
Now that the US along with other world powers are escalating the war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, it is important for the public to have better insight into how this terrorist group thinks, operates and how their ideology influences their tactics. In order to successfully defeat this evil, we cannot repeat past unproductive straegies in the middle east due to our failures to grasp the intricacies of these Islamic extremist groups throughout the middle east regions. This is the first blog in a series focusing on the subject of ISIS.
We need to know our enemy. The best research on the subject of ISIS has been published in the March 2015 edition of “The Atlantic” in a lengthy report authored by Graeme Wood. The author answers the questions of what is ISIS; where did they come from; and what are their intentions, which few western leaders seem to know and understand. The following excerpts are from Graeme Wood’s work:

” In December, The New York Times published confidential comments by Major General Michael K. Nagata, the Special Operations commander for the United States in the Middle East, admitting that he had hardly begun figuring out the Islamic State’s appeal. “We have not defeated the idea,” he said. “We do not even understand the idea.” In the past year, President Obama has referred to the Islamic State, variously, as “not Islamic” and as al-Qaeda’s “jayvee team,” statements that reflected confusion about the group, and may have contributed to significant strategic errors.The group seized Mosul, Iraq, last June, and already rules an area larger than the United Kingdom.”

“Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been its leader since May 2010, but until last summer, his most recent known appearance on film was a grainy mug shot from a stay in U.S. captivity at Camp Bucca during the occupation of Iraq. Then, on July 5 of last year, he stepped into the pulpit of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, to deliver a Ramadan sermon as the first caliph in generations—upgrading his resolution from grainy to high-definition, and his position from hunted guerrilla to commander of all Muslims. The inflow of jihadists that followed, from around the world, was unprecedented in its pace and volume, and is continuing.”



“The most-articulate spokesmen for that position are the Islamic State’s officials and supporters themselves. They refer derisively to “moderns.” In conversation, they insist that they will not—cannot—waver from governing precepts that were embedded in Islam by the Prophet Muhammad and his earliest followers. They often speak in codes and allusions that sound odd or old-fashioned to non-Muslims, but refer to specific traditions and texts of early Islam.”
“To take one example: In September, Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the Islamic State’s chief spokesman, called on Muslims in Western countries such as France and Canada to find an infidel and “smash his head with a rock,” poison him, run him over with a car, or “destroy his crops.” To Western ears, the biblical-sounding punishments—the stoning and crop destruction—juxtaposed strangely with his more modern-sounding call to vehicular homicide. (As if to show that he could terrorize by imagery alone, Adnani also referred to Secretary of State John Kerry as an “uncircumcised geezer.”)”
“The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic. Yes, it has attracted psychopaths and adventure seekers, drawn largely from the disaffected populations of the Middle East and Europe. But the religion preached by its most ardent followers derives from coherent and even learned interpretations of Islam.”

“Virtually every major decision and law promulgated by the Islamic State adheres to what it calls, in its press and pronouncements, and on its billboards, license plates, stationery, and coins, “the Prophetic methodology,” which means following the prophecy and example of Muhammad, in punctilious detail. Muslims can reject the Islamic State; nearly all do. But pretending that it isn’t actually a religious, millenarian group, with theology that must be understood to be com-batted, has led the United States to underestimate it and back foolish schemes to counter it. We’ll need to get acquainted with the Islamic State’s intellectual genealogy if we are to react in a way that will not strengthen it, but instead help it self-immolate in its own excessive zeal.”
Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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GRAZIE MILLE!! THANKS A MILLION FOR ALL YOUR GRACIOUS SUPPORT AND FOR THIS REBLOG.
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Can’t wait to read the rest
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Thanks for your kind comment.
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Get educated on ISIS ….. take a look here!!
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GRAZIE MILLE!! As always, i am grateful for all your generous support and thank you for this reblog.
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You’re most welcome … always!! Peace …
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