The Rise of Islamic State (11 page)

This book was originally conceived as a description of the growing power of jihadi movements similar to al-Qaeda in northern Syria and Iraq, the importance of which seemed to me to have been missed by Western politicians, the media, and the public. I particularly wanted to trace the swift rise of ISIS, the growing anger of the Sunni community in Iraq, and the government’s inability to combat a powerful new insurgency. In Syria I wanted to stress that the armed opposition was now dominated by jihadi movements while the moderates, whom the West is seeking to boost, have little influence on the ground.

What seemed a marginal opinion in 2013 and early 2014 was borne out by ISIS’s capture of Mosul on June 10, 2014, and its declaration of a caliphate spanning the Iraqi-Syrian border later that month. The main conclusions of this book, written beforehand, seemed to be spectacularly confirmed by these events. But the war is not over and the battle lines will move backward and forward. Many players inside and outside the country are involved and Iraq and Syria have a way of delivering unexpected events and nasty surprises.

I developed many of the themes in this book while giving lectures for Alwan for the Arts Foundation in New York in 2014, as well as in articles for the
Independent
and the
London Review of Books
. Many thanks to all for their encouragement and support.

9/11
4
,
52
,
53
,
55
,
56
,
57
,
59
,
98
,
100
,
101
,
102
,
114
,
116
,
138

al-Abadi, Haider
xv
,
24

Abbottabad (Pakistan)
56

Abu Ghraib
46
,
74
,
147
,
155

Adhamiya (Iraq)
20

al-Adnani, Abu Mohammed
18
,
64
,
76

Afghanistan
6
,
8
,
54
,
59
,
62
,
98
,
100
,
104
,
111–13
,
115
,
116
,
138
,
144

Ahfad al-Rasoul Brigade
85

Ahrar al-Sham
46
,
51
,
82
,
84
,
86
,
148

Ajdabiya (Libya)
118

al-Ajmi, Nayef
106

Alawites
x
,
49
,
81
,
89
,
91
,
94
,
98
,
104
,
132
,

Aleppo (Syria)
ix
,
xviii
,
6
,
33
,
51
,
82
,
93
,
149
,
151

Allawi, Ali
108–9

Alwiyah Club
33

Amariya (Iraq)
21

Amerli (Iraq)
xv
,
xviii

Anbar province (Iraq)
14
,
21
,
26
,
47
,
48
,
74–5
,
128
,
129
,
136
,
154–5

Ansar al-Islam
14

Arab Spring
69
,
83
,
116
,
126
,
132
,
139

Al-Asad base
154

Asaib Ahl al-Haq
xiii

al-Askari
13
,
70

al-Assad, Bashar
xii
,
xvii
,
xix–xx
,
3–4
,
9
,
26
,
33–4
,
37–8
,
49
,
52
,
71
,
84
,
86–90
,
92–3
,
98–9
,
103–5
,
109–10
,
112
,
117
,
130
,
140
,
142–3
,
148
,
157–8
,
161

anti-
xii
,
xix–xx
,
3
,
4
,
52
,
86–7
,
98
,
109–10
,
148
,
157

pro-
xvii
,
71
,
89
,
93

al-Assad, Hafez
143

al-Attiyah, Ghassan
67

“Awakening” movement
73
,
128

ayatollah
see
Khomeini
and
al-Sistani, Ali

Baathist party
14
,
30
,
31
,
53
,
142

Bab Touma (Syria)
121

Baghdad (Iraq)
xii–xix
,
1
,
4
,
9
,
12–16
,
18–21
,
24–6
,
28–9
,
30
,
32–4
,
38–9
,
42
,
47–8
,
61
,
65–6
,
70
,
113–14
,
116
,
122
,
124–6
,
128
,
145–7
,
151
,
152
,
154–5
,
159–60

