Entering into this project my main focus was on the Islamic State or ISIL, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. I researched three main topics within ISIS and those were, ISIL financial operations, foreign recruits and its spiritual background.

ISIS is funded is through oil smuggling and mostly foreign, anonymous allocations of weapons, supplies and money. A complex system of oil smuggling networks has been set up for some time. These same tactics of smuggling oil  across the Turkish border from Syria and Iraq, were the same ones used during Sadam Husseins reign in power so that he could avoid heavy sanctions against him. This makes it easy for ISIL to pick up right where he left off and could help explain their rapid rise to power in the region. ISIL has been smuggling oil to Iraqi Kurdistan, where it is then sold to countries like Turkey and Jordan. The US estimates ISIL is profiting millions weekly. This helps to relieve some of the financial stress that they incur from paying salaries to fighters and field commanders. Control of oil fields is essential to holding power in the region and allows them to control territory, unlike its counterpart, al-Aqaeda. The group has control of about half a dozen oil fields that are located in Najmah, Al Qayyarah, Hajil and Hamrin Iraq. Along with funding from oil and anonymous donors , ISIL has control of numerous other resources, such as the ability to print money and make their own passports. These too, are crucial to holding power in the region because they do not have to rely on anybody for these resources but themselves.

Another addition to ISIL’s stronghold is the pool of human capital that they regularly draw from. The zeal of fighting for an extreme cause has seemed to catch the ears and hearts of thousand of young fighters and fighters wives from all over the world. ISIL has field commanders from Iraq, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Australia, Georgia and possibly Russia. They are also well trained and paid. This allows ISIL to be run with keen military and civil expertise, unlike many volunteer rebel groups in the area. The field officers mentioned above are almost all former military commanders of their respective countries or former regimes. This abundance of expertise is a significant advantage in their campaign and allows them replace personnel after experiencing casualties. Every other week an ISIS field officer is killed in an air strike but is seamlessly replaced. The experience most of the  officers bring to the table comes from previous wars against the far and near enemy, both of whom they are battling right now. Knowledge of terrain and tactics in the area is yet another edge for the military core of ISIL. This brings up an interesting fact.  Almost every high ranking official, who holds a position of significance, is a former commander of Sadam Hussein. Many have been killed in battle but again, some how, are replaced. These officers help to explain the ease with which ISIL smuggles oil and funds itself, as well as the civil expertise it takes to run a small empire. As mentioned earlier, the oil smuggling routes have been in place since the Hussein Regime and continue to be used today.

ISIL caught my attention not just because of the brutality they inflict on enemies but because of the overall message I felt that they were portraying to the world. This masquerade was that of a ancient spiritual group that is to bring forth the Apocalypse and true justice to the world in the name of ALLAH. Along the way they were to break down all Western world barriers. In my eyes It was the pinnacle of the holy war that has been waged in the region for a millennium. Dating back  to the crusades. I have to admit that this sparked my interest because of the rush that comes from such ideas. To me, this was the source of their power, along with military expertise. I genuinely felt that they were believers and this faith gave them the ability to be so brutal in their campaign. These deep beliefs, however, are most likely held by very few within the ISIS organization. There are stories of many disaffected, who are only fighting for ISIS because of the decent pay they receive in comparison to the meager one they would receive other wise. It is also apparent that only Baghdadi and a hand full of influential decision makers within ISIS are true believers. As for the others, they are merely remnants of the Hussein regime still hungry for power. They will use anybody and everybody to get what they want, which to me is still unknown. It could be the rid of all Western ideas and then a totalitarian rule over the people.

After researching what ISIS is, I found things that I was not looking for. ISIS is not the hope for the world that they proclaim to be but a front for the undying ideologies of Sadam Hussein and other dictators. The very thing that ISIS is fighting against, oppressive authoritarian regimes, is exactly what they have become. They have absolute hunger for territory and power but no real direction on how to maintain it and what it’s  future holds. Do they truly believe that once they acquire significant territory for a substantial amount of time, which could already be true, the near and far enemy will let them rule it peacefully? There is no end game but war, unjust war.

