Mourning from the Caliphate: Daesh laments loss of media mastermind

Abu Maria al-Iraqi was killed in an US airstrike last year, but his memory lives on in the ‘Caliphate.’ Al-Iraqi was revered by Daesh as one of its most talented media experts, according to vocativ.

The terrorist group is commemorating the media man in a 25 minute video, which describes, among other things, how extremism was all in the family (he had multiple siblings who died in suicide attacks). Al-Iraqi apparently was one of the main guys responsible for filming stuff like the massacre of soldiers, beheadings of victims, and other promotional material/general atrocities for Daesh.

The media is one of Daesh’s most powerful weapons and is the main reason for its ability to recruit foreign soldiers and jihadi brides. As the group is an expert at taking advantage of political events to further its despicable causes, perhaps the best way to combat this media jihad is to pay it no mind. Psychologists have been telling news outlets for years not to give attention to perpetrators when covering heinous crimes—they say that any limelight gives the killers a twisted sense of recognition and can make other people follow their lead. Perhaps taking the same approach with Daesh is the key to stemming the flow of their media baloney.

LM

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