What Are Your Thoughts About ISIS?

[Mr Khan]

Leadified said:

Pretty awful people, committing acts of genocide against certain minorities, especially based on religion and further destabilizing Syria and Iraq. But are they barbaric? In what sense of the word, in terms of cruelty then absolutely.

However they've proven to have a well trained fighting force, I mean hell they control quite a lot of territory, and how to effectively use social media, so as crazy as they might seem it's best not to underestimate them. Especially as it seems they have support in the occupied areas.

They have support in the occupied areas only inasmuch as the local Sunni authorities (tribal chieftains and the like) believe that they are a better alternative than the very-sectarian Nuri al-Maliki and quasi-genocidal Bashar al-Assad. They sort of did the same thing with Al-Qaeda In Iraq during the big post-Saddam peacekeeping conflict. It wasn't like the locals were all terrorist-lovers, but the terrorists were the people who were going to defend their position against people they didn't like (namely the incoming democratic Shiite government in Iraq). Eventually the Sunni locals got fed up with AQI, and teamed up with American and Iraqi forces to beat them out (the Anbar Awakening that was key to bringing Iraq to the shaky peace it enjoyed until this year)

 

Likely that's what will happen again. ISIS will wear out its welcome in time.