IS: is a terrorist group?

ISIS is a group of fighters whose origins can be traced to a year after the US-led

invasion of Iraq. In 2004 Zarqawi formed al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in order to be

faithful to Osama Bin Laden, this group AQI became a major force in the insurgency.

After the death of Zarqawi (2006), AQI created other organization, which was ISI:

Islamic State in Iraq. This organization (ISI) was constantly weakened by the attack of

the U.S troops and the invention of the Sahwa councils by Sunni Arab tribes, but with

the passage of time ISI started taking shape and gaining power. ISI joined a rebellion

against the president al-Assad in Syria and after some time it announced the merger of

its forces in Iraq and Syria. Thereby, in 2013 ISI became ISIS Islamic State in Iraq

and the Levant and it received the support of some groups who helped ISIS remain

in Syria. By the end of 2013 ISIS exploited a political standoff between the Shia-led

government and the Sunni-Arab community, with this ISIS took control of the central

city of Falluja. In 2014 ISIS took over the city of Mosul and continued to Baghdad

and other dozens of cities and towns. Finally, ISIS declared the creation of a caliphate

in order to eradicate the countrys religious and ethic minorities. ISIS also changed its

name to IS: Islamic State. Since then, IS started to gain territory by the execution

of militants activities, so it is actually controlling big areas of Iraq and Syria, where a

lot of people are under the control of IS and are forced to implement the IS strict

interpretation of Sharia. Nowadays, IS is also claiming attacks outside its territory

with the big amount of arms, heavy weapons and fighters it has (20 000 32 000

fighters). The members of the IS group are jihadists who hold to an extreme

interpretation of Sunni Islam and they consider themselves the only true believers. IS

members think that other people are unbelievers whose only objective is to destroy
Islam. They also justify all their acts by citing the Koran and Hadith (BBC News, 14

November 2015).

IS has becoming very known worldwide because they are the responsible of a lot of

attacks and other atrocities that are committed against others: Muslims and non-

Muslims. IS has become notorious for its brutality when terrorizing and murdering

their enemies, including mass killing, beheadings and abductions. IS uses tanks and

armored vehicles for their attacks that include Humvees, explosives and bombs. Over

the years, IS has been part of certain rebellions and attacks that have allowed the IS

group to gain territory and be feared worldwide (BBC News, 14 November 2015).

One of the latest attacks that IS made was the one in Paris last November, in which a

lot of innocent people died and others resulted hurt. There are many opinions that said

that IS group is conformed by terrorists, but there are also other opinions than claim

that the IS is not terrorist (BBC News, November 2015). In this essay I am going to

expose the supporting ideas of the last two positions and analyze the facts that have

occurred in order to determinate whether IS members are terrorists or not.

First, I am going to consider the position that the IS group is not conformed by

terrorists. After the 9/11 the U.S national security establishment prepared and built a

bureaucratic structure to fight the jihadist organization. The U.S adapted its

intelligence, its army and law enforcement agencies in order to combat terrorism and

counterinsurgency. Nowadays, IS has replaced al-Qaeda group as the jihadist threat of

greatest concern. IS goals, ideology and rhetoric are similar to al-Qaedas. These two

groups are not the same; they were only allies in the past. IS is al-Qaedas successor

and it represents the post-al-Qaeda jihadist threat. IS is not a terrorist organization,

because it does not fit in that description. Although, IS group uses terrorism as a tactic

to achieve their goals, IS is not really a terrorist organization. The characteristics of a

terrorist group do not match with IS ones. Terrorist groups have only hundreds or

dozens of members and attack civilians, but do not hold territory and cannot confront

straight militarys forces. IS, by contrast, has like 30 000 fighters, holds territory in

Iraq and Syria, maintains military capabilities, has control on the lines of

communication, funds itself and finally they are engaged in military operations. So, IS

is a pseudo-state led by a conventional army but not a terrorist group. In actuality IS

counts with Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders, anti-US insurgents, and secular Iraqi military

officers who seek to recover the security and power they enjoyed at the Saddam

Hussein era. The U.S counterterrorism strategies that were used to fight al-Qaeda do

not work against IS, this is another fact to consider that suggest that the IS group is

not a terrorist one (Cronin 2015). There is the fact that IS is looking to become a state,

so their only objective is to be a recognized state and rule Middle-East areas. (Quora

14 October 2015).

Second, I am going to expose the ideas why IS is actually a terrorist group. First of

all it is important to mention that IS is a group that execute all its attacks with

violence and extremism. IS is the representation of the Muslims in the Middle East,

but in a very radical way. Since the very beginning IS killed all the opposite fighters

in every place conquered. IS presents violence in all their activities not only against

those who refuse to convert to Islam, but also against Muslims and other civilians. IS

also makes public all of their attacks and massacres in order to generate fear all over

the world, this specific act happens to be a pure characteristic of terrorism: terrorize

the enemy (NBC News 2015). Another reason why IS is considered a terrorist group

is because its continuous mention of Koran. IS gives the verses of the Koran an

immoral and literal interpretation. They always justify their activities with the verse:

When you meet the infields, smite their necks, so that is exactly what IS is doing.
The big difference and problem with that verse is that IS members are totally

convinced that everyone who is not Muslim is an enemy and they kill them. Taking

passages of the Koran literally turns the IS fighters in extremists and religious

fanaticisms, therefore they are terrorists. Another potential reasons to consider the IS

group as a terrorist one is the idea that its members are interested in the instability of

others countries and when it is achieved, IS will use it towards own gains (El Faco

Semptember 2015). IS also takes hostages like others terrorist groups and demand a

lot of money in ransom payments. So, IS is a terrorist group that is also searching for

its expansion, the recognition and creation of its own state in order to rule with its

harsh religious fanaticism (Quora, 14 October 2015).

Finally, I think that IS group is a terrorist one. IS members are always carried by the

hate and violence against non-Muslims and also other civilians. I think that when the

ideals of a group are to be powerful by the acclamation of all their attacks and

violence, they are not peaceful persons and they are not trying to get what they want

with honesty. I consider that the only fact that IS is using terrorism as a tactic to

achieve their goals; convert IS in a terrorist group. IS is trying to gain territory in the

Middle East, to be more powerful and become a state. Although the characteristic of a

terrorist group do not fit IS perfectly, they are terrorist with additional ideals to

achieve.

Works cited.

BBC News. ISIS attacks. BBC News.com 14 November 2015. Web 4 December

2015
Cronin Audrey. Isis Is not a Terrorist Group. Foreign Affairs. March / April 2015.

Web. 03 December 2015.

El Faco. Que es, como funciona, y que busca ISIS, la amenaza terrorista en Medio

Oriente. El Meme.me. September 2015. Web 3 December 2015.

Quora. Is ISIS a terrorist organization? Who support ISIS? Quora.com. 14 October

2015. Web 4 December 2015.

NBC News. ISIS Terror Storyline. NBC.com 2015. Web 3 December 2015.