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USA Today (September 11)

2015/ 09/ 12 by jd in Global News

“Fourteen years ago, the United States suffered a shockingly successful surprise attack by a little known Islamic extremist group based 7,000 miles away in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.” Today, Al-Qaeda’s “influence lives on…through offshoot extremist groups,” especially the Islamic State (ISIL) whose “lightning spread” throughout “Syria and Iraq has been marked by medieval barbarity, adapted to the Internet age.” The U.S. must pursue ISIL as aggressively as it once pursued al-Quaeda. “ISIL represents the embodiment of evil in the modern world, and it mustn’t be allowed to establish a foothold from which to plot attacks against the United States or to inspire so-called lone wolf sympathizers to do so.”

 

USA Today (July 7)

2014/ 07/ 07 by jd in Global News

ISIS has revived the caliphate last abolished in 1924. While ISIS may have hoped to “provide a visible symbol of unity for the world’s Muslims,” reintroducing the caliphate might prove “the very worst thing it could have done.” Lacking an agreed upon succession process, “there are bound to be rivals. Already, ISIS is literally at daggers drawn with al-Qaeda and other Islamists…. ISIS has vastly raised the stakes and conceivably made itself a target for some fanatical and well-armed enemies.”

 

USA Today (July 2)

2014/ 07/ 03 by jd in Global News

“Any traveler to the Middle East today can feel the tidal wave sweeping the area. The Arab Awakening is now a distant memory, and the hopes for democracy have been replaced by the black flags of al-Qaeda,” except they are now known as ISIS. The threat is not limited to the Middle East. “If al-Qaeda, from its sanctuary in Afghanistan, could produce 9/11, imagine the threats ISIS can pose from the much larger area in Iraq and Syria.”

 

Washington Post (June 20)

2014/ 06/ 21 by jd in Global News

Iraq’s unraveling poses a “confounding” challenge for the U.S. “Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has put sectarian interests above national goals, so to join him in beating back the terrorist challenge might only widen the country’s divide. But… an al-Qaeda-style ‘caliphate’ stretching from Syria into Iraq would be too dangerous for the United States and its allies.” By sending aid and military advisers, President Obama’s modest steps toward engagement “represent a judicious start.”

 

 

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