I looked up the definition of terrorism because ever since I can remember I have heard the word discussed in the news but I never really knew what it meant, other than people far away doing terrible thing and I didn’t know why. The best definition I could find is;
- The use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.
- The state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or,
- A terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.
I thought this was a good definition because each bullet talks about essentially the same theme, violence, intimidation, fear and resisting. So now I had an idea of what terrorism was but what this definition does not tell me is, who are the terrorist, what do they do, what motivates them, what are their tactics and what do they want?
Terrorism has changed over the past number of years even though terrorism dates back for many centuries it did not become well understood or debated until fairly recently. Terrorism is much more prevalent in my life time as opposed to my parents or grandparents lifetime. In order to understand this topic I studied the following group;
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria: ( ISIS ) ISIS is very well known because it has often used social media to show beheadings of both soldiers and civilians, including journalists and aid workers, and its destruction of cultural heritage.
Who Is ISIS?
- ISIS is a brutal terrorist group and it was even disowned by al-Qaeda (Osama bin Laden terror group ). ISIS has occupied Iraq’s third largest city, Mosul. They murder innocent people, including children and women and use beheadings and rape as a terror tactic.
What Crimes have they committed?
- ISIS posts images / video’s on line showing executions, beheadings and torture. They target anyone, including other Muslims that disagree with them.
How is ISIS funded?
- ISIS uses brutal intimidations methods to extort money from local businesses and they use revenue from captured oil fields. ISIS also receives funds from private donors that sympathize with the cause.
How has ISIS become successful?
- Looking at ISIS it is clear that they are trying to become bigger and more successful, and they are learning how to do this by innovating, they exploit new technology, they learn from one another, imitate successful tactics, produce manuals of instruction based on experience.
ISIS has made it very clear what their ultimate goal is : They want a global caliphate, which is an Islamic form of government.
- They want this caliphate to unite the entire Muslim world.
- ISIS claims their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is a direct descendant of Islamic prophet Muhammad, and this is where his authority comes from.
- ISIS wants to expand its existing hold over much of Iraq and Syria.
- ISIS wants to continue its Holy War and expand it to all of Europe and America.
- ISIS wants to lead all Muslims toward an apocalyptic battle against the “disbelievers.”
While ISIS is trying to become bigger and more successful there is a coalition of world powers that is trying to destroy ISIS. There have been many military successes against ISIS and now ISIS is not the all-conquering military force it once was. Continued success against ISIS and groups like it cannot only have a military solution it requires having the ideology of ISIS being replaced with better political solutions and idea’s that the people in these regions can believe in. ISIS will never vanish completely even it loses al the land it presently has.
ISIS knows it under attack and cannot continue as it once did. ISIS will rely on what has made them successful and that is random acts of violence throughout the world. ISIS will now re invent itself and become a shadowy and desperate group which will make them even harder to find and destroy.
One of the most concerning facts about ISIS is its global reach. A great deal of the fighters in ISIS eventually return to their home countries, and they are a real dangerous threat when they are there. ISIS also has more than 30 other terrorist groups around the world, the most visible of which is Nigeria’s Boko Haram. Even if ISIS is totally destroyed their beliefs and idea’s are not destroyed and these affiliated groups will be motivated to step up their own acts of terror and fill the void.
