The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS (58 page)

11
.
      
Steven Stalinsky, “Dealing in Death,”
National Review,
May 24, 2004.

12
.
      
Jeffrey Pool, trans., “Zarqawi’s Pledge of Allegiance to Al-Qaeda: From Mu’asker Al-Battar, Issue 21,” Terrorism Monitor, vol. 2, issue 24 (December 15, 2004).

13
.
      
“Purported bin Laden Tape Endorses al-Zarqawi,” CNN, December 27, 2004.

14
.
      
Asif Haroon Raja, “From ISI to ISIL to IS to IS,”
States Times,
August 2, 2014.

15
.
      
Chris McGreal, “Barack Obama Declares Iraq War a Success,”
Guardian,
December 14, 2011.

16
.
      
Raja, “From ISI to ISIL to IS to IS.”

17
.
      
McGreal, “Barack Obama Declares.”

18
.
      
Ruth Sherlock, “How a Talented Footballer Became World’s Most Wanted man, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,”
Telegraph,
November 11, 2014.

19
.
      
Aaron Y. Zelin, “Al-Qaeda Disaffiliates with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham,” Washington Institute, February 4, 2014.

20
.
      
Adam Goldman, “Ohio Man Who Trained with Jabhat al-Nusra Is Indicted on Terrorism Charges,”
Washington Post,
April 16, 2015.

21
.
      
Ibid.

22
.
      
Erin McClam, “‘More Extreme Than Al Qaeda’? How ISIS Compares to Other Terror Groups,” NBC News, June 20, 2014.

23
.
      
Linda Qiu, “David Gregory: Al-Qaida Cast Off ISIS as ‘Too Extreme,” Politi-Fact, August 13, 2014.

24
.
      
Mark Tran, “Who Are Isis? A Terror Group Too Extreme Even for al-Qaida,”
Guardian,
June 11, 2014.

25
.
      
Steve Bird, “So Wicked That Even Al Qaeda Disowned Them: Letter Found at Bin Laden’s Hideout Warned of Islamic State’s Extreme Brutality,”
Daily Mail,
August 10, 2014.

26
.
      
Translated document #SOCOM 2012
0000004 from the cache of documents found at Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound,
Washington Post,
pp. 5–6,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/05/03/Foreign/Graphics/osama-bin-laden-documents-combined.pdf
.

27
.
      
The twenty-one-page letter found at bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound did contain a principled argument from Islamic texts against causing unnecessary casualties among innocent Muslims in, for example, mosque bombings and suicide attacks in marketplaces. (See translated document #SOCOM 2012 0000004, pp. 11–21.) But that argument was aimed only obliquely against ISIS—its main target seems to have been the Pakistani Taliban. And as we shall see later in this chapter, ISIS founder Zarqawi developed an effective answer, firmly grounded in Islamic law and authorities, to the misgivings of his sometime sponsors in al-Qaeda about the savage tactics he favored. In fact the author of the al-Qaeda letter seems to be on the defensive when it comes to the rulings of Islamic jurisprudence on the treatment of Christians—at one point having to argue that “some of the rulings of the scholars concerning Jihad” no longer apply because “they were released when Islam was strong, mighty, and defensible.” Perhaps his feeling that he wasn’t on strong ground explains why he didn’t want to confront ISIS on first principles—dismissing “the statements of the scholars” as “irrelevant” to the kind of tactical discussion he wanted to have: “We are here talking about the interest and the priorities not about the roots of the issue.” (Ibid., p. 7). Somehow harder-line jihadis never seem to have much trouble justifying their atrocities from Islamic texts and rulings. It’s any Muslim who argues for moderation—even when, as in this case, the relative “moderate” is an al-Qaeda spokesman!—that has the more difficult task.

28
.
      
“Look Who’s Talking: John Brennan,” Fox News, March 23, 2015.

29
.
      
“Jihadists ‘Bulldoze Berm’ Dividing Iraq from Syria,” Agence France-Presse, June 11, 2014.

30
.
      
