ISIS – Inside the Army of Terror

Title: ISIS – Inside the Army of Terror

Author: Michael Weiss, Hassan Hassan

Publisher: Regan Arts, 2016 (First published 2015)

ISBN: 9781682450291

Pages: 411

The world awoke to a series of horrifying snuff videos in 2014, in which gory images of people actually being beheaded and burnt alive were uploaded by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) who exploited the unsettled conditions of post-occupation Iraq and rebellion-ravaged Syria. Both these neighbours had a unique feature in common – they were ruled by a strongman belonging to a religious minority who was autocratic and iron-fisted. Saddam Hussein was a Sunni who lorded over Iraq which contained 65 per cent Shia, 20 per cent Arab Sunnis and 15 per cent Kurdish Sunnis. Syria was under Bashar al-Assad, a UK-trained ophthalmologist, who was a Shia Alavite but ruling over a population that contained 75 per cent Sunni and 15 per cent Shia. When these dictators were suddenly unseated – Saddam by American occupation and al-Assad’s authority was challenged in most parts of Syria by popular insurrection – the political landscape was ripe for a competition with naked evolutionary zeal – survival of the fittest. Government forces and numerous private militias controlled by religious sects, tribal groups and terrorist organizations entered the fray in an orgy of civil war. Out of this theatre of extinction and metamorphosis, ISIS was formed on June 28, 2014 when its so-called Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced it from the pulpit of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, which was just captured by the group. Michael Weiss is an American journalist, author and a senior editor of the Daily Beast. The co-author, Hassan Hassan is an American journalist of Syrian origin. His work on Islamic groups in the Middle East is widely acclaimed. They look into the origin and growth of ISIS in this book that also delves into the mechanism by which this organization draws its lifeblood from the emaciated body politic of Iraq and Syria.

The origin of jihadism was not exactly in the Middle East. The authors trace its birth to Afghanistan where the mujahidin (fighters of jihad) came together against the communist takeover of that country. This was a pan-Islamic effort freely supported by the West who saw in it a perfect opportunity to embarrass the Soviets for their similar role in Vietnam where the US was at war. Coming as it does at the fag end of communism as a whole, the jihadists were successful in driving out the invaders and hoisting an extremist regime under the Taliban. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian native, founded the Jund al-Sham (Soldiers of the Levant) in Afghanistan with al-Qaeda support. The end of war in Afghanistan was followed by American military presence during the Kuwait war and occupation of Iraq. It was in the US-occupied Iraq that the jihadi militias under Zarqawi came of age. The namesake government was partisan and was tottering even with the deadly US firepower at its back. The country was carved into fiefs by the militant organizations, which comprised all hues of ideology – jihadist, nationalist, tribal or secular. It is heartening to note that civil unrest erupted against al-Qaeda when its puritanical fervor was resented by the native populations. Even though Zarqawi was killed in 2006, sahwa (Awakening) movements proliferated in Iraq. The former Baath party cadres and Saddam’s regime officials were singled out for discrimination in the new administration dominated by Shias. Such a huge well of discontent got channeled into a fierce terrorist organization called the ISIS in 2014.

The image painted by ISIS in the minds of most people is that of savage brutality and inhuman hatred. I think I am not exactly correct in writing the last sentence. Well, hatred is a distinctly human emotion which no animal can probably emulate. But the meaning of the epithet ‘inhuman’ is somehow required to describe the deeds of this group of zealots. This portrayal was managed by the jihadis who interweaved horrific violence and mass media. It was when the people actually saw those beheadings from the safety of their drawing rooms did the act touched their nerves. Death is macabre enough and Hitler’s gas chambers would have inflicted as painful a death to its victims. ISIS used these videos to shock and awe the world. It also helped many deranged people across the world to convert to Islam and fight in ISIS’ favour in Syria and Iraq. The rewards were disgusting to most, but impressive for the devout. These people relished the sadistic pleasure of killing unarmed people and also the carnal pleasures offered by the employment of sexual slaves forcibly taken away from religious minorities as war booty. As per strict interpretation of the Islamic law, followers of other religions must be subservient to the faithful, because they were given the chance to convert to Islam, but chose not to do so. ISIS brutality is evident in their use of even mentally challenged girls of age three and thirteen as suicide bombers to blow up a police-recruitment line in Iraq.

Okay, ISIS is a terror to live with, but what was the plight of those who had the misfortune to live under their rule? This book tells us that for ordinary people who did not have any political inclinations or membership in any rival militias, life was not so bad after all. At first, ISIS treated civilians gently, fixed damaged roads, planted flowers in the streets and cleaned local schools. Then came Sharia law. Men were not allowed to remove their beards and women strictly prohibited to uncover their face and hair. Hair dressing and shaving were banned. Smoking was made a taboo and women were not allowed to go out of their homes without a male escort. Attending prayers became mandatory. Businesses had to close shops during prayer times. Secular schools were closed and religious madarassas sprang up in their place that parceled out jihadist ideology to kids. In short, if people sealed their lips and obeyed orders like cattle do, they could go on living a mechanical existence. Even the slightest sign of free will was sure to invite the organization’s pathological brutality. It sold antiquities like golden statues and coins to make money, thereby obliterating the history of the land. Its income mainly consisted of sale of oil and gas in its territories, confiscation from enemies and renegades and taxation. Its summary execution of opponents by savage means ensured docility of the people over whom they ruled.

A brief, inadequate glimpse on the ideology of ISIS is given. The organization believed that the mainstream Islam practiced by moderate Muslims was only a few decades old. It thrived by using stories and texts that mainstream clerics have preferred to ignore, either because they deemed it to be too marginal or because they are too difficult or embarrassing to square with modern morality (p.220). But the undeniable truth is that the verses which fueled ISIS’ carnage are very much a part and parcel of the Islamic religion. In fact, there is nothing abnormal or astonishing in this. All religions have such skeletons in their closet. What the others have done is that they have moved such closets out of everyday life by bringing in reformers and enlightenment. Where Islam should concentrate is the facilitation of new religious teachers who would negotiate with the modern world and reposition its ideology in compatible terms with modernity.

The book is thoroughly American. It follows the state policy without fail. Weiss does not even mention the fact that the Afghan mujahidin were funded by covert CIA operatives. In claiming that Iraqi prisons were the breeding ground of jihadism, the authors seek to downplay and legitimize the brutal torture meted out to political prisoners under the US-led regimes. Weiss and Hassan follow a style of diction that owes more to journalism than the rules of a book. Each piece of information is explicitly credited to the source in the main text itself, as in newspapers. A lot of facts are provided in the lengthy narrative, but these are not integrated into a coherent story. The narrative ends in early 2016 when ISIS was still in power. Future editions are sure to bring the account up to date.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star