When looking at the situation ISIS and other rebel groups are in through the perspectives in globalization lens, it becomes blurry. Many of their members are radicals in the sense that they have nothing to lose and will eliminate all unbelievers but do not care for a true democracy and are not believers themselves. In a sense, many of them are acting as political realist because they are only fighting for the ISIL cause in name of their interest and not ALLAH. As a whole, the organization also covers the spectrum of perspectives. Although there actions show that they are radicals, underneath the surface, one could argue that they are political realist or market liberals. ISIL could can be seen as a political realist regime if you look at their operations. In the past, al-Qaeda and its affiliates were sworn enemies of ISIL. Because of added pressure from the far enemy through air strikes and intelligence , ISIL has folded and formed alliances with al-Qaeda in Libya, Yemen and Syria, among others. If necessary the top leaders will bend their ideals in order for the organization to continue in the direction that best suits it’s interest, much like that of the enemy. ISIL can also be seen as market liberal corporation. It literally funds itself in the freest market on earth, the BLACK market, to evade taxes and formal red tape. It also funds itself on the free flow of cash and its liquidity is essential to operations because of the velocity at which it is able to move. This efficiency helps ISIL to purchase the necessary resources for day to day operations. Without this free flow of currency, ISIL does not exist. Cosmopolitanism can arguably be touched upon also. ISIL’s main recruitment tactic is of the cosmopolitan nature. Each and every recruit is inspired so much that they would sacrifice their lives for an end they will never see in this lifetime. They may come from all over the world but each individual is contributing to the greater cause, whatever that may be, and this idea of adding to the bigger scheme of things, through individual actions and faith, is cosmopolitan.

ISIL exist because of a few reason and one of those is because of the Arab Spring. Throughout the Arab world each and every revolution was different because of many reasons. In Tunisia the dictator, Ben Ali, was peacefully overthrown by the very class he helped to prosper through two decades of free higher education. They realized their education was high enough to govern themselves and they were correct. In Libya, Ghadaffi was forcefully decapitated and sodomized by the people he had oppressed  and murdered. They realized that people being beheaded on national television was the last straw. Even though these are two extremes, the one thing they have in common is that they had dictators with absolute power. Tunisia has been successful in comparison to other countries because there was no real power vacuum. Tunisia had always been a strong country with people who voted. It was a soft dictatorship and the people did have some input with the direction of the country. This meant there was no one power that could easily assume office because it was in place before the revolution, it had many. This kept the power structure in check. In other areas, such as Libya and Yemen, the story is different. Many of these countries citizens live in poverty and are not highly educated. This means that surviving is the first rule of thumb and voting is almost nonexistent. This is exactly the type of country ISIL targets. While a countries internal politics are weak, ISIL is working hard to insert itself into a position of power. This can be directly seen in Libya. Libya currently has no official power structure. There are two rival governments battling over territory with various rebels adding to the conflict. At the height of violence, ISIL enters the realm and established power. They also did this in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. The Arab Spring is a direct contributor to why ISIS exist.

My final thoughts are that ISILL is not what I thought they were. For as long I could I gave them the benefit of the doubt that they truly believed in breaking down unjust social, cultural and political barriers in the name of ALLAH. Not that I agreed with the way they went about it, but at least it was something I thought was organic and was a result of the near and far enemy encroaching on territory. Unfortunately, this is not true. ISIL are not believers at all, and the ones who claim to be true believers should be ashamed of themselves for associating with the likes an evil Hussein regime. If your going to fight for a just cause then by all means fight! But don’t sacrifice ideals on the way because then it will be all in vain. ISIL leaders, including Baghdadi, may be educated in Islam, and have keen military experience, but do they know about building just societies? Do they know of the struggles man experiences when decisions are made? Don’t they know that they are on the brink of touching the untouchable, true freedom? My answer is no, ISIL knows nothing of the sort. They are traveling full force into the future so far that we will return to the dark ages.