Adam Withnall, “Iraq Crisis: Isis Declares Its Territories a New Islamic State with ‘Restoration of Caliphate’ in Middle East,”
Independent,
June 20, 2014.

31
.
      
Sherlock, “How a Talented Footballer.”

32
.
      
Janine di Giovanni, “Who Is ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?,”
Newsweek,
December 8, 2014.

33
.
      
Martin Chulov, “Isis: The Inside Story,”
Guardian,
December 11, 2014.

34
.
      
Ashraf Khalil, “Camp Bucca Turns 180 Degrees from Abu Ghraib,”
Los Angeles Times,
January 19, 2005.

35
.
      
Chulov, “Isis.”

36
.
      
Sherlock, “How a Talented Footballer.”

37
.
      
“Zawahiri’s Letter to Zarqawi (English Translation),” Combating Terrorism Center at West Point,
https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/zawahiris-letter-to-zarqawi-english-translation-2
.

38
.
      
“Letter Addressed to Atiyah,” from the tranche of documents taken from Osama bin Laden’s compound and released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on May 20, 2015,
http://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ubl/english/Letter%20Addressed%20to%20Atiyah.pdf
.

39
.
      
Ali Ibrahim Al-Moshki, “AQAP Announces Support for ISIL,”
Yemen Times,
August 19, 2014.

40
.
      
Paul Cruickshank, “Al Qaeda in Yemen rebukes ISIS,” CNN, November 21, 2014.

41
.
      
Ibid.

42
.
      
“Top Commander of al Qaeda in Yemen: Beheadings Are ‘Barbaric,’” CBS, December 8, 2014; Alessandria Masi, “Difference between Al-Qaeda and ISIS: Senior AQAP Leader Holds ‘Press Conference,’ Said Beheadings Are ‘Big Mistake,’” International Business Times, December 8, 2014.

43
.
      
Ibid.

44
.
      
Marco Polo,
The Travels of Marco Polo,
trans. Henry Yule, ed. and annotated Henri Cordier (John Murray, 1920), chapter 23.

45
.
      
Bernard Lewis,
The Assassins: A Radical Sect In Islam
(Basic Books, 1967), 12.

46
.
      
Polo,
Travels,
chapter 24.

47
.
      
Ben McClellan, “Controversial Aussie Muslim Backs Right to Fight for Islamic State,”
Daily Telegraph,
December 5, 2014.

48
.
      
Loubna Mrie, Vera Mironova, and Sam Whitt, “‘I Am Only Looking Up to Paradise,’”
Foreign Policy,
October 2, 2014.

49
.
      
Muhammed Ibn Ismail Al-Bukhari,
Sahih al-Bukhari: The Translation of the Meanings,
trans. Muhammad Muhsin Khan (Darussalam, 1997), vol. 9, book 93, no. 7142.

50
.
      
Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj,
Sahih Muslim,
trans. Abdul Hamid Siddiqi, rev. ed. (Kitab Bhavan, 2000), no. 4554.

51
.
      
Ibid.

52
.
      
Bernard Lewis,
The Assassins: A Radical Sect In Islam
(Basic Books, 1967), 126.

53
.
      
Maulana Maudoodi, “The Mischief of Calling Muslims as
Kafir,” Tarjuman al-Quran,
May 1935.

54
.
      
David Commins,
The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia
(I.B. Taurus, 2009), 31.

55
.
      
Yousaf Butt, “How Saudi Wahhabism Is the Fountainhead of Islamist Terrorism,” Huffington Post, January 20, 2015.

56
.
      
“The Salafi Cult. The Modern Day Khawarij,”
http://wmneww.wahhabi.info/
.

57
.
      
John Kerry, “Remarks on the Formation of the Iraqi Government,” U.S. State Department, September 8, 2014.

58
.
      
On the idea that poverty causes terrorism, see, for example, Jeryl Bier, “Kerry: ‘Root Cause of Terrorism’ Is Poverty,”
Weekly Standard,
January 15, 2014.

