Inside the hunt for ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

At the closest point they can reach to the Islamic State heartlands, the Kurdish Peshmerga can almost feel their enemy. Most days ISIS fighters fire mortars or bullets at their frontline, 10 miles south of Sinjar, sometimes crawling through long grass for hours until they are close enough to shoot. Several miles further south, some of ISIS’s most […]

War and Boxing: An ISIS Analogy

The American way of life represents the greatest title on our planet. We, like the great boxing champions of our past, must be willing to defend it.

Religion. Politics. Jihad. (Pt. 3)

Religion is the mobilizer of militants and serves as justification for brutality. Still, we must consider solutions beyond bombs and bullets.

Religion. Politics. Jihad. (Pt. 1)

The assertion that religion is part of the global jihad movement is by no means profound, but the fusion is more complex than most like to acknowledge.

Would It Matter If “Caliph Ibrahim” Had Been Killed?

Rumors have been flying around the Internet over the last week about Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the self-styled “Caliph Ibrahim” of the Islamic State, being caught in a Coalition airstrike against Daash leadership. Daash’s own media have acknowledged that he is wounded, and the waters were further muddied on November 10 by a report put […]

A New Caliphate?

The news (well, some of it, anyway) is hopping with the report that the Islamic State in Iraq and al Sham has declared it is now simply the Islamic State, and that its Emir, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, is now Khalifah Ibrahim, the new Caliph, the successor of Mohammed. An excerpt from the ISIS announcement, courtesy […]

ISIS Disowned by Al Qaeda Core

In a statement released online, Al Qaeda’s senior leadership (sometimes simply referred to as AQSL) officially disowned the Islamic State of Iraq and as Sham, led by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.  In the statement (which does not name any of the AQ senior leadership, not even Zawahiri), it is said that the ISIS has repeatedly […]

A Short History of AQI / ISI

With AQI and its Syrian affiliate/rival Al Nusra increasingly in the news, here is a brief rundown of AQI’s history. Al Qaeda in Iraq got its start in 2003, originally called Jama’at al Tawhid wal Jihad (The Group for Monotheism and Jihad). It was founded by Abu Musab al Zarqawi, a would-be mujahid who got […]