The Islamic state is more of a security threat than Al Qaeda to the United States for multiple reasons. Ever since February 2014 Al Qaeda has lost fighters and more have gone to join ISIS. As Syria is a failed state and Iraq is weak state, ISIS has decided to invade territory in the north east of Syria and the north west border of Iraq with Syria. ISIS gained most of its land from June 2015 to around January 2015. This is a real threat to the states and citizens of Syria and Iraq but it is also a threat to everyone internationally that doesn't agree with its beliefs. Al Qaeda never grew enough too even have a distinct area of fighters. That is a huge difference contrasted to ISIS.
One of the components that makes ISIS a bigger threat to the U.S. than Al Qaeda is how many more fighters it has over Al Qaeda. The Syrian observatory of human rights estimates that the total amount of fighters are around 80,000 to 100,000. The more fighters the more magnitude for change, the more following IS mission too.
Another main component that makes it a bigger threat is how it has made so much progress internationally. A bbc article says that "IS is believed to be operational in 18 countries across the world, including Afghanistan and Pakistan." Whether or not the spread of Islamic state fighters are actually travelling over to other countries and it is successful at spreading the ideology and beliefs that it believes in. The article also mentions it has also gotten attention through international attacks in many countries including Turkey, Indonesia, France, Belgium, the U.S. and Bangladesh. These attacks are not only ones that have been claimed in the name of ISIS but these attacks call for intervention, as members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have agreed that an attack on one nation(a member of NATO) is an attack on all. The members of NATO that have been attacked are Belgium, France, the U.S. and Turkey. Thus all members of NATO should start intervening if they have not already as there could be an attack coming to that country too. Another way it was gotten international attention is with the foreign fighters that have travelled to both Syria and Iraq to join IS, including 27,000 jihadists have travelled to 86 countries, more than have gone to the Middle East and North Africa. This is a drastic difference of migrants that were attracted to fight for ISIS contrasted to Al Qaeda. These are all examples that ISIS is a bigger threat as it has grown so much internationally whether where it is operational, making attacks or attracting foreign fighters.
Part of the its mission is to kill anyone that disagrees with its beliefs. It has already made that clear. According to bbc, the organization is threatening to destroy Iraqi ethnic and religious minorities. If it is willing to do this to minorities that share different beliefs than themselves, what would it would be willing to do to Americans? Americans have very different beliefs, whether religious or not. It wants to have a dire war with the west, simply because there is a difference in beliefs.
It also says in the article that "The Syrian observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported in September 2016 that more than 300,00 people, including 86,000 civilians, had been killed since March 2011." Of course that number has only gone up since then too. This amount of violence is so catastrophic that Al Qaeda would not have been able to succeed at.
I also agree that ISIS is more of a threat than Al Qaeda. It has developed into a quasi-state, showing that it is organized and claims authority over its territory. Its most threatening quality is the unpredictability of their attacks: is it a lone-wolf attack or trained professional sent by ISIS itself? They have adapted to modern technology which has made terrorism a possibility for almost anyone around the world.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything that you're saying here. I think the biggest threat, for me, when it comes to ISIS is the fact that it has spread so far across its' own borders. We have citizens here who are pledging their allegiance to ISIS which is terrifying. However, I don't know what the most effective approach would be when it comes to stopping their growth. The drones seem to be working but that has no affect on domestic issues facing the US. I'm not sure if there even is a way for us to figure out who are at-home suspects let alone figure out how to stop them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said, and also believe ISIS is a bigger threat than Al Qaeda. That is why I believe that "the war on terror," is far from over. ISIS is a bigger and more threatening group than Al Qaeda ever was. They are extremely unpredictable in when or how they will proceed in attacks. ISIS has managed to install massive fear not only internationally, but here in America as well. Their vast growth in numbers and throughout regions has become extremely frightening. The fact that this one terrorist organization has managed to gain popularity throughout different religious groups and regions is unbelievable. The question on how to deal with such a terror is yet to be solved, and I don't think it will ever become easier to figure out.
ReplyDeleteI also agree, ISIS is a larger threat mainly because of how widespread it is. There are ISIS members literally all over the world and they have no problem committing crimes as "lone wolf" attackers.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if we're looking at this just as a threat to the US, Al Qaeda's 9/11 attack killed way more Americans than all of the attacks by ISIS in the US combined. So my question is, do you think that ISIS is organized enough to commit a large scale attack on the US the way Al Qaeda did? Most of their attacks in the US were ISIS inspired, not necessarily an organized ISIS attack. So whether it be a lone wolf attack or a planned attack by ISIS leaders, do you think ISIS will be able to successfully commit a large scale attack killing thousands the way Al Qaeda did?