The Struggle Of A Totalitarian Movement

ISIS or commonly known as “ISIL” poses a huge threat to the United States today. Currently as the National Interest says “ISIS currently controls thousands of square miles of ungoverned territory”(Gottlieb 2017).

From the time when the United States invaded Iraq eleven years ago, a noxious insurgence aeriated at numerous customs of conflict which has attested irrepressible, malleable, and tenacious strive to convey on hostility. A nation of Saddam and al-Zarqawi, Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) reins a third of conjointly Syria and Iraq in its charisma avowed bravura of war. Around the beginning of 2010, U.S. and Iraqi forces destroyed two topmost al-Qaeda and Iraq frontrunners; which then sanctioned Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to become the spearhead of an assemblage destabilized by a strenuous operation directed at culminating a Sunni uprising in the country (CNN, 2015). By virtually all provision, Iraq is entangled in civil war. In addition, ISIS has engrossed nearly twelve thousand supporters from overseas already and at least three thousand devotees are from the West (Feroli & Dulin, 2013).

But, ISIS on the other hand requires territory to remain legitimate. This group is also very traditional when it comes to their religion and practices. While Al Qaeda was a modern group with modern political views, ISIS has a tendency to stick to old fashioned Islam, speaking in terms and phrases that Islamic people now don’t understand or relate to. Their leaders have said that they will not and cannot abandon the governing precepts that were embedded in Islam by the prophet Muhammad and his earliest followers (Wood, 2015). They believe that out of entire Islamic culture, they are the most radical and accurate Islamists there are because they do refer back to the origination of Islam. All of their decisions, actions, etc. are referred back to and based off of the Prophetic Methodology which is the following of the prophecy by Muhammad. Muslims have a book called the Koran that is filled with specific rules and guidelines that are to be followed. It states that crucifixion is one of the only punishments for anyone who objects or disagrees with the Islamic, Sunni religion. The ninth chapter orders them to fight Christians and Jews until they pay their Jizya or tax with complete submission. The prophet Muhammad is the one who created the Koran and all that it entails. ISIS takes the Koran very seriously. More seriously than any Islamic group ever has. It’s almost as if they have an obsession with following the rules that Muhammad has set

ISIS is a totalitarian movement that existed before the caliphate and can continue to exist without it. The secret to dealing with totalitarian movements is to destroy the movement's inner cadre. Otherwise, the cadre simply recruits more

“The emergence of terrorism in a new form has sent tremors of anxiety around the globe. ISIS, the self-proclaimed Islamic state and caliphate, has redefined the meaning of terror by combining relentless barbarism with military skill, religious bigotry, unprecedented affluence and the shrewd use of video and social media” (FulFord, 2014). If you do not join them, you are against them and they will use any measure necessary even beyond our thinking to strike fear into anyone that chooses to oppose them and their ideology. They will go to any extreme to accomplish their goal even if it means to take you and the rest of the world out one area at a time. They are estimated to have at least 31,000 fighters (DePetris, 2014). One of the major things that stands out for IS is that they are able to not only capture large territories, but to maintain those territories and establish Islamic caliphate. Not only did they do this, but also they accomplished this in the very heart of the Arabic world. This is something no other terrorist organization has been able to accomplish. They did this through several massive killings of over 200 plus people at one time, beheadings and executions (DePetris, 2014). This by far appears to be the most dangerous group of terrorist in the world

ISIS is a serious threat that most of the world knows about, although not a lot know about their origin or who and how they started. ISIS is a direct result of the 9/11 counter attack that was authorized by Bush in 2007. The push against Al Qaeda forces was all in all successful the majority of Al Qaeda Groups were destroyed. During the Arab springs a lot of rebel group's ranks were filled with Former Al Qaeda members. What was left of Al Qaeda leaders saw this and took advantage, they created a splinter cell called Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). AQI was lead by a man named Zaqueri who led AQI. The splinter cell did not last very long and once again fell apart. From the ashes of AQI formed a new organization of jihadist was formed this was called Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). ISI fought as a militia group to break free from a tyrannical ruler, but fights against other rebel groups and their fight has changed from rebels fighting for their rights to a jihadist group that is fighting a holy war. They have taken land up through Syria changing the name of this horrific war cult of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). There are a few things that need to happen

ISIS owes its rise and survival in great part to, as you can see in the above video, the political disintegration of Syria and Iraq. Sunni Arabs in both countries, disillusioned and long abused, tolerated ISIS just long enough for it to move in and seize territory. The Syrian military is too focused on fighting rebels to focus on ISIS, which Assad tolerates in any case. The Iraqi military is too hollowed out by the state's 2003 collapse and the Iraqi government's growing corruption to do much

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, known as ISIS, has become a major threat as an organized militaristic terrorist organization. ISIS was not even a threat as much as 10 years ago, but since then this organization has formed and become an increasingly violent group, making public demonstrations of the beheadings of innocent people, baiting western nations. By taking trained terrorist and organizing them, ISIS has been able to form a military, thus making a real militaristic threat; this has allowed ISIS create it’s own state and maintain it’s borders. The historically recent development of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has taken a step further than infamous terrorist groups such as it’s former partner al Qaeda and become

