|
| Islamic State : The Digital Caliphate
ISBN: 9780520964037
Platform/Publisher: Ebook Central / University of California Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Limited; Download: 7 Days at a Time
Subjects: Social Science;
In 2014, when ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced establishment of the Caliphate, the news went viral, writes Palestinian journalist Atwan (After bin Laden) in this deeply researched, relentlessly discouraging account of the latest terrorist bogeyman. Al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi, helped found one of the militant groups that sprang up in Iraq following America's 2003 invasion. By 2010 he was chosen by the Shura Council to lead the pugnacious Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), and he expanded into Syria, allying with other insurgents-many supported by Western nations-who were fighting Bashar al-Assad. In 2013 Baghdadi merged the groups to form ISIS. Atwan provides a thorough overview of the group's structure, philosophy, and recruitment methods-particularly its digital media savvy. The sheer awfulness of ISIS left the group shorn of any support its previous incarnations might have enjoyed; Western and regional powers, including Iran, oppose ISIS with money and arms. However, the woeful Iraqi army is the only one confronting ISIS on the ground. The result has been steady military success, with ISIS now controlling large areas of Iraq and Syria. Few readers of this painful, lucid account will quarrel with Atwan's assertions that Western ignorance, hypocrisy, and self-interest contributed to the rise of ISIS, and that there is little sign of Western leaders growing any wiser. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Atwan Abdel Bari :
Abdel Bari Atwan is a Palestinian writer and journalist. He was the editor in chief at the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi for twenty-five years and now edits the Rai al-Youm news website--the Arab world's first Huffington Post -style outlet. He is a regular contributor to a number of publications, including the Guardian and the Scottish Herald , and he is a frequent guest on radio and television, often appearing on the BBC's Dateline London .
Atwan interviewed Osama bin Laden twice in the late 1990s and has cultivated uniquely well-placed sources within the various branches of al Qaeda and other jihadi groups, including IS, over the last twenty years. His books include The Secret History of al Qaeda and After bin Laden: Al Qaeda , the Next Generation , as well as a memoir, A Country of Words: A Palestinian Journey from the Refugee Camp to the Front Page . |
