FINAL DRAFT ISIS ESSAY
Standing up to ISIS
What is the world’s new extreme, life-threatening, terrorizing threat? How will they respond to these individuals? The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or more commonly known as “ISIS”, is a terrorist organization whose main objective is to form a hardline Sunni Islamic State. This extremist group is showing relentless measures to stay faithful to their beliefs, causing havoc around the Middle East and involving the entire world.
Surprisingly, ISIS didn’t become an independent organization until February of 2014 when they split up with al-Qaeda. This was largely due to the fact that ISIS will not listen to the commands from al-Qaeda’s headquarters, including orders to curtail its violence against civilians. Furthermore, some suspect the parting from al-Qaeda is leading to ISIS’s barbaric violence and behavior.
ISIS is coming much closer to the end goal of an Islamic caliphate than al-Qaeda ever has. This is causing lots of confusion for other Islamic groups on whether to pledge its allegiance to al-Qaeda or not. ISIS now claims a territory the size of Belgium in the center of the Arab world. According to many Western sources and media, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, and his organization are being privately funded by citizens from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Correspondingly in Syria, they are building up a mini-state: collecting the equivalent of taxes, selling electricity, and exporting oil to fund its militant activities. These sources of funding result in $12 million a month of revenue. Foreign Policy is calling ISIS “now the wealthiest terrorist organization on the planet”.
Equally important, ISIS is using its multimedia and propaganda campaigns to exploit terrorist fears and concerns through the world. The savagery of the ISIS threat to the worldwide security and well-being is already displayed through the gruesome videos of two journalists and an aid worker being
What is the world’s new extreme, life-threatening, terrorizing threat? How will they respond to these individuals? The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or more commonly known as “ISIS”, is a terrorist organization whose main objective is to form a hardline Sunni Islamic State. This extremist group is showing relentless measures to stay faithful to their beliefs, causing havoc around the Middle East and involving the entire world.
Surprisingly, ISIS didn’t become an independent organization until February of 2014 when they split up with al-Qaeda. This was largely due to the fact that ISIS will not listen to the commands from al-Qaeda’s headquarters, including orders to curtail its violence against civilians. Furthermore, some suspect the parting from al-Qaeda is leading to ISIS’s barbaric violence and behavior.
ISIS is coming much closer to the end goal of an Islamic caliphate than al-Qaeda ever has. This is causing lots of confusion for other Islamic groups on whether to pledge its allegiance to al-Qaeda or not. ISIS now claims a territory the size of Belgium in the center of the Arab world. According to many Western sources and media, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, and his organization are being privately funded by citizens from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Correspondingly in Syria, they are building up a mini-state: collecting the equivalent of taxes, selling electricity, and exporting oil to fund its militant activities. These sources of funding result in $12 million a month of revenue. Foreign Policy is calling ISIS “now the wealthiest terrorist organization on the planet”.
Equally important, ISIS is using its multimedia and propaganda campaigns to exploit terrorist fears and concerns through the world. The savagery of the ISIS threat to the worldwide security and well-being is already displayed through the gruesome videos of two journalists and an aid worker being