Mainstream media and politicians have gone into overdrive with sensationalist Islamophobic commentary and fear mongering following recent events in Iraq. This time the ‘Islamic State of Iraq and Sham' (ISIS) is the primary object through which Muslims, Islam and Islamic ideals such as Jihad and the Caliphate are being demonised and attacked.

In this regard, Hizb ut Tahrir Australia emphasises the following points:

1. This episode is little more than the usual neo-colonial tactic of forming a basis on which to justify continued intervention in Muslim lands. An uprising against the systematically oppressive, US-installed and backed Maliki regime is being painted as a takeover by ‘terrorists' in order to justify political and, if needed, military, intervention whereby the interests of western powers will be protected and furthered.

2. ISIS is being portrayed, in fantastical Hollywood style, as evil incarnate on Earth, having seemingly taken over from al-Qaeda who previously fulfilled this bogeyman role. In this narrative, the same al-Qaeda who before had no ounce of humanity or morality has now apparently found a moral compass whereby they deem another group too extreme!

3. Even though ISIS is one player in a coalition of groups that have risen up against the Iraqi regime, it is disingenuously being portrayed as the dominant if not sole player in order to push the idea of a ‘terrorist takeover'. At the same time, sectarian and ethnic divisions are being emphasised and fuelled. Western leaders are absolving their foreign policies of the problems facing Iraq, instead pushing the Orientalist fantasy of irreconcilable sectarian tensions within Islam. Apparently, Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds would be forever at each other's throats unless forcibly tamed by tyrants or intervention by the civilised west.

4. The politicised nature of ‘terrorism' is apparent as ever here. If ‘terrorism' is the use of violence for ideological or political ends, the world has seen no greater terrorists than western states who have laid entire nations to waste through decade-long invasions and war. Yet they are presented as the philanthropic saviors of humanity whilst the actions of relatively powerless groups reacting to oppressive conditions are blown out of all proportion. At the same time, Muslims in the west who make the sacrifice of going abroad to fight tyranny and assist the oppressed are characteristed as ‘extremists' and ‘terrorists'. It is a case of even the good of a Muslim is bad and even the oppressive of the western state is just!

5. Part of the sensationalism is achieved through the method of reporting alleged attacks by groups like ISIS. Every little descriptive detail is mentioned. In contrast, when the US extra-judicially bombs its own citizens like Sh. Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year old son in Yemen to smithereens, or bombs little children as they sleep or play in Pakistan with drones, we not given any like descriptive detail. These people are just ‘collateral', just de-humanised statistics. Nor did we see any like uproar at the years of Maliki's systematic rape, torture and killings of Sunni's in Iraq. All of this shows that the issue for the west is not violence but ‘western interests' - euphemistic code for economic and political benefits acquired through exploitation of weaker nations.

6. We advise the Muslim community and the wider society not to get caught up in the hysteria and lies. A lie is a lie, no matter how many times it is repeated. We have seen this all before in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. We should respond to these lies with the truth: the truth that the real problem, the root problem, is western violence, which eclipses the violence of any individual or group many times over and is in fact the cause of the oppression to which people are forced to react.

7. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been leading the way in demonising Islam and Muslims. Yesterday he was attacking and threatening Muslims who go to fight abroad whilst at the same time congratulating the secular dictatorial regime of al-Sisi. We remind the Prime Minister, who is eager to once more sacrifice Australian soldiers at the altar of US foreign policy, that Australia has no business interfering in the Muslim world. We remind him that Australia made the mistake of going into Iraq aforetime, and that if he does so again, his government and those who support such a move alone will be responsible for the repercussions that ensue.

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Australia