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On the Origin of ISIS
Hussain Abdul-Hussain and Lee Smith write a great piece in the Weekly Standard to explain how the ISIS is different from other terror groups in the Middle East, and why failing to understand that means disaster for us.
In short: ISIS is tribal and has tribal concerns: land, power, connections, wealth. Their ideology is Salafist and their heritage is Sunni, but they're not interested in terror for terror's sake. Terror is a tool, one that they understand well and are happy to use. As is said in the article, "ISIS is not a classic insurgency, nor a non-state actor. Rather, it's a state-building organization.”
ISIS is building a caliphate. It has taken advantage of the power vacuum in Iraq and Syria. It is following a millennia-old rule book on the acquisition and leveraging of power in the region. It rigorously follows its ideology. It uses its understanding of tribal relations. But what they want is something that in the end is very rational for someone in the Middle East: a homeland in which Allah (their version) rules all the faithful through a caliph.
Highly recommended. |
Posted by: Steve White 2014-08-31 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=398883 |
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