[jr2]

They hanged two captured ISIS terrorists:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/04/us-mideast-crisis-killing-idUSKBN0L71XE20150204

Thoughts?

[Luis Dias]

I don't have many sympathies with those lines of reasoning that are going all "****yeah take your own medicine!", and it's frankly unsurprising to see people like Nassim Taleb carrying the flag for those sentiments. It's escalation 101, pure and simple. I wonder if all these people high fiving Jordan for their "hard stance" on these issues would be having brain orgasms if the US government did the same in GITMO. Why not? It's the exact same thing.

[jr2]

Well, the point is to discourage further killings by ISIS.  They will kill, yes, but they will be less eager to blaze it far and wide if the consequences are less than favorable.  In other words, instead of just gaining propaganda value, they are also losing their fighters (who were before still alive).  So, potential recruits now see ISIS killing innocent people, sure, but they also see that ISIS is basically sentencing their fighters to death.

Otherwise, ISIS comes out as a possible winning team (assuming that the potential recruit has no other qualms about joining ISIS and just wants to join a fight on a hard-hitting "winning" team).

[Luis Dias]

It's escalation and people are not using their brains sufficiently if they think this is a kind of a showstopper for ISIS or their troops, who are mostly composed by idiots from all around the world who are prepared to die in this "cause" anyway.

[Ghostavo]

Well, the point is to discourage further killings by ISIS.  They will kill, yes, but they will be less eager to blaze it far and wide if the consequences are less than favorable.  In other words, instead of just gaining propaganda value, they are also losing their fighters (who were before still alive).  So, potential recruits now see ISIS killing innocent people, sure, but they also see that ISIS is basically sentencing their fighters to death.

At least one of the people who were executed were suicide bombers, I'm not really sure they have issues with losing their lives...

[Lorric]

Jr2, it says these two had already been sentenced to death years ago. This was not a direct response to the ISIS murder, and the pair weren't even ISIS terrorists, though they're obviously of the same kind of ilk. At worst, it sounds like it just made them get on with something that was going to happen anyway.

[jr2]

Well, the point is to discourage further killings by ISIS.  They will kill, yes, but they will be less eager to blaze it far and wide if the consequences are less than favorable.  In other words, instead of just gaining propaganda value, they are also losing their fighters (who were before still alive).  So, potential recruits now see ISIS killing innocent people, sure, but they also see that ISIS is basically sentencing their fighters to death.

At least one of the people who were executed were suicide bombers, I'm not really sure they have issues with losing their lives...

  When have you EVER seen capital punishment suggested as a preventative measure for the perpetrator??   It's for those who might consider {x, y, z} that the punishment is given out for.  Say, rape, murder, whatever.

If it was just the perp, then life in prison would work just fine in preventing repeat offenses (as long as they actually never get released).

[Ghostavo]

Well, the point is to discourage further killings by ISIS.  They will kill, yes, but they will be less eager to blaze it far and wide if the consequences are less than favorable.  In other words, instead of just gaining propaganda value, they are also losing their fighters (who were before still alive).  So, potential recruits now see ISIS killing innocent people, sure, but they also see that ISIS is basically sentencing their fighters to death.

At least one of the people who were executed were suicide bombers, I'm not really sure they have issues with losing their lives...

  When have you EVER seen capital punishment suggested as a preventative measure for the perpetrator??   It's for those who might consider {x, y, z} that the punishment is given out for.  Say, rape, murder, whatever.

If it was just the perp, then life in prison would work just fine in preventing repeat offenses (as long as they actually never get released).

My point is that threatening to kill people who are considering to be suicide bombers (among other things) is not really a discouragement. When I said "they" I wasn't talking about the perpetrators...

[swashmebuckle]

Retaliatory execution is a pretty clear sign of fear and weakness on the part of the government doing the executing. It's like "Well, we have all these rules and procedures that we like in theory, but when something goes wrong we're gonna chuck them and give our side the blood they want." Definitely plays into the ISIS worldview.

[Bobboau]

pretty sure the point of this was to basically say that they are pissed. I'm guessing that Jordan is going to be taking a much more active role in opposing ISIS now.

[Scotty]

Retaliatory execution is a pretty clear sign of fear and weakness on the part of the government doing the executing. It's like "Well, we have all these rules and procedures that we like in theory, but when something goes wrong we're gonna chuck them and give our side the blood they want." Definitely plays into the ISIS worldview.

Jr2, it says these two had already been sentenced to death years ago. This was not a direct response to the ISIS murder, and the pair weren't even ISIS terrorists, though they're obviously of the same kind of ilk. At worst, it sounds like it just made them get on with something that was going to happen anyway.

Lorric made a salient point to this.

[Col.Hornet]

They executed only 2 terrorists? I thought that Jordanians were talking about bigger numbers.

[Lorric]

Here's something interesting:

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/04/fox-news-shows-isis-video-jordan-pilot

Mainly about Fox News showing the uncut video of the killing of the Jordan pilot, but also that the New York Post put a picture of him on fire on their front page.

I wonder if they'd do that if it was an American or a European?

[Phantom Hoover]

well two is the minimal number of themmuns you need to kill to get back in the lead after they get one of ussuns

[jr2]

Jr2, it says these two had already been sentenced to death years ago. This was not a direct response to the ISIS murder, and the pair weren't even ISIS terrorists, though they're obviously of the same kind of ilk. At worst, it sounds like it just made them get on with something that was going to happen anyway.

Did not see your response... dunno how I skipped past it.  That's actually what I assumed (that they were already sentenced or at least convicted and awaiting sentencing). -- I was thinking more along the lines of the timing was chosen because of what happened with their pilot.

[karajorma]

Here's something interesting:

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/04/fox-news-shows-isis-video-jordan-pilot

Mainly about Fox News showing the uncut video of the killing of the Jordan pilot, but also that the New York Post put a picture of him on fire on their front page.

I wonder if they'd do that if it was an American or a European?

Of course they wouldn't.

But they've virtually guaranteed the next person to die will do so in an even more inhuman way. So they've given themselves better news stories to talk about. I guess they think people were getting bored of beheadings.

[Bobboau]

http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2015/02/king-of-jordan-to-bomb-isis-in-syria-personally-3103164.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Dragon]

TBH, I prefer what Jordan is doing to what the rest of the world is (not) doing. Any attempts at "deescalation" in this conflict are a sorry delusion that's likely to end badly. IS are not "freedom fighters", their goal is not establishing a corner of the world to call their own. Their goal is world domination, no less (as they have repeatedly stated). Not only do they don't mind war, they revel in it. I wouldn't say the execution will cause the next prisoner to die even more brutally. Not saying it won't happen (it will), but it'll be because IS terrorists love being in the spotlight. There's no helping that sort of people. I always admired King Abdullach, and I hope Jordan manages to root out IS at least from their borders, by any means necessary. I tell you, he knows what he's doing much, much better than anyone else (at least from our side...).

[666maslo666]

They vowed to kill them if ISIS kills the pilot, so they kinda had to do it, otherwise if this situation repeats in the future, ISIS wont that believe they really mean the threat. And just because the tactic failed this time does not mean it could not work in the future, perhaps with different ISIS faction and different (more important?) ISIS prisoners.

[Dragon]

Personally, I don't think this tactic is going to work on ISIS at all. I think it's worth doing, but for people of Jordan and its allies. To show them that the King means business, if nothing else. ISIS the kind of organization that is willing to waste any number of men. Also, it might give people a reason to be somewhat less eager to join (if they'll leave their people to die too often, then their recruit pool might wane somewhat).