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Iraq
Krauthammer: Interpreting The Islamic State's Jihadi Logic
2014-09-20
[WaPo]
Key paragraphs:
They count on Barack Obama quitting the Iraq/Syria campaign just as he quit Iraq and Libya in 2011 and is in the process of leaving Afghanistan now. And this goes beyond Obama. They see a post-9/11 pattern: America experiences shock and outrage and demands action. Then, seeing no quick resolution, it tires and seeks out leaders who will order the retreat. In Obama, they found the quintessential such leader.

As for the short run, the Islamic State knows it will be pounded from the air. But it deems that price worth paying, given its gains in propaganda and prestige -- translated into renown and recruiting -- from these public executions.

We tend to forget that at this stage in its career, the Islamic State's principal fight is intramural. It seeks to supersede and supplant its jihadi rivals -- from al-Qaeda in Pakistan, to Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria, to the various franchises throughout North Africa -- to emerge as champion of the one true jihad.

The strategy is simple: Draw in the world's great superpower, create the ultimate foil and thus instantly achieve supreme stature in radical Islam as America's nemesis.
Posted by:trailing wife

#4  
The problem with Islam is that the great mass of Moslems do not differentiate between the pronouncements of a well educated scholar and some ignorant, illiterate goat-herding Imam.


To be fair, there is no difference between them.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2014-09-20 23:32  

#3  The Muslims are already protesting the U.S. presence in Iraq and the so-called intervention regarding ISIS. We should give them something to really bitch about.
Posted by: JohnQC   2014-09-20 18:08  

#2  The problem with Islam is that the great mass of Moslems do not differentiate between the pronouncements of a well educated scholar and some ignorant, illiterate goat-herding Imam. Hence, with their cultural paranoia cultivated by the Quran, Moslems have been cultivated by their leadership since WWII to knee jerk on anything smacking of Western interference.

The best and brightest of Islam can cheer for the death of ISIL and one degenerate toothless goon can issue a fatwa against the US bombing ISIL and you will have riots in the streets of London in favor of ISIL.
Posted by: Bill Clinton   2014-09-20 12:45  

#1  The strategy is simple: Draw in the world's great superpower, create the ultimate foil and thus instantly achieve supreme stature in radical Islam as America's nemesis.

Difficult to employ this strategy if they cease to exist. IMO Many Muslims would like to see the threat of ISIS go away.
Posted by: JohnQC   2014-09-20 10:45  

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