ISIS Hit List

The United States is fronting the conflict against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant; therefore, we feel strongly inclined to support the inhibition of online recruiting tactics used by ISIL. Previous attempts to thwart the online presence of ISIL have been misguided and incomprehensive - and have thus faltered against high expectations. Our reasoning for this stance is because in the past year alone, an estimated hundreds of recruits have joined ISIL through online mediums - additionally, ISIL has encouraged and coaxed recruits into committing domestic

Although the Nazi regime did not have computers, the social influence of propaganda was still successful. Propaganda is used as a tool to manipulate and provoke behaviors to further the intentions of the group. When people already have pre-existing beliefs, they are enhanced by propaganda, which makes it a useful, but dangerous tool when the intentions of the group are to harm those who have different beliefs. Similar to the Nazis, the intentions of ISIS is to protect the land and, according to the Quran, only Muslims may live in the caliphate while obeying and promoting their government efforts. Many online ISIS supporters will never actually come into contact with ISIS soldiers, but the power of their social media support system is still strong enough to worry the U.S. government that they may have gained followers who reside on American soil and are a significant threat to national

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is a terrorist organization on the United States’ Foreign Terrorist watch list that has been able to successfully recruit both homegrown volunteers who stay with U.S. borders to commit terrorist acts on behalf of the organization, and foreign fighters who leave the United States to join Arms in Syria. Since March of two-thousand and fourteen one hundred and eleven individuals within the United States has been charged with offenses related to ISIS, fifty-eight have pleaded or were found guilty. The Islamic state of Iraq and Syria started as a rebel organization that has rapidly gained territory within Syria since 2014 and has proven to be somewhat revolutionary. From its ability to attract thousands of volunteers across sovereign state and international lines, to its resilience to sustained U.S- lead bombing campaigns and its regular spectacular acts of violence. (Kalyvas 2015) Although ISIS was not the perpetrators of the September eleven attacks, they have earned a number one spot as an international threat to many countries due to its ability to recruit homegrown extremist and foreign

The United States, with its coalition partners, has committed to degrade and destroy the terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). This group poses a threat to the people of the Middle East, as well as to the United States, our allies, and interests in the region. If this terrorist organization is left uninterrupted, ISIL will grow, threatening the surrounding areas of the Middle East, our allies abroad, and the United States.

Arguably the most famous event that made people aware of the terrorism acts emerging from the Middle East was the infamous 9/11 terrorists attacks carried out by al-Qaeda, which included over 3000 people killed in New York City and Washington D.C. That attracted a substantial amount of media coverage and stimulated the war on terrorism regarding the U.S. and Middle Eastern threats. In late March of last year, ISIS supporters released a list of about 100 names and pictures of U.S. military personnel, and their goal was to kill them and their families. News outlets immediately jumped on the story, even though the author of the list was anonymous. When writing about the threat, news stations informed readers about the common goals of an ultra terrorist group, not knowing that they may have accidentally fueled a “propaganda campaign” help ISIS further carry out their mission of recruitment. Fathali Moghaddam, a terrorism expert and professor of psychology at Georgetown University supports the idea that the coverage of the media has aided in the evolution of ISIS’ “Hollywoody” image (Fryer-Biggs). ISIS isn’t necessarily complaining about the amount of exposure they receive because the media’s news could be considered “add on” almost to their own forms of propaganda in which they are highly skilled with. “It has its own 24-hour channel [with attractive special

ISIS is a very unique phenomenon occurring in the Middle East. The United States Department of State has designated the entity a foreign terrorist organization (US Department of State 2014). The group is very different than the Islamic extremists that the United States has dealt with over the years. Instead of hiding in remote compounds and living secret lives amongst the general population, ISIS has conquered vast regions of Iraq and Syria. However, ISIS does share similarities with other Islamic terrorist organizations. Several of these terror groups have attacked the United States in the past. Some attempts were unsuccessful, but others were successful. The United States must realize that ISIS is the newest threat to national security and the hindrance to the stabilization of the Middle East. Politicians and counterterrorism operatives must realize that at some point, ISIS will attempt an attack on the United States. Fortunately, the United States has a vast collection of data on Islamic extremists and there organizations. It is possible that the key to creating a counterterrorism strategy exists in the data that has been gathered about other Islamic terror groups. If the objectives and themes of ISIS match that of terror groups that the United States has previously prevented terror attacks from, then perhaps a similar strategy can be effective.

Over 2,000 people have been killed by attacks carried out by ISIS. ISIS or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria are an islamic extremist group located throughout the middle eastern region but have influence world wide. Their attacks have affected countries including the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. Their attacks have been occurring for years but the reached a major tipping point after they killed over 150 people in one night in Pairs. The Syrian region where ISIS mainly resides has been involved in a Civil war since 2011 and has seemingly had no break. The war has also been a large political battle even outside of Syrian powers as Russia and the United States back key players.

