State, no matter how little, aids this brutal bloodthirsty regime.
Clearly the trio from Walsall believed to be on a RAF hit list are not the masterminds of Islamic State.
But the fact they are in Syria and have fought for ISIS means they pose a real threat to the livelihoods of British nationals.
They may have been foolish and naïve to some degree but you cannot join a terrorist group like ISIS or Islamic State by accident. They went with intent. The British government’s first job is to protect its citizens at home and abroad. Islamic State and its wretched band of delusional followers must be stopped – at all costs.
