IS intends to take over the world. So does Al Qaeda. They just utilize different strategies towards approaching the same goal. Perhaps you should re-read the article and do a little research? And still... Your comment does not explain how anything I said was invalidated. It's both incomplete and irrelevant. BTW, if you think that IS has no intention of striking the West, then you are delusional. They talk about it constantly. They are constantly trying to expand. Did you actually read the article?
Oh, and Teen Wolf - the article is not completely accurate about several things. The author does some excellent reporting, but when he delves into opinion I think he is off on a few things (it is a Lefty rag, after all, so this is to be expected). For example, his belief and yours apparently that Al Qaeda a nd IS are enemies and cut from different cloth; they have disagreements about essentially strategy and tactics, but they want the same things, and their membership is very interchangeable. Read the following, please: Superbad: ISIS & Al Qaeda Joining Forces http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/16/superbad-isis-al-qaeda-may-be-merging.html ISIS and Al Qaeda Ready to Gang Up on Obama's Rebels http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/11/al-qaeda-s-killer-new-alliance-with-isis.html Of course IS is concerned with its local enemies - they are in the immediate vicinity. But they are very much aware that the West are their real enemies as well, and if you think that they are not going to strike out at us... Precisely why do you think they keep beheading westerners and posting it on Youtube? For the entertainment value? SMH...
The problem is not firepower. It is willpower. We simply don;t have the will to commit the resources it would require to take them out. We only have a handful of planes, troops, etc over there. All the firepower in the world doesn't make a bit of difference if you aren't willing to use it. Obama clearly regards IS as a distraction and wants them to just go away for the next two years. the man won't even acknowledge that they are Islamic, even when most of the shLt they are doing is drawn straight from the Koran. The administration is in total denial about them, and is planning on just dumping it in the next POTUS's lap. Unfortunately, the enemy gets a say in the matter, too.
Haven't been in here for a while. Typical leftist mental midget or a different variety? The claim that Al Qaeda and its offshoot IS are hopelessly at odds is a common claim made by leftists to try to absolve us of any responsibility for taking IS down. It's demonstrably untrue and absurd, but they still regularly try to trot it out.
I'm admittedly not well versed on the subject and I'll check out those links. But to answer your question the article implies it's to fulfill their end of times prophecies by drawing a western army into a battle in Syria.
I loled at the description of the Atlantic as a "lefty rag" while quoting the Daily Beast. Somebody's not following media sources very closely.
You should read the article -- it didn't say Daesh and Al Qaeda are hopelessly at odds -- it talks about the actual rift that exists between them, and criticizes the recent policies of the U.S. for dangerously creating a dialogue between the two groups in such a way that a reconciliation could have occurred, thus reuniting the groups and making them even more dangerous.
Oh come on, Both are lefty rags. Would you even bother clicking if I posted a story from The Weekly Standard or NRO?
Yes, that is a component of their thinking. They are drawing that straight from the Koran. But they really have no set timeline for it, and attacking the West is on both groups' agenda. It's simply a matter of priority. When I was in Iraq doing detainee operations, we were constantly finding training manuals depicting attacks on the West - aircraft, especially - in the AQI training manuals. They are obsessed with it, with striking out at us. AQI then is IS now - it's literally the exact same people. They are obsessed with attacking us. They understand that they need to carve out the caliphate, but at the same time they consider it their religious duty to attack infidels elsewhere as well and expand the caliphate. We are ultimately their main enemy. Once they eliminate the Shia apostates in Iran and elsewhere - in their minds - the West is the main enemy opposing the global caliphate. We are very definitely on their hit list, make no mistake. It's coming. The only question is when, where, and how bad it will be.
I did read that. And that was dumb. Our policy the past few years regarding both organizations has been pathetically incompetent. There is also no doubt at all that under certain circumstances - like fighting what both groups consider to be apostates or infidels - they most certainly will band together. They already have. At some point they are going to put their differences aside and join. Especially if IS is not destroyed. They will eventually rally under the IS banner and unite to destroy the common enemies of Islam - us.
We need a LOT more of this: Norwegian Muslims volunteer to protect synagogue http://www.timesofisrael.com/norwegian-muslims-volunteer-to-protect-synagogue/#ixzz3S9aDHm9d And we need a lot LESS apologism from leftists here in the West. Stop trying to deny what this is. Stop trying to pretend that Islamism isn't at the core of it. Stop excusing bad behavior. Stop blaming the West for Islam's pathologies. STOP IT. This demonstration is a beautiful example of what NEEDS to happen. Islam is not going to be eradicated. It doesn't need to be. It simply has to reconcile with the modern world. And I don't want to see ONE MORE leftist try to argue that it doesn't. I am tired of that, and it's pointless. And you are the first ones they will behead. So stop it. This is an issue we shoukld all be able to agree upon. If ever there was a common enemy it is these Islamists.
Oh BTW, some might have noticed that I don't call them ISIL, ISIS, or any of the other names that our government is trying to call them. They call themselves IS - the Islamic State. They do this for a reason, because there is only one Islamic State. There can be only one kaliph. As much as our current administration tries to, you cannot dissocaiate Islam from the Islamic State. Nearly everything they do is drawn straight from the Suras.They are far more Islamic than most "moderate" Muslims - who deviate from the original verses. Virtually everything they have done - the beheadings, the propaganda, the organ sales, the rapes, the mass murder, the enslavement, the jizya - outside of the pilot's burning has a strong literal basis in the Koran. Our government's attempts to deny this is not only ludicrous, it's dangerous. And recklessly irresponsible. They call themselves IS. I will call them IS. I will not deny what they are. The sooner we stop doing so the better. From Sun Tzu: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle" We are in the third category right now. Not a good place to be.
Nice try, but he was disturbed because he could not avoid being sent over to Iraq, despite much trying, so you can't claim it had nothing to do with American policy. Also IIRC correctly he was a psychiatrist and had probably heard his share of ptsd type horror stories about the war. Hey keep the chickenhawk faith in the wisdom of going of Dubya's war on Iraq and that had nothing to do with the rise of ISIS.
I call them Daesh because it is a term they hate and they find it insulting. I wish all governments would do the same, because to call them IS only reinforces their propaganda of being a legitimate Caliphate that all Muslims would thus owe allegiance to. Better for us not to reinforce their claims to being the legitimate Caliphate and thus have our State Department act as a free marketing department for them.
