Jene Thomas – General Assignment Reporter
President Barack Obama addressed the nation on Wednesday regarding possible airstrikes on Iraq and Syria in response to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attacks. ISIS is responsible for the decapitations of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.
The speech was intended to discuss the repercussions of the executions of Foley and Sotloff and the control of the Middle East under ISIS. However, after the speech, there have been more questions than answers. Who is ISIS? What do they want?
Steven Judd, professor of Middle Eastern history at Southern Connecticut State University, attempted to shed some light.
“It is a group that is operating first in Syria and then in Iraq that is part of the rebellion of the Syrian government,” he said.It has received funding from allied countries, forming it’s own territory between Syria and Iraq. Unfortunately, it is unclear why they are there.
“We don’t know who is in ISIS. We have ideas,” he said. There’s speculation of former Iraqi leaders of the Saddam Hussein regime, or at least those who are familiar with their military tactics. The group contains a subgroup of Muslims, the Sunnis. There may be some outside groups from the Gulf.
Being a group of Muslims, who traditionally are to believe in harmony between man, people call the beliefs of ISIS into question.
Exact beliefs are unknown but generally, it is known that they want to establish an Islamic state that will rule according to Islamic law.
“I have been trying to find more detail about what ISIS means by this,” Judd said. As someone who’s studied Islamic laws and Islamic history, even he said he is unsure of what ISIS hopes to achieve.
“I don’t know what exactly they have in mind. They’re very secretive,” said Judd.
We’ve only seen their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, once. His exact origin is unknown. There are claims that he was imprisoned during the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Americans would like to find out more about them, but that becomes increasingly more dangerous with the capture and executions of journalists.
As secretive as they may be, they have a lot of power and control. Because they’ve placed themselves in between Iraq and Syria, they control the oil and a big piece of territory. They are also dangerous.
Judd said, “They have a lot of weapons in large part because, for whatever reason, the Iraqi army, rather than fighting, ran away when they attacked and captured the American weapons we gave to them.”
In terms of Americans being afraid domestically, both Obama and Judd agree that the threat remains on the other side of the world. However, Americans are still at risk.
“[ISIS] poses a threat to the people of Iraq and Syria, and the broader Middle East including American citizens, personnel, and facilities,” Obama said.
With no known on the United States of America, ISIS continues to focus on Iraq, Syria and even parts of Lebanon. Judd assures that this group is different to Al-Qaeda, in the sense that there is no plan to attack the US.
The biggest threat to the United States is inspiration. Radicals may see the actions of ISIS and decide to freelance, but that is just speculation.
Before any inspiration can take action, Obama ordered the military to conduct over a hundred air strikes over the last month. The strikes of disarmed militants and killed ISIS members. He has also asked the Iraqi government to fight the rebellion and protect themselves where Americans can’t.
“We will degrade and ultimately destroy [ISIS],” he said.
Photo Credit: Nick Knupffer
