The Islamic State Of Iraq And Al Sham - 1471 Words

Joshua Bacon Ed Rowe American Security Overview 26 January 2016 The Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), follows a distinct variety of Islam whose beliefs about the path to the Day of Judgment define its strategy, and can help the West know its enemy and predict its behavior. Its rise to power is less like the triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (a group whose leaders the Islamic State considers apostates) than like the realization of a dystopian alternate reality. The White House has consistently said that it aims to destroy the Islamic State. For more than a year, limited U.S. airstrikes have poked at the terrorist group to little avail. ISIS still controls half of Syria and nearly a third†¦show more content†¦Peter Bergen, who interviewed bin Laden in 1997, titled his first book Holy War, Inc. in part to acknowledge bin Laden as a creature of the modern secular world. Bin Laden corporatized terror and franchised it out. He requested specific political concessions, such as the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Saudi Arabia. His foot soldiers navigated the modern world confidently. Before terrorist Mohamed Atta’s was executed by the U.S., he shopped at Walmart and ate dinner at Pizza Hut on his last full day of life. If we had identified the Islamic State’s intentions early, and realized that the vacuum in Syria and Iraq would give it ample space to carry them out, we could/should have pushed Iraq to harden its border with Syria and preemptively make deals with its Sunnis. That would have prevented Iraq’s third-largest city from falling under ISIS control. Yet, just over a year ago, President Obama told The New Yorker that he considered ISIS to be al-Qaeda’s weaker partner. â€Å"If a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,† the president said. Our failure to appreciate the split between the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, and the essential differences between the two, has led to dangerous decisions. As an example, last fall, the U.S. government consented to a desperate plan to save American aid worker Peter Kassig’s life. The plan required interaction of