OPINION
6 Obiter Dicta
A Year in Review: ISIQ, ISIL, ISIS and IS
How did it come about, what is it doing, and where
is it heading?
gleb matushansky › staff writer
I
sl a mic state (is) introduced itself to the
Western world this summer through the infamous beheading videos. The official name for
the group is the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq
and Syria (ISIS), the Arab acronym of Da’ish, or the
self-termed IS). It is a Sunni caliphate, comprised of
international extremists waging a “jihad” against
all those who oppose it. The group controls territory in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and the Sinai Peninsula.
It has been designated as a terrorist organization by
the United Nations, the European Union, the UK, US,
Australia, Canada, Turkey, and the UAE, and accused
by Amnesty International of committing grave
human rights abuses including ethnic cleansing.
Groups located outside territories currently claimed
by IS have self-identified as supporting them or have
pledged allegiance, including Boko Haram, the Iraqi
Ba’ath Party (the former ruling party of the country),
and others hailing from Pakistan, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Libya, Tunisia, and Gaza.
The group originated in Jordan in 1999, becoming
a decentralized network during the Iraqi insurgency
in which foreign fighters were widely thought to
play a key role. In 2004, it became al-Qaeda in Iraq,
taking part in attacking coalition forces and Iraqi
security forces after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. After
merging with other groups, the Islamic State of Iraq
was born in 2006. After a decline due to its aggressiveness, in 2013, the group changed its name to ISIS,
growing under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. However, given its violent methods, including
suicide attacks on civilian targets and the widespread
killing of prisoners during its involvement in Iraq
and the Syrian Civil War, al-Qaeda disowned ISIS
in February 2014, partially because of the latter’s
attempt to bring the al-Nusra Front into its sphere of
influence, stating “al-Qaeda does not have an organizational relationship with [ISIS] and is not the group
responsible for their actions.” In June, IS proclaimed
itself a worldwide caliphate - a single theocratic oneworld government to overthrow the world’s current
political systems.
The beheadings which first captivated the West
included those of James Foley (an American freelance war correspondent during the Syrian Civil
War), up to seventy-five Syrian
soldiers from a
captured base,
Steven Sot lof f
(a journalist for
TIME magazine
and the Jerusalem Post), David Haines (an aid worker
assessing a refugee camp near the Turkish border),
Hervé Gourdel (a French mountaineering guide in
Algeria), and Alan Henning (a British humanitarian aid worker). These beheadings follow the policy
espoused by ISIL spokesman Abu Mohammad alAdnani to attack citizens of countries participating
in the US-led coalition against the Islamic State.
One name in particular has been closely tied with
the beheadings – that of Jihadi John, a member of
the so-called Beatles (a terrorist cell within ISIS).
ê These modern day warriors have traded their horses and swords for Soviet T-72s and Stinger missiles.
Photo credit: nbcnews.com
He is alleged to be a UK national who appears in the
videos speaking English with an British accent, and
is responsible for the actual executions. Along with
other Beat les, he guarded Western hostages while
handling communications with their families. He
was identified by the FBI in September, but his name
has yet to be released publicly. British PM David
Cameron has ordered MI5, MI6, and GCHQ to track
and capture him.
The group’s leaders portray themselves as akin to
seventh century warriors thundering forth on horseback to expand their religious empire by sword. They
call their car bombs “steeds” and their drivers the
“death admirers, the knights of martyrdom.” But in
many respect, they have less in common with medieval warriors and more with modern bureaucrats.
As one reporter put it, “after decades, we may have
arrived at the ultimate professionalization of terror.”
During a routine January 2007 patrol in Anbar province, a unit of US marines stumbled on a cache of
documents including financial records, payrolls,
administrative records, and other details of fund
flows in and out of
a single local cell
then calling itself
“Islamic State of
Iraq.”
Shortly after,
Iraqi militiamen
working with the US stormed a home, finding a computer drive holding ledgers with 1200 files detailing
the finances and operations of provincial managers
overseeing the cell, as well as others like it. An analysis conducted by a US Department of Defense funded
think tank in 2010 revealed that the group is decentralized, organized, and run on a “multidivisional
hierarchy form” of management, similar to General
Motors. Essentially, semiautonomous divisions
ordered largely around geography operate without the need for day-to-day supervision, while top
“The group’s leaders portray
themselves as akin to seventh
century warriors . . .”
leaders focus on strategy and overall performance.
The documents captured showed that cells carrying
out the group’s daily functions included units such as
finance, intelligence, medical, media, logistics, and
even a mail division. The hard drive seems to have
come from a divisional auditor, showcasing strict
accounting procedures.
Previously, proceeds came from the sale of stolen
goods (a period was noted in which spoils revenue
surged, suggesting leaders specifically asked for more
plunder when more cash was demanded) and via
local cells controlling smuggling routes and extorting taxes. Money was sent to field subunits, bolstering operations at critical times, with surpluses sent
to the national treasury. These days, ISIS makes
$2-3 million a day in oil sales, which are from captured oilfields in Iraq and Syria, and sold on the black
market at about half the world price, with buyers in
Jordan, Turkey, Syria, and Iran. This backbone to the
IS economy is a worrying trend in their quest for economic self-sufficiency.
Other sources of revenue include taxes collected
from the captive population, seized property from
people IS has killed or forced to flee (including bank
accounts), kidnapping ransoms (which have generated $20 million already), private donations from
across the Persian Gulf, and the plundering of antiquities which go towards paying for fighters and sustainment the roughly eight million people IS has
living in its territories. According to the head of
Kurdish intelligence, up to $6 million in IS revenue is
generated daily. The nature of these revenue streams
makes it challenging for law enforcement officials
in the West to stop the in-flow of money. Last week,
plans were even announced to mint a series of gold,
silver, and copper coins for its own currency called
Islamic dinars, because they would be “far removed
» see isis, page 18