There is very little we can do in the short term. We have to understand the reasons why ISIS are targeting the west. They have a multiple pronged approach:
- Provoke the west to further attacks on Muslims. Ideally the
deaths of Muslims in Muslim lands should include innocents.
Drone strikes and bombings are good, because it helps them
turn the local people to their side.
- Provoke the west to hatred and bigotry of the greyzone
Muslims (moderates) living in the west. Ideally they feel
further marginalised and excluded. They need to be turned to
fight for the caliphate, or be killed with the rest of the
'kuffār' (western non-believers).
- Provide young impressionable marginalised Muslim male youths
with 'heroic' role models. Ghettoes in Paris where the 2005
riots took place are an ideal breeding ground for
marginalization. Most are unemployed, have no education and
no opportunities.
- Removal of despotic dictators from Muslim lands. Promoting
instability, unemployment and isolation improves the chances
of additional soldiers to join the fight.
I highly recommend an article called "THE EXTINCTION OF THE GRAYZONE" [1]:
The Muslims in the West will quickly find themselves between
one of two choices, they either apostatize and adopt the
kufrī religion propagated by Bush, Obama, Blair, Cameron,
Sarkozy, and Hollande in the name of Islam so as to live
amongst the kuffār without hardship, or they perform hijrah
to the Islamic State and thereby escape persecution from the
crusader governments and citizens.
This shows how the aim is two end up with two sides. No greyzone. Finally this highlights what we are up against:
As the world progresses towards al-Malhamah al-Kubrā, the
option to stand on the sidelines as a mere observer is being
lost. As those with hearts diseased by hypocrisy and bid’ah
are driven towards the camp of kufr, those with a mustard
seed of sincerity and Sunnah are driven towards the camp of
īmān.
Muslims in the crusader countries will find themselves
driven to abandon their homes for a place to live in the
Khilāfah, as the crusaders increase persecution against
Muslims living in Western lands so as to force them into a
tolerable sect of apostasy in the name of “Islam” before
forcing them into blatant Christianity and democracy.
Muslims in the lands ruled by the apostate tawāghīt will
find themselves driven to the wilāyāt of the Islamic State,
as the tawāghīt increase their imprisonment of any Muslim
they think might have a mustard seed of jealousy for his
religion, or lead them to apostatize by working as agents,
soldiers, and puppets serving the banner of the tāghūt.
Mujāhidīn in the lands of jihād will find themselves driven
to join the ranks of the Khilāfah, or forced to wage war
against it on the side of those willing to cooperate with
the munāfiqīn and murtaddīn against the Khilāfah. If they do
not execute these treacherous orders, they will be
considered khawārij by their leaders and face the sword of
“independent” courts infiltrated by the Sufis, the Ikhwān,
and the Salūlī sects.
Eventually, the grayzone will become extinct and there will
be no place for grayish calls and movements. There will only
be the camp of īmān versus the camp of kufr.
ISIS believe in a prophesy. They are trying to make it come true. If you look at the list of things above, we are falling slowly into their hands, one step at a time.
The sad thing is that there is no quick fix. We could leave the middle east and stop interfering. It would be a good first step to defusing tensions based on our presence there, but it would simply open the door to ISIS at the moment, leaving a vacuum for them to fill.
If we go full out war, with boots on the ground then we end up joining a fight that we cannot win.
I've heard calls to "nuke them back to the stone age". That's great, but many of them are living amongst us. Paris has had several terrorist attacks and the vast majority of the attacks were French born. The same went for the attacks in London.
Long term we need to add to the grey zone. In fact we need to westernise and have inclusive policies to make sure the marginalized Muslim youth (in fact all disenfranchised youths) are included in society. They need to see that they have a future.
The best thing we can do is to train them and employ them, making them valuable members of society and giving them something to feel proud of.
At the moment, poisonous Mullahs are doing that job a hell of a lot better than we are.
[1] Source: THE EXTINCTION OF THE GRAYZONE: https://archive.is/VE0jj#selection-459.1-463.388