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ISIS Takes Mideast Terrorism to New Heights
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
July 3, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Getting his media debut on Internet beheading
26-year-old Nicholas “Nick” Berg May 7, 2004, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi put his
barbaric stamp on Islamic extremism in the early days of Iraq War. Al-Zarqawi’s message warned of a new
take-no-prisoners brand of Islamic terrorism, taking Osama bin Laden’s one step
further, following a master plan to take over sovereign land for a new Islamic
caliphate. Bin Laden dreamed of a
pan-Islamic state but only leased land from the various governments willing to
take the Saudi-millionaire’s cash in exchange for safekeeping. When the U.S. came knocking in
Operation Iraq Freedom March 20, 2003, the Bush administration claimed it was to
improve U.S. national security in the wake of Sept. 11. Toppling Saddam Hussein April 12, 2012 and driving his Republican Guard from Baghdad
created the once feared power vacuum, opening up the floodgates of Islamic
terrorism.
Spending nearly nine years and over $1 trillion attempting to rebuilt
Iraq’s security couldn’t’ stop a growing Sunni Islamic insurgency now
threatening to takeover the entire Middle East.
With Bin Laden killed by U.S. forces May 1, 2011, al-Qaeda in Iraq
floundered, giving way to al-Zarqawi’s successor Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, claiming
to be a direct descendent of the Prophet Mohammed, leading a blitzkrieg never
before seen in the Middle East.
Taking over large swaths of Iraq, Syria and Jordan, al-Baghdadi proclaimed a new
Islamic State in the once sovereign lands of Iraq, Syria and Jordan. Pushing aside other Sunni extremists
groups, al-Baghdadi called for all Islamic jihadists to swear allegiance to
Islam’s new emir or sultan.
Al-Baghdadi’s new fatwa or legal decree calls for all Muslims to fall under
al-Baghdadi’s power or face almost certain extermination.
Ending the Iraq War Dec. 15, 2011 and an escalating Syrian civil war gave
al-Baghdadi unprecedented opportunity to seize more sovereign Mideast land. Bouncing between Iraq and Syria,
al-Baghdadi carved out a bigger chunk he once referred to as the Levant, a
Mideast territory paralleling the land grabs of the medieval Islamic warrior
Saladin who conquered much of Egypt and Syria in the Middle Ages. It’s no accident that al-Baghdadi
refers to himself as the capliph, signifying a return to Islamic rule across the
region. After his blitzkrieg seized
sovereign land in Syria, Iraq and Jorda, al-Baghdadi called on all jihadiists to
join his holy war, rapidly claiming more Mideat lands. From Myanmar [Burma] to the Central
African Republic, al-Baghdadi called on all Muslims to join his holy war. “Terrify your enemies of Allah and
seek death in the places where you expect to find it,” said al-Baghdadi.
Al-Baghdadi’s call to martyrdom sounds like the same claptrap as Bin
Laden, whose propaganda of the West’s war against Islam resonates with the
disenfranchised hoards looking for some dignity in an atmosphere of despair,
hopelessness and economic ruin.
“Your brothers, on every piece of this earth, are waiting for you to rescue
them,” pleaded al-Baghdadi, begging for more holy warriors to join the new
caliph in the heart of Islam’s holy lands.
ISIS posted al-Baghdadi’s message on its Website, signaling the new age
of Internet communications. “A
Message to the Mujahedeen and the Muslim Ummah [nation] in the Month of
Ramadan,” read the newly named “Islamic State,” defining the new movement as not
confined to the Mideast. “By Allah,
we will take revenge, by Allah we will take revenge, even if after a while,”
said al-Baghdadi, in more non sequiturs.
Al-Baghdadi’s message invites Islam’s holy warriors to join his new
jihad and caliphate, bowing to him as supreme leader. Iran, Iraq and Syria’s Shiite
population aren’t paying attention but have no answer to stop al-Baghdadi. Even other Sunni groups like what’s
left of al-Qaeda are calling for jihad against al-Baghdadi’s supreme rule. When al-Baghdadi talks of “revenge,”
he’s talking about more than Western influences like the U.S. Like past breeds of secular fascist
or Nazi mass killers, al-Baghdadi uses Islam to justify his criminal enterprise. Massacring his Shiite Muslim
brothers, al-Baghdadi proves that his enterprise isn’t about Mecca and Medina
but about advancing his criminal enterprise pillaging-and-plundering sovereign
lands. “Embrace the chance and
champion Allah’s religion through jibad,” said al-Baghdadi, proving he’s
replaced Bin Laden as Public Enemy No. 1.
Showing his maniacal side much like Adolf Hitler in generations past,
al-Baghdadi spews the same hateful rhetoric, justifying his brutality, mayhem
and anarchy. Before al-Baghdadi
gets to Baghdad and Damascus, world powers, especially the U.S. and Russia, must
join together to fight the new breed of Islamic extremism, taking Bin Laden’s
message to the next stage.
Outrageous propaganda, grabbing land, mass executions, demands of unconditional
loyalty or death, etc, sound like today’s Islamic version of Hitler’s Third
Reich. “They have a statement that
will cause the world to hear and understand the meaning of terrorism, and boots
that will trample the idol of nationalism, destroy the idol of democracy and
uncover its deviant nature,” said Baghdadi, revealing the civilized world’s
implacable challenge: To join
together to stop al-Baghdadi’s maniacal reign of terror.
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