Rory Stewart, perhaps one of the best political historians around and an expert on the origins of conflict in the Middle East, has said that British IS fighters are so full of hate that they should be killed, rather than be allowed back into the UK. Unfortunately Stewart is also a government minister, so his pronouncement is a declaration of government policy.
There is no doubt that public support for this ruthless analysis will be widespread. The important question is will it make our homeland safer? The important issues are that such a policy rather flies in the face of who we think we are and what sort of civilisation it is we wish to promote. It is also unclear how this policy is to be implemented. Drone strikes and battle casualties will be the main stay, but suppose they re-enter the UK what then? Shoot them as they arrive? Try them for Treason, which still carries the death penalty? Is this really what we want?
The profile of these radicalised young people is almost all one of exclusion and deprivation. Many who have thus far survived regret their involvement with IS and want to return home. They aspire to moving on from their participation in this savage ideology. Killing them would do no good. Rather it would do much harm because it would transform them from perpetrators to victims and act as a powerful recruiting tool for new converts. Because they will have friends and family who will be dismayed and from among them new fanatics will emerge.
So we need to think about this rather carefully. The Middle East is a beacon for drastic action by the West which has exacerbated problems and made things worse. Summary killings of misguided young people undermines our own humanity, becoming in itself a perverted terrorist victory. We surely do not want that. We must have a programme of rehabilitation. It is the companion of any initiative to halt radicalisation.