Jordan has proper response to Islamic State’s evildoing

If you haven’t watched the video released by Islamic State that purportedly shows a captured Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a cage, do so. It is the manifestation of pure evil, and it also explains why Jordan has acted so swiftly and so deliberately.

King Abdullah II, who has portrayed the campaign against IS extremists as a battle over Islamic values, was in Washington on a previously scheduled trip when the video was beamed around the world. Abdullah added a stop at the White House for a meeting with President Barack Obama.

The monarch broadcast a speech on Jordanian TV on Tuesday evening, confirming the pilot’s death “with sorrow and anger,” and urging his countrymen to unite.

“It’s the duty of all of us to stand united and show the real values of Jordanians in the face of these hardships,” he said. The king cut short his trip to the United States.

President Obama said the Islamic State group’s video, if authentic, showed “the viciousness and barbarity of this organization.”

“And it, I think, will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of a global coalition to make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated,” he added.

Obama later issued a statement offering condolences, saying the pilot’s “dedication, courage, and service to his country and family represent universal human values that stand in opposition to the cowardice and depravity of ISIL, which has been so broadly rejected around the globe.”

The Islamic State group is known variously by the acronyms ISIL, ISIS and, in Arabic, Daesh.

The release of the video came in the wake of the beheading of a Japanese journalist who was captured by IS in Syria while attempting to rescue another Japanese reporter. He, too, was killed.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who declared himself “speechless” over the slayings, insisted that Japan would not “give in to terrorism” and reiterated the nation’s continued participation in the international effort to bring Islamic State to its knees.

Abe said Japan would work alongside the coalition partners to make sure the Islamic terrorists “pay for their sins.”

But, the burning death of Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbe is a clear indication that the current campaign against IS is having limited success.

King Abdullah’s decision to execute prisoners linked to terrrorist organizations, including al-Qaida, is not only the appropriate response to al-Kaseasbe’s death, but will send a clear message that the days of restraint are over.

Female bomber

The hanging of al-Qaida prisoner Sajida al-Rishawi, the 44-year-old Iraqi woman who participated in the triple Amman hotel bombings in 2005, was swift and necessary. It showed that Jordan and other countries in the Middle East will not be intimidated by IS’ brutality and immorality.

Al-Rishawi’s belt did not detonate at the time of the bombings and she fled the scene. She was quickly arrested, but after confessing on televison, she recanted. Her appeal was turned down.

It is noteworthy that the video showing the Jordanian pilot being burned beyond recognition features militants — with their faces mostly hidden. It is a commentary on the cowardice that’s evident whenever such acts of brutality are committed. It’s easy to be a terrorist anonymously.

But the absence of identifiable targets should not dissuade the international coalition from launching search and destroy missions.

The world knows what must be done to get rid of this scourge. King Abdullah of Jordan has sent the right message — with the executions of the terrorists and the aerial bombings on Thursday and Friday of IS strongholds in Iraq.

Other nations should follow Abdullah’s lead.