The enfeebled state of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) has magnified ISIL’s reputation and confidence, temporarily masking its own weaknesses and vulnerabilities. ISIL is still riding a wave of military successes, but its opponents are recovering and drawing upon increasing international support. Its offensive power has tended to diminish as it approaches majority Shia or Kurdish-populated areas . Momentum has tremendous value in war, but it is fragile, and ISIL may be forced to gradually surrender the strategic initiative in Iraq, as it has done on individual Iraqi battlefields such as Kirkuk, which held against ISIL thrusts in mid-June, and Makhmour, which was retaken from ISIL on August 10. The group’s leadership is clearly comprised of talented deliberate planners, capable of crafting far-sighted political-military campaigns that are resilient enough to survive the deaths of their progenitors. Yet the pace of the war against ISIL is accelerating, and the group’s ability to continually shape and control the conflict will be sorely tested. Although they may boast a deep bench of talented individuals following years of prisoner releases, prison breaks and recruitment, leadership casualties will nonetheless complicate their ability to hold the initiative in the

It is explicit that free world governments have to neutralize self-proclaimed jihadist extremist militant organization the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Today, ISIL controls significant areas of Syria and Iraq and small part of territory of Libya, Nigeria and Afghanistan. Number of ISIL's troops amounts up to 200 thousand soldiers. ISIL makes war on UN, EU, USA, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria and around 60 other governments that defined it as a terrorist organisation. However, ISIL opponents, instead of creating the single international coalition, divided into the many scattered coalitions that refuse to work together. Air strikes of US-led coalition on extremists on the territory of Iraq and those of other opponents of

Every bombing every assassination is holding the world in fear. What the world wants to know is why is ISIS so dangerous? ISIS is very dangerous because of their mobility. They are also ruthless and extremely violent. Their laws are strict and absolute; often utilizing archaic methods of punishment not seen in the modern era. For example, thieves are punished by their hands being cut off. ISIS has turned Iraq into a bloody battlefield. It is clear that Iraq’s military cannot handle ISIS. According to the Atlantic Journal “Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” to discuss the recent fall of Ramadi, one of Iraq’s major cities, to ISIS. Despite possessing substantial advantages in both numbers and equipment, he said, the Iraqi military was unable to prevent ISIS forces from capturing the city.”(Schieva,2015)Iraq’s Ministry of Defence has shown time and time again that the don’t have the dedication nor the strength to deal with this threat. On the other hand, we have the Hashd al-Shaabi that has demonstrated they can resist they ISIS menace. According to Time Magazine “Their successes, seemingly lightning fast and absolute, were a stark contrast to the laborious work of the Iraqi army’s elite forces in Mosul’s eastern suburbs, where territory was being. wrestled from ISIS inch by inch. Rumbling to the frontlines in pickups and dump trucks, the Hashd fighters were ebullient. They were rolling over ISIS with ease, and they wanted the world to know it.” (Khan,2017) The Hashd al-Shaabi has proven itself to be effective against ISIS. It’s not their equipment that makes them deadly it is their mobility and the same resolve to destroy the other side as ISIS that makes them an elite fighting force. Think of The Hashd al Shaabi as a weapon and by using this weapon they are increasing their chances of winning against ISIS tenfold. But, if they refuse to accept and use this weapon they are

The short-term solution to ISIS, if one exists, would be an opposing force made up of fighters from the same communities ISIS is trying to rule and lead in its primary domain: Sunni Arabs from eastern Syria and western Iraq. ISIS thrives on conflict and enemies: Shiites and Alawites, Christians, Jews, liberal Westerners. It couldn’t credibly make such claims if it were only fighting the locals. There would be no legitimate references to Iranian (Shiite) power, European colonialism and the Sykes-Picot agreement, Crusaders, or the United States, if Shiite and Christian forces were not involved. In an earlier form (al-Qa‘idah in Iraq, or “AQI”), ISIS was defeated in precisely this way. This was the Anbar Awakening, in which local Sunni

holds territory, fighting against military forces and controls sources of income (such as oil fields).

In July of 2014, ISIS blew up a Muslim shrine as an act of terror and violence. Again they attempted to terrorize the local people of Iraq when they blew up another ancient mosque later the same month. The ISIS terrorist group is an extremist Muslim organization that is capitalizing off the fear and confusion of the Syrian Civil War. For the past five years, ISIS has waged war on the Syrian government as well as any other group that does not conform to their extreme ways of life. Their tactics for control are aggressive and extreme; public beheading, fear mongering, and destruction of local historical and religious sites. The destruction of these sites is done in an iconoclastic manor; yet, they also use the destruction to push their

ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, is also known as ISIL, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The Levant refers to a larger region of the Middle East, therefore involving more countries other than Syria. President Obama refers to this malicious, relentless terrorist group as such due to their threat in multiple areas in the Middle East. This truly establishes the multitude of the presence of ISIS in this area. However, ISIS refuses to limit the countries in their path of destruction to simply the Middle East, but has made convincing threats to America, namely the members of our armed forces, (“Beheading Video Sends Brutal Message”) and the American population in general. ISIS pursued their threats to maintain and sustain growth of their caliphate by the killing of two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff. This has certainly caused America to consider the level of seriousness of ISIS and determine the extensiveness of their plans. The United States plays a pivotal role in limiting the power and harm inflicted on its own population, as well as the global population by this terrorist group. An effective course of action must be taken against this group to ensure the safety of our citizens. The United States should primarily seek to utilize their armed forces as opposed to air strikes to successfully eliminate ISIS, and must engage with ISIS in order to ensure its demise for the safety of the global population.