Holy War

[keysersoze]

Interested to hear what my fellow race fans around the world think / feel about the war ISIS is waging against pretty much all of humanity.

[anfield5]

Glad you didn't say the rest of humanity, because that would indicate they were a part of it. Calling it a war glorifies what is basically a bunch of cowards and terrorists murdering innocent people, many of whom are risking their lives to help less fortunate people.

Also carrying out these cowardly acts in the name of Islam is an insult to Muslims everywhere

[Starter]

I wouldn't call them cowards. Quite the opposite. They seem more willing to risk life and limb than most other people. I think the word you are looking for is "insane". They have gotten big enough now that serious action will need to be taken to deal with them.

I hate to say this, but the US is the root cause of it because of our going after Sadam's Iraq when they had nothing to do with 9/11. And we'll probably be the ones who spend the blood and money to put it back in the bottle. Once our politicians wake up that is. I expect the wake up to be right after 9/11 the second. Though by then its going to take one heck of a lot of money and much, much blood.

[Storm]

I thought this was about the Megadeth song...well, IS needs to be bombed out of existence.
wait, they did that to the Taliban right? this cycle never ends...you kill off one, another takes it's place.


We seriously need an alien invasion to get rid of our petty disputes.

[Big Ben]

mental cases. most of them just like killing people and found in extreme Islamic ideas the perfect pretext

[Rollo]

mental cases. most of them just like killing people and found in extreme Islamic ideas the perfect pretext

I don't know enough about Islamic scripture or teaching to know whether or not this actually is actually a jihad or not.
I would suspect that ISIS is mainly fuelled by religious illiteracy for want of a better word and that the vast majority of ulama interpreting the Hadith and Tafseer would condemn the actions of ISIS.

[Roamy]

Everybody just keep shooting - we will win and I mean all of us

[Rudy Tamasz]

I suppose it the lack of access to women that drives Mideastern guys nuts and makes them join groups like IS.

[Malbec]

I hate to say this, but the US is the root cause of it because of our going after Sadam's Iraq when they had nothing to do with 9/11. And we'll probably be the ones who spend the blood and money to put it back in the bottle. Once our politicians wake up that is. I expect the wake up to be right after 9/11 the second. Though by then its going to take one heck of a lot of money and much, much blood.

Yes and no. Yes the Americans created the vacuum that ISIS has risen up to fill but where does ISIS itself come from? The maths here doesn't add up. ISIS has taken over a huge area of land, maintaining a large military both to expand the borders and to make sure the inhabitants don't rise up. They do provide a lot of services to the people who live under their rule and spend a lot of money buying off local tribes to get their allegiance. However fanatical the fighters may be they still require regular pay and food. Where does this cash come from? I don't buy that it all comes from the proceeds of selling off the oil from fields under their control, especially after the recent bombing campaign which should have disrupted the flow. Someone is funding them but who? IMO its the Saudis who are funding them in their proxy war against the Iranians but it should not be too difficult to identify the source if we really try... But will we really want to know if its the Saudis given they are supposedly one of our stalwart allies in the war against terror...

[Rudy Tamasz]

Qatar might be complicit as well.

[Rudy Tamasz]

A propos de Saudis...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/20/world/middleeast/saudi-king-unleashes-a-torrent-as-bonuses-flow-to-the-masses.html?_r=1

[AAReagles]

I don't know enough about Islamic scripture or teaching to know whether or not this actually is actually a jihad or not.

Religion - too often - is used to justify anything.

"Holy war", "Jihad", whatever slogan fits the recruiting propaganda for the less fortunate/intelligent to follow, into another sorry excuse for murdering people.

Just about as bad as the "establishing democracy" rhetoric.

Not sure which is worse; those doing the killing, or those profiting from it.

[Gregor-y]

This may be interesting but it raises a few questions about overlapping loyalties I would like to ask about:
http://phasezero.gawker.com/an-intelligence-vet-explains-isis-yemen-and-the-dick-1699407909

[AAReagles]

Counter Ideology Operations?.... radical Kurdish factions?... Egypt should invade Libya to put out the fires before they spread (effectively) to its borders?.....

Good grief. No wonder I can't keep up with this stuff anymore.

His solutions appear, to me at least, pretty spot on. Though I'm not sure about the option of Egypt going into Libya to establish order in the region - then again they may have no choice.

Very good article - thanks for sharing.