Black Flag Down: Counter-extremism, defeating ISIS and winning the battle of ideas

By: Liam Byrne

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Synopsis: The West is facing a terror threat unprecedented since the Cold War: a revolution in the accessibility of violence as ISIS, al Qaeda and their allies set out to build a 21st-century theocracy of seventh-century values, stretching from Portugal to Pakistan.We need to dramatically step up the fightback - yet we're at risk of plunging into our enemies' trap of divide and rule. At home, we risk becoming a suspicious society, scarred by Islamophobia, where British Muslims fear being seen as the enemy within. Online, we're fighting extremist recruiters on the digital battlefront with one hand tied behind our back. And in the Middle East, we lack the strategy or grand coalition needed to isolate and undermine our enemy in the battle of ideas.From Iraq to the streets of inner-city Birmingham, Liam Byrne MP brings together two years of fresh research with young British Muslims, frank interviews with intelligence and police officers, and frontline reports from the Middle East to answer the critical question: how do we defeat the new empire of intolerance? In this timely examination of the rise of ISIS, Byrne offers bold new answers for handling one of the biggest challenges of our time: bringing down the black flag of extremism.