Jalal Abualrub
Edited September, 2018
The recent successes and
As stated, ISI started small in Iraq, then, slowly expanded as a jihadi gang vaguely affiliated with Al-Qa’idah. Like father, Al-Qa’idah, like
ISI campaign of extreme violence and destruction in Iraq has led the leadership of Al-Qa’idah in Afghanistan to criticize them harshly, just as Osama Bin Laden did when he harshly criticized the extreme horrific violence Zarqawi and his group committed in Iraq. It is such a pathetic state when Al-Qa’idah, which follows the extreme ways of their Khawarij ancestors by committing horrific crimes against Muslim civilians, in particular, and sometimes, against non-Muslims, would criticize one of its own sub-groups for being too bloody and too violent.
ISI, then, saw a unique opportunity in the conflict that has been raging in Syria for years. They went into Syria at full strength; they even changed their brand name, now calling themselves ISIL, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Greater Syria). At first, the so-called Free Syrian Army and its secularist allies, who the West now calls ‘moderates,’ and Syria’s Al-Qa’idah affiliate, Jabhat An-Nusrah, as well as other Syrian Islamic and secularist groups, thought that ISI would be an asset in the war against the murderous Alwai Shi`a regime of Bash-
How ISI Became ISIS then IS
Having only three letters in their name, ISI, they wanted more. In ‘S’yria, ISI found an ‘S’, added it to the ISI they already have, and they became ISIS. ISIL is just another way to name this group, wherein the ‘L’ stands for the Levant. However, ISIS seems to have recently misplaced some letters included in ISIS. They now call themselves, IS. After all, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, even though has more letters to it, is more restrictive than, the Islamic State. The latter can include the entire world, instead of just being limited to Iraq and Syria; a genius plan on par with the cartoon, Pinky and the Brain.
ISIS and the Western Connection
ISIS attracted herds of European, Australian, American, and other western men and women to its ranks. Thousands of new Muslims, and also
This amazing transformation happened without a transitional period of learning the religion they supposedly ascribe to; they simply went from having no knowledge in Islam to making major decisions on behalf of Islam and Muslims. Western jihadis joined ranks with multinational jihadi organizations mostly comprised of commoner Arabs and non-Arabs, along with so-called scholars who instructed them on Islam, Shari’ah, politics, jihad, war, and peace. Islam, jihad, and Islamic law seem to have become the domain of the deviant, the ignorant, and the Muslims in name only.
Blaming Islam for the errors of western jihadis is as ridiculous as it is funny, for these people did not have the time to learn Islam. If they qualify to be new Muslims, they do not qualify to be scholars on Islam or on its true practices and core values, including the correct methods of jihad. They do not represent the vast majority of Muslims who live in the West, whether converts or born Muslims. Like other modern-day jihadis, they do not represent Islam or Muslims.
Like Father Like Child
Again, like father like child, ISIS followed Al-Qa’idah’s footsteps: Same methods; same crimes that are mostly directed at other Muslims; mass murder; beheadings; suicide attacks on civilian gatherings, buildings, and marketplaces; belts exploding in masjids during Friday speeches; attacking schools; bombs placed in cars, trucks, even donkey and horse-carts; assassinations of tribal and religious leaders; attacking neutral non-Muslims, who lived peacefully among Muslims since the beginning of Islam; death; destruction. Almost the entire jihad career of today’s jihadis is criminally directed at Muslims. Today’s jihadis did not achieve victory for Islam or Muslims, just plain misery.
ISIS Military Doctrine: The Work of a Genius!
Again, like father like
For instance, during the early Islamic era, the Prophet of Allah, peace be on him, fought one enemy force at a time. However, the Battle of Al-Khandaq provides
Currently, the United States, the strongest military power in the world, has maintained a decades-old doctrine of being able to fight two wars at a time, not more. All countries, the United States included, try to avoid fighting multiple enemy forces at the same time. No sane leadership, whether political or military, wants to increase the number of enemy forces fighting them. Even the most powerful militaries in the world envision having the capability of fighting two wars at the same time, at most. It is not possible for any army, no matter its size or military capability, to efficiently fight three, four, or more enemy forces at the same time.
ISIS Military Doctrine: The More Enemies the Better!
ISIS Military Doctrine: Bring as many enemies as possible into the conflict; fight 10, 20, 30, 40, even 50 enemy forces at the same time. Like sister Khawarij groups, ISIS loves it, seeks it, and does it every time.
ISIS never was able to establish themselves as a stable government anywhere. Their fighters only number between 20,000 and 31,500, according to the CIA. Their local support is –at best- minimal and comes from a population that fears and dreads them. They never were able to defeat the mainly Shi`a Iraqi or Syrian armies or the Kurds. Yet, ISIS military strategy seems to call for bringing more enemies to the conflict, as if saying, “If you can’t defeat one enemy force, invite 49 more enemy forces: invite Shi`a armies of Iraq, Iran and Syria; invite Christians, Yazidis, Kurds, Sunni Arabs; invite American, French, British, Australian armies; invite the Russians; kill an aid worker from the Cameron (as ISIS did before), and (as they promised), the Cameron will join the war against you; invite everyone to war against you.”
What Can We Say?
It is not possible that any sane individual, let alone the entire leadership and members of a large group, would think this way. This is not normal. This is not logical. Do these Khawarij groups use drugs continuously, and so, their minds are shielded from rational behaviour?
As for the CIA, well, they seem to be having serious problems of their own. The CIA says that the military strength of ISIS is between 20,000 and 31,500. Not between 20,000 and 21,000; not between 20,000 and 25,000, but between 20,000 and 31,500. Where did they come up with this bizarre range between a general number and a larger yet specific number? Normally, one may estimate an army force to generally range between two numbers where the margin of difference is %5, even %10. The margin of difference here is more than %50. The larger number, 31,500, is so specific; the lesser number, 20,000, is so general. This is bizarre, to say the least.
Blatant Hypocrisy
In the pretext of fighting ISIS, Iraqi Sunni Muslims were again bombed by a coalition of tens of countries. Sunni Syrians were also attacked under the same pretext. Coalition forces used drones, military aircraft, cruise missiles, carpet bombings, and so forth. Ground troops, mainly the murderous gangs of Shi`a soldiers who comprise most of the Iraqi army, used artillery, tanks, surface to surface missiles, even fighter aircraft.
Still, it should be asked, what is wrong with some Muslims who support today’s jihadi groups, such as Al-Qa’idah, An-Nusrah, ISIS, Ash-Shabab, Boko Haram? Can they not see that these groups are a curse on Islam and Muslims? Do they not witness that wherever today’s jihadis go, western -Christian- armies follow them, followed by death, destruction, and plain misery?
A better question: What is wrong with the leadership and members of Al-Qa’idah, An-Nusrah, ISIS, Ash-Shabab, Boko Haram? Do they not realize that they have failed in every area where they started their jihad; that their methods are horrifically un-Islamic; that they never produce safety for the lives,
Finally, among the biggest crimes of today’s jihadis is the example they give to the world in the name of Islam. How can true Muslims call humankind to Islam, while the jihadis act so horribly against humankind in the name of Islam? How can true callers to Islam propagate the religion whose very name, among other things, means, ‘Peace,’ when today’s jihadis have so tarnished the image and goals of jihad that the mention of the word jihad has become synonymous to murder, suicide missions, mass killing, attacking civilians and capturing their girls for sale as slaves, and beheading? Once again, Islam and dedicated,