SJS3- "ISIS and the Third Wave of Jihadism"

Source: Gerges, Fawaz A. "ISIS and the Third Wave of Jihadism." Current History, vol. 113, no. 767, Dec. 2014, pp. 339-43.

Author Credentials: Fawaz A. Gerges is a professor of Middle Eastern politics and international relations in London. Gerges has written several books on Jihadism and the Middle East. Gerges is qualified to discuss ISIS and Jihadism because of his extensive research on these topics.

Summary:  The author argues that ISIS is an Islamist terrorist group that has asserted their dominance in the Middle East, and is a wide-spread group that will continue to inflict terror upon the world if nothing is done. With the involvement of the U.S. in Iraq in the early 2000s, terrorists groups formed, as Saddam Hussein's government was overthrown, and Iraq remained in a fragile position. When ISIS formed in Iraq, it was formed through a mixture of Iraq-based al Queda members and members from Saddam Hussein's government. This meant that experienced terrorists and government officials that were used to dictatorship were joining forces. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is considered the leader of ISIS in Syria and Iraq.  ISIS formed after the Taliban and al Queda, but it has more similarities to the Taliban than al-Queda. It is a Sunni majority extremist group that managed to use the fragile environment of Iraq to assert dominance. It started out only targeting Shiite Muslims, and not Western powers which caused the leaders of al-Queda and the Taliban to not support ISIS. However, ISIS has at least 30,000 fighters and several thousand other supporters throughout the world. It does not use theology or the holy word of the Quran to explain it's violence, and because it only participated in violence in the Middle East at first, it managed to gather supporters. Baghdadi's slogan is "victory through fear and terrorism," and those are the exact ways ISIS has become powerful. They do not target anywhere in particular, but instead target everywhere and work to instill fear. When ISIS first came about leaders in the Middle East were not concerned with ISIS and believed it would fall apart. However ,with growing numbers of recruits and increasing attacks, Gerges believes the only way to destroy ISIS is to get Sunni muslims to disown ISIS, and fight against it, so that ISIS no longer has an immense number of supporters. ISIS is a very powerful extremist group that continues to become stronger.

Analysis: Gerges makes a strong argument for why ISIS is so dangerous, and how they must be stopped. He discusses how ISIS gathered supporters when Iraq was unstable, and how many leaders in the Middle East disregarded them at first, which allowed ISIS to grow and expand. Gerges does an excellent job of focusing on the facts, and trying to avoid opinions. He is a reliable source because of his research and knowledge on jihadists and the Middle East.