Shameema Binte Rahman

(guest blogger)

Today I got up in the morning with the sound of a gmail notification on my phone. I started to check new mails and saw one mail from President Barack Obama titled on “We Will Prevail Against ISIL-Here’s How”. My morning’s sweet sleepy feeling started to run away as my eyes concentrated on the words. I turned on BBC World on my television and the lead news was President Obama’s video speech to the nation.

Obama made a video speech today, I mean on 7^th December, after the killing of San Bernardino, California.

Anyone who watched that video, I’m sure, will get the sense that there was no audience in front of him and he was addressing the lens of a camera and not the lenses of people’s eyes. Jean Baudrillard, the critical media theorist used one word “simulacra” in his book “Simulacra and Simulation” to explain and understand neoliberal media, which is to provide audience representation of something which does not exist in reality but has the belief of its existence; Obama’s video addressing to the American citizens was like that.

BBC said Obama’s Oval Office address was “rare”. President made this video speech after the San Bernardino shooting” which killed 14 USA citizen.

I want to share President Obama’s speech on terrorism here to raise only some questions. Mr. President, give me some simple answers; who is ISIL? How do they look like? How do they get money to buy arms and weapon? Who is giving them training? What is the detail of their organizational structure? How much is ISIL’s media budget? Nowadays, IS/ISIL or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,  is slick and sexy product in media, getting huger media coverage than you and even American Broadcast Corporation/ABC television is not able to provide detailed information on it.

But IS is everywhere. In my country, IS is now also a talking point, a fear, something very brutal, an anxious feeling of something unknown, unseen, faceless but whose acts are felt through sudden happenings and incidents like ghosts, like the image of satan, the image of god.

Here also the media has been broadcasting news of IS’s killings and yet there is no face of any killer claiming to be IS. They have made a list of categories of those to be killed or under threat to be killed. These are 1. Atheist Bloggers 2. Shia Muslims 3. Foreigners (Not USA), 4. Fathers/Pastors/ leaders of Churches, and 5. Police.  I am sure, some more categories are coming to meet the manufactured terrorist organization.

Obama said in his speech to his country’s people that US would draw upon “every aspect of American power” to combat IS.

I am now putting here some part of President Obama’s speech where he explained ways and strategies to combat IS. But if someone get President Barak Obama’s nexus and wish to nurse the IS terrorism, would it be too wired?

Anyways, lets go through Mr. Obama’s rare speech.

In the early part of his speech, he said:

“So, tonight, this is what I want you to know: The threat of terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. We will destroy ISIL and any other organization that tries to harm us. Here’s how:

First, our military will continue to hunt down terrorist plotters in any country where it is necessary, using air strikes to take out ISIL leaders and their infrastructure in Iraq and Syria. And since the attacks in Paris, our closest allies – France, Germany, and the United Kingdom – have ramped up their contributions to our military campaign, which will help us accelerate our effort to destroy ISIL.

Second, we will continue to provide training and equipment to Iraqi and Syrian forces fighting ISIL on the ground so that we take away their safe havens. In both countries, we are deploying Special Operations forces who can accelerate that offensive.

Third, we are leading a coalition of 65 countries to stop ISIL’s operations by disrupting plots, cutting off their financing, and preventing them from recruiting more fighters.

Fourth, with American leadership, the international community has established a process and timeline to pursue cease-fires and a political resolution to the Syrian civil war. Doing so will allow the Syrian people and every country to focus on the common goal of destroying ISIL.”

These days, both Obama and IS are the most distributed images in the world. As if there is no other story, no other people, no other love, hate or togetherness on this planet.