59
.
      
Ashley Killough, “Strong Reaction to Obama Statement: ‘ISIL Is Not Islamic,’” CNN, September 11, 2014.

60
.
      
“Abu Mus’ab Al-Zarqawi: Collateral Killing of Muslims Is Legitimate,” Middle East Media Research Institute, June 7, 2005.

61
.
      
Ibid.

62
.
      
“Zawahiri’s Letter to Zarqawi.”

Chapter Two: ISIS Comes to America

1
.
        
Kevin Fasick, Amber Jamieson, and Laura Italiano, “Ax Attacker Wanted ‘White People to Pay’ for Slavery,”
New York Post,
October 25, 2014.

2
.
        
Ibid.

3
.
        
Catherine Herridge, “Intel Memo Shows NYC Ax Attacker’s Online Obsession with Radical Islam,” Fox News, November 11, 2014.

4
.
        
Fasick, Jamieson, and Italiano, “Ax Attacker Wanted.”

5
.
        
M. L. Nestel, “Sources: NYPD Hatchet Attacker May Have Been ISIS Supporter,” Vocativ, October 23, 2014.

6
.
        
Abu Muhammad al-‘Adnani ash-Shami, “Indeed Your Lord Is Ever Watchful,” September 21, 2014, available at,
https://ia801400.us.archive.org/34/items/mir225/English_Translation.pdf
.

7
.
        
Fasick, Jamieson, and Italiano, “Ax Attacker Wanted.”

8
.
        
Ibid.

9
.
        
Adnani, “Indeed Your Lord Is Ever Watchful.”

10
.
      
Robert Spencer, “ISIL: ‘If the US Bomb Iraq, Every American Citizen Is a Legitimate Target for Us,’” Jihad Watch, June 27, 2014.

11
.
      
Missy Ryan, “Islamic State Threat ‘Beyond Anything We’ve Seen’: Pentagon,” Reuters, August 21, 2014.

12
.
      
Michael Zennie, “Somali-American Who Died Fighting for ISIS Cleaned Planes for Delta Airlines at Minneapolis Airport before He Joined Terrorist Group,”
Daily Mail,
September 3, 2014.

13
.
      
Jamie Weinstein, “ISIS Threatens America: ‘We Will Raise the Flag of Allah in the White House,’” Daily Caller, August 8, 2014.

14
.
      
Fasick, Jamieson, and Italiano, “Ax Attacker Wanted.”

15
.
      
“Feds Warn of ISIS-Inspired Threat against Police, Reporters in US,” NBC, October 13, 2014.

16
.
      
Adnani, “Indeed Your Lord Is Ever Watchful.”

17
.
      
Ibid.

18
.
      
Ibid.

19
.
      
Ibid.

20
.
      
Ibid.

21
.
      
Ibid.

22
.
      
Ibid.

23
.
      
Ibid.

24
.
      
Ibid.

25
.
      
Ibid.

26
.
      
Ibid.

27
.
      
Ibid.

28
.
      
Ibid.

29
.
      
Robert Spencer, “Brooklyn Cop Killer’s FB Page: ‘Strike Terror into the Hearts of the Enemies of Allah,’” Jihad Watch, December 20, 2014.

30
.
      
Adnani, “Indeed Your Lord Is Ever Watchful.”

31
.
      
Charles C. Johnson, “Breaking, Exclusive: NYPD Cop Killer Worked for Muslim Terror Front Group,” GotNews, December 23, 2014.

32
.
      
John Hall, “ISIS Supports Ferguson Protesters: Islamic Militants Promise to Send Over ‘Soldiers That Don’t Sleep, Whose Drink Is Blood, and Their Play Is Carnage,”
Daily Mail,
November 26, 2014.

33
.
      
Allan Woods, “Martin Rouleau ‘Died like He Wanted To,’”
Toronto Star,
October 20, 2014.

34
.
      
“Martin Couture-Rouleau, Hit-and-Run Driver, Arrested by RCMP in July,” CBC News, October 21, 2014.