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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsISIS? When Was The First Time You Heard Reference To This Group?.....
Unless I've been a mushroom - I don't remember hearing about this group til about 2-3 days ago. Last night I heard some Congressman on a cable news show say they were more dangerous than al quaida.
Where did they come from? How come it seems like they just broke into the news lately? How did they become so powerful so fast?
Am I the only one here blindsided by ISIS?
warrior1
(12,325 posts)but from what I saw last night on MSNBC Chris and Rachel show, they are too extreme for al qaeda.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)The group has used several different names since its formation in early 2004 as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (The Organization of Monotheism and Jihad). In October 2004, the group's then leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi swore loyalty to Osama bin Laden, Zarqawi then changed the name of the group to Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn, The Organization of Jihad's Base in the Country of the Two Rivers (TQJBR), more commonly translated as al-Qaida in Iraq. In January 2006 the group merged with several smaller Iraqi insurgent groups into an umbrella organizations called the Mujahideen Shura Council. On 12 October 2006, the Mujahideen Shura Council joined with four other insurgent factions and representatives of a number of Iraqi tribes in a pact called Khalf al-Mutayibeen, Oath of the Scented Ones, which was followed the next day by the announcement of the establishment of the Dawlat al-'Iraq al-Islamiyya or Islamic State of Iraq. In April 2013, after the group expanded into Syria, it adopted the name the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), also known as the "Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham" (ISIS); Sham means Levant or Greater Syria. Although the organization has never used the name al-Qa`ida in Iraq to refer to itself, this has been frequently used to describe the group through its various incarnations.
spanone
(135,900 posts)WhiteTara
(29,728 posts)JustAnotherGen
(31,937 posts)I thought they were talking about the cell phone wallet platform. You aren't the only one. It's as hard to track/trace these groups as it is to chase the Devos/Koch/Prince/Dobson clans/families.
bklyncowgirl
(7,960 posts)Seems they decided to turn their efforts on Iraq--with considerably more success.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)If they're fighting the Syrian government, does that make them one of the groups that McCain wanted to arm with American weapons? Heck, were they the people he posed with in that one photo?
Igel
(35,374 posts)No, they're not one of the groups that Americans of various stripes wanted to arm. In fact, they're one of the groups that helped prevent the US from arming "moderate" groups.
At some point--perhaps a year ago, if I remember when the stories I read *at the time* appeared in the MSM--they started fighting with more secular Syrian groups. Aleppo was a flashpoint, for instance.
Soon after it became a 3-way conflict ISIS moved into Iraq as well--where it had been getting support for the fight in Syria--and renamed itself ISIL. It only started occupying territory in Iraq, IIRC, over the winter. Fallujah and Ramadi. ISIS formed for the fight in Syria. It had roots in various tribes and faction in Syria that had supported the Anbaris in their fight against the US/Shi'ite forces in Iraq, as well as in some factions in Anbar province (and points east of there) in Iraq. No Syrian conflict, no ISIS.
If people aren't familiar with it, it's because they didn't bother reading the Late Breaking News forum in DU.
bklyncowgirl
(7,960 posts)They have been fighting under various names but they are one of the principle reasons why the Obama administration has been reluctant to arm the insurgents.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)instead of calling it "Isis."
get the red out
(13,468 posts)Bosonic
(3,746 posts)Originally from Iraq, ISIS (or ISIL) most recently notable for jockeying in Syria with Al Nusra for most insane rebel faction, and also probably responsible for most of the seemingly weekly car/suicide bomb carnage in Iraq.
In other words, they've been active and out there.
Separation
(1,975 posts)Matt_in_STL
(1,446 posts)NCcoast
(480 posts)Sterling Archer... I should have known.
wandy
(3,539 posts)I had some memory of ISIS but not involving Iraq.
Knew it wasn't I Spy. Wasn't The man from U.N.C.L.E (had to look that up, THRUSH).
Was about to dial up Agent 99 on the shoe phone when I ran across you're post.
madinmaryland
(64,933 posts)All three. Jeb bush all up in your house.
Initech
(100,108 posts)WHAT??????????
Danger zone!
malaise
(269,219 posts)panader0
(25,816 posts)shenmue
(38,506 posts)Didn't know about them until a few weeks ago.
GeorgeGist
(25,324 posts)2pooped2pop
(5,420 posts)so a new group had to be formed so we could continue eternal war?
polly7
(20,582 posts)I always hear the Iraqi pro-war crowd interviewed on television from foreign capitals (they can only appear on television from the safety of foreign capitals because I defy anyone to be publicly pro-war in Iraq). They refuse to believe that their religiously inclined, sectarian political parties fueled this whole Sunni/Shia conflict. They refuse to acknowledge that this situation is a direct result of the war and occupation. They go on and on about Iraq's history and how Sunnis and Shia were always in conflict and I hate that. I hate that a handful of expats who haven't been to the country in decades pretend to know more about it than people actually living there.
I remember Baghdad before the war- one could live anywhere. We didn't know what our neighbors were- we didn't care. No one asked about religion or sect. No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward. Our lives revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting it- depending on the group of masked men who stop you or raid your home in the middle of the night.
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.ca/
I'd never heard of them either until recently. It's unimaginable how much terror and loss the Iraqi people have faced, and now this. I don't buy for one millisecond that Bush and the warmongers weren't fully aware what would happen when they blew Iraq open to terrorism and purposeful division. It's heart-breaking and nauseating.
La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)its short and highly informative. (i mean if you want to know about things like ISIS/boko haram/random other crises that our media kinda neglects)
TexasProgresive
(12,159 posts)maybe here at DU, maybe BBC website which I sometimes frequent, maybe I don't know where.
Crabby Appleton
(5,231 posts)formed by a combination os Syrian and Iraqi insurgent groups.
added on edit:
excerpt from Sept 1, 2013 article:
Rebel military groups like the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have become the de-facto government, replacing President Assad's regime and often imposing new forms of repression, say many residents.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0901/As-US-weighs-war-fears-of-power-of-jihadis-in-Syria
JCMach1
(27,580 posts)with lots of $$$ from the Saudis...
polly7
(20,582 posts)Benton D Struckcheon
(2,347 posts)...Al Qaeda ejected them and other Syrian jihadists fought them. Accusations on the ground among the rebels that they have Assad's backing, as his forces have, according to them, been conspicuously absent from any real fighting against them.
Personally, I think if it's true, it just means he's smart enough not to get involved when two of his enemies are fighting each other.
Iraq is done; it will now be partitioned in three. Somebody remind me why we went there...
Throd
(7,208 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)Though granted I haven't paid much attention to Iraq lately.