These groups utilize the media platforms to preach the jihadi movement, as well as releasing propaganda and weapons tutorials. Both of these groups have English magazines; the Al Qaeda’s English-language magazine, known as “Inspire,” and ISIS’s English-language magazine, called “Dabiq.” Many terrorist organizations are posting eulogies of martyred jihadist. With the hopes of encouraging other radical Muslims and using them as role models for Muslims around the world. With the growing use of social media, the terrorist has good reasons to take advantage of it. The terrorist’s channels are popular with its intended audience; this allows the organizations to be mainstream. Social media channels are user-friendly, dependable, free, and can be used anywhere in the world if you have data or are connected to the internet. Social networking allows terrorist to reach out to their intended targets no matter where they are located. Compared to the traditional way in which visitors had to come to the

This ruthless terror organization has recruiting strategies that are alarmingly effective. According to a spokesperson for the Islamic Army, “ISIS recruits approximately 20 new members a day, and most of the foreign fighters are between 15-20 years old” (Lu). ISIS tries to recruit younger people because they are more susceptible to being influenced by their terrorist ways. USA Today estimates ISIS has between 20,000 and 25,000 fighters (Tomlinson). There is no doubt that ISIS employs experienced media and marketing people, who have helped to spread and control their message. They create recruitment videos to show future members all the positives they will receive when they join. On top of these recruitment videos, they promise the reward of “playing an important role in something larger than yourself,” along with addressing any concern a potential recruit might have (Lu). Their media team also produces an “online English-language magazine called Dabiq that publishes propagandist articles and reports aimed to glorify the Islamic State” (Lu). ISIS also uses social media, such as Twitter and Instagram, to spread its message to potential followers. This makes it more difficult for the government to prevent ISIS from spreading their word because so many people use these social media

The Islamic State of Iraq utilizes social media to their advantage in order to recruit and spread propaganda. Why did they post a hit list of U.S. service members? Some argue that their tactics and techniques are meant to strike fear into people while drawing them into radicalization. The effects of ISIS uploading data on social media websites creates a psychological effect on people while also giving away capabilities of the organization to conduct cyber warfare. Some of the capabilities that they claim to have is the ability to hack government servers and databases but there is a lack of evidence supporting that claim. While most of the names on the list can be found on the public domain, ISIS claimed to have received the names through hacking

Domestic Terrorism; Homegrown Violent Extremists: When it comes to domestic terrorism, social media seems to also play a role in it. Many attacks the United States gave faced are usually bought by homegrown extremists. Homegrown extremists are “American or American residents who adopt the jihadist’s philosophy” (White, 2014 p.323). The internet is a driver that acts as an enabler, where terrorist’s organizations can share plans, information, targets, weapons, and recruit individuals. Another, propaganda found in the web is the Inspire online English language magazine, published by Al-Qaeda. This magazine is one if the many ways this organization uses the internet to reach an audience. This magazine has also even showed how to make bombs,

Motivations for recruits vary widely and surprisingly; motives vary partially depending on country of origin. “Foreign fighters from places like the United States and Western Europe were far more likely to be facing some sort of identity crisis, a desire for a personal sense of recognition that ISIS can provide. They were also more likely to be motivated by a rejection of Western culture… People who joined ISIS or similar groups from another Muslim country, however, were far more motivated by the perceived plight of the Syrian Sunnis.” (Tucker). One thing that ISIS did well was to spread its propaganda online. Not all recruits actually left their homelands to join; the recruits could be radicalized at home. “ISIS recruiting pitches on the Internet are warm and welcoming… They are expertly targeted to address real or imagined ambitions and grievances… to offer an attractive cause worth fighting for.” (Graham). ISIS uses its egregious ideology to sway people to join; they use their beliefs to build a sense of “us vs. them.” Propaganda is ISIS’ biggest weapon, with large numbers of people leaving their homelands to join it. As the group grows, we must wonder how the adversaries of ISIS are going to counter their propaganda and how to have the same reach as

Recently, much media attention has been given to the radical terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Police officers, soldiers, and people ran for their lives and fled from ISIS. More than 500,000 civilians from Mosul have fled since this attack. Thousands of people have become refugees because of ISIS. Following this attack ISIS took over multiple different cities in Iraq, including oil fields and gas fields. In the months of August and September of 2014 two U.S. journalist were beheaded by ISIS members in a video. Following these two executions, ISIS decapitated David Haines, Alan Henning, and Peter Kassig. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi states in an audio recording, “The U.S.-led coalition to destroy ISIS is "terrified, weak and powerless”, the coalition's effort has been a "failure" and the coalition will be "forced" to "send ground forces to their deaths and destruction,” (Alkhshali, Fantz, 2014). ISIS leaders are doing anything to destroy the United States and other countries. This terrorist group doesn’t only target westerns and communities in Iraq and Syria, they target young kids, boys and girls, and men and women. In northern Iraq, hundreds, even thousands of men and women from the Yezidi group were captured and taken. “Younger women and girls, some as young as 12, were separated from their parents and older relatives and sold, given as gifts or forced to marry [ISIS] fighters and supporters,” (Jamieson, 2014). There

This use of social media is a method that is beyond the strategical scope of the people fighting ISIS, especially the many government agencies trying to combat ISIS. This use of newer technology also makes use of the role that technology plays in the lives of ISIS’ recruitment demographic. The young people that ISIS is focused on bringing in are the group that makes the most use of social media and are the ones for whom social media both is an integral part of their lives and their main source of information. Where in the past the news may have reached someone by a newspaper or the evening news on television, now information and current events are available and transmitted through the internet, and now increasingly, viewed on social media. The 24 hours news cycle has news being created constantly, however with the growth and expansion of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, internet users are increasingly getting their news from their Facebook Timelines and Twitter feeds rather than through news sites. This means that instead of just