The Banality of Islamic State

Bloomberg Businessweek
By: Cam Simpson

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Islamic State introduced itself to most Americans this summer through two infamous beheading videos. They were professionally produced films, released by what U.S. ­intelligence officials would later call the most sophisticated terrorist propaganda machine they’ve seen. (On Nov. 16, Islamic State said it had ­beheaded an American Muslim convert and aid worker, Peter “Abdul-Rahman” Kassig.) But as…

Islamic State is run by Sunnis, who are a minority in Iraq but make up the majority of Muslims. Many former senior Ba’athists, the secular Sunnis who ruled under Saddam, maintain top posts. Al-Baghdadi’s two leading deputies were both ranking Ba’athists. But a report in November by The Soufan Group, a New York-based private intelligence firm headed by former American and British counterterrorism and intelligence officials, says Ba’athist influence inside the group has declined recently, given the exponential growth of religious-extremist recruits since the start of the Syrian civil war. These fighters likely “brought military and ­organizational skills” into al-Baghdadi’s orbit, according to The Soufan Group…

Multiply that across Islamic State’s territory in two countries, and it’s clear why the Soufan Group concluded this month “that the financial resources of The Islamic State will allow it to consolidate its territory and build its support in both Iraq and Syria for the foreseeable future, even if its income declines for the lack of technical expertise or the denial of territory and ­resources as a result of local or international action…”

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Read The Soufan Group’s special report on The Islamic State here.

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