Finally, somebody commenting on the state of Iraq thinks George W. Bush got something right. Turns out it’s ISIS. In the new hour-long ISIS-produced film about how nice it is to die for ISIS — Flames of War: Fighting Has Just Begun — Bush is quoted: “You are with us or against us.” Video shows him saying “Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.” A graphic in the upper corner of the screen reads: “Bush spoke the truth, although he’s a liar.”

What truth does ISIS think Bush spoke? The Manichean truth that there are two groups of people on earth with nothing in common between them and a shared dedication to annihilate each other. Of course, the notion that they have nothing in common is delusional. They have almost everything in common: their belief in violence, their monotheism, their stupidity, their desire for a U.S. war in the Middle East.

“In the face of the dark wave of the crusader force…” begins the ISIS movie.

“This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while,” said Bush.

ISIS shows Obama as well as Bush and denounces both as liars, including rejecting Obama’s lie that he won’t send combat troops to Iraq. As even a number of U.S. Senators and Congress Members have pointed out, the 1600 troops he’s already sent are trained and equipped for nothing other than combat, and a pilot in a plane is engaged in combat.

But ISIS wants more.  This film is not aimed at provoking the United States the way the beheading films were. It’s far too long and boring for Americans to watch.

(Why did ISIS make a full-length movie? Because they couldn’t find an editor.)

This film is aimed at recruiting fighters. ISIS claims to be fighting the United States, to have long been the core of the resistance to the United States, and to be defeating troops armed with U.S. weapons. (ISIS never mentions that its own “beloved” weapons come from various infidels, including the U.S.) Here’s the ISIS pitch to recruits:

Join us in fighting the evil empire. If you die you’ll go to paradise. The afterlife is far longer and more important than this life. “Unshakable faith” is the “most effective weapon of war.” Come join “Allah’s soldiers” and experience courage, excitement, vengeance, adrenaline, the thrill of victory, and martyrdom. Never mind that our movie is so boring, the fighting is really fun, and Allah is guiding our RPGs!

Of course, ISIS is mistaken. God does not have time to be guiding their RPGs when he’s busy making sure the football team that prays the loudest wins each game. And of course Obama has told us that “No religion condones the killing of innocents,” forgetting that all the religions of Moses contain this teaching: “Kill every male among the little ones and Kill every woman that has known man by lying with him. But all the women children that have not known a man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves” — forgetting in fact that all of these religions have violent and peaceful traditions but venerate as holy ancient texts from a barbaric age and teach as essential the idea that there is another magical world that matters more than this one whose climate we are destroying. Sing it, soldiers!

Here’s the ISIS pitch to the U.S. government:

We will accept only victory or death, just like Patrick Henry, and we will fight you. Fighting you builds our movement because people hate you so much after the past decades of your attacks. We have no doubt that you are stupid enough to fight us if we keep insulting you.

Here’s their pitch to opponents:

Oppose us, and we will make you dig your own grave on camera, because we are so courageous and brave that we wear masks to hide out faces and shoot anybody we don’t know how to talk to.

Here’s their pitch to Hollywood:

We’ve got dramatic potential. Sure, make us the bad guys, but put us on the silver screen. We’re not as slick and convincing as a White House video news release aired by an “independent” media outlet, but we’re way more dramatic. We only have a narrator, no actual characters, but we’re still more entertaining than C-Span, and the weapons makers are going to absolutely love us — just check with them about funding. Then die, you faithless dogs.

David Swanson wants you to declare peace at http://WorldBeyondWar.org  His new book is War No More: The Case for Abolition. He blogs athttp://davidswanson.org and http://warisacrime.org and works for http://rootsaction.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @davidcnswanson and FaceBook. 

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