conditions in
xii–xiii
,
4
,
19–21
,
26
,
28–9
,
32–3
,
66
,
70
,
113–4

al-Baghdadi, Abu Bakr
xi
,
43–5
,
135

Bahrain
7
,
83
,
103
,
105
,
108
,
116
,
126
,
156

Baiji (Iraq)
17

Baquba (Iraq)
14

Barzani, Massoud
15
,
32

Basra (Iraq)
46
,
65
,
123

al-Beilawy, Abdul-Rahman
129

Beirut (Lebanon)
133

Benghazi (Libya)
118

Biden, Joe
xix–xx

bin Abdullah, Miteb
105

bin Laden, Osama
1
,
4–5
,
38
,
54–7
,
98
,
100

bin Nayef, Mohammed
105

bin Sultan, Bandar
36
,
86
,
104
,
105

bin Sultan, Salman
86

bin Zayed, Abdullah
102

Blundy, David
124

Boko Haram
109

Britain
xiii
,
6
,
23
,
27
,
38
,
42
,
53
,
59
,
66
,
86
,
92
,
119
,
143

Bucca, Camp (Iraq)
44

Bush, George W.
56
,
106

Cairo (Egypt)
132

caliphate
xi
,
xvii
,
27
,
28
,
30
,
32
,
38
,
40
,
164

Camp Bucca (Iraq)
44

Canada
42
,
133

Chechnya
42
,
51

China
141

Christians
x
,
5
,
31
,
49
,
75
,
81
,
89
,
91–2
,
107–8
,
121–2
,
127
,
151

Clapper, James
104

Clinton, Hillary
57
,
101

Cohen, David
106

Colvin, Marie
106

Cuba
143

Daash
16

Damascus (Syria)
26
,
33
,
51
,
52
,
79
,
80
,
82
,
89
,
90
,
91
,
98
,
121
,
123
,
124
,
140
,
157

Dawa party
24

Dearlove, Richard
35

Deir Ezzor (Syria)
27
,
50

Diyala province (Iraq)
42
,
44
,
155

al-Dohra power station
125

Douma (Syria)
79

Dubai (UAE)
128

Egypt
42
,
83
,
103
,
105
,
113
,
117
,
126
,
127
,
130
,
132
,
141
,
144
,
149

Erbil (Iraq)
xi
,
xii
,
xvi
,
31
,
34
,
35
,
137
,
160

Erdo
ğ
an, Recep Tayyip
152
,
157
,
158
,
159

El Salvador
124

Euphrates
12
,
42
,
48
,
50
,
74
,
88
,
124
,
154

Europe
xv
,
4
,
5
,
9
,
52
,
57
,
99
,
109
,
117
,
140

Fallujah (Iraq)
1
,
19
,
24
,
25
,
48
,
61
,
62
,
74
,
126
,
131
,
135–6
,
146

Fatimid dynasty
103

France
72
,
86
,
119

Free Syrian Army (FSA)
35
,
51
,
85
,
90
,
98
,

Gaddafi, Muammar
54
,
88
,
112
,
113
,
117
,
119–20
,
142
,
143

Germany
94
,
109

Ghaidan, Ali
15

Gharawi, Mahdi
15

Hamada, Wael
80

al-Hamadi, Nazem
80

Hawijah (Iraq)
47
,
74

Hezbollah
9
,
71
,
89
,
92
,
103

Holbrooke, Richard C.
5

Homs (Syria)
33
,
81
,
82
,
89
,
90
,
93
,
97
,
121
,
149

Hussein, Saddam
x
,
xiii
,
18
,
30
,
33
,
44
,
46
,
53
,
65–7
,
69
,
76
,
100
,
112
,
115
,
117
,
142
,
144
,
146–8
,
159

era
18
,
30
,
44
,
46
,
65
,
76

invasion of Iran
159

invasion of Kuwait
x
,
147–8

overthrow of
xiii
,
33
,
46
,
66
,
69
,
100
,
112

representation of
115

ties to 9/11
53
,
100

Hussein, Safa Rusoul
21
,
145

Indonesia
6

Institute for the Study of War
46
,
73

International Crisis Group
69
,
83
,
84
,
141

Inter-Services Intelligence
57–8

Iran
x
,
xiii–xv
,
9
,
16
,
30
,
71
,
92
,
94–5
,
100
,
102–3
,
110
,
145
,
148
,
155
,
158–9

as unlikely US ally
x
,
xiv–xv

and Turkey
158–9

backing Assad
xv
,
9
,
92
,
94
,
103
,
155

influence in Iraq
xiii
,
xiv
,
xv
,
16
,
30
,
71
,
145
,
159

revolution
100

Iraq
ix–xx
,
1
,
2
,
4
,
7–18
,
23–39
,
42–51
,
53
,
55
,
57
,
59
,
61–77
,
87–8
,
94
,
97–8
,
100–3
,
108–9
,
111–17
,
120–29
,
131
,
135–8
,
141
,
142
,
144–50
,
152–6
,
159
,
163–4

and Iran
xiii
,
xiv
,
xv
,
16
,
30
,
71
,
145
,
159

armed forces
xi
,
xii
,
xiii
,
xvi
,
xvii
,
11
,
13–18
,
25
,
27
,
29
,
32
,
37
,
44
,
47–9
,
62
,
64–5
,
75–7
,
112
,
114–15
,
128–9
,
136–7
,
144–6
,
151
,
152
,
154–5

corruption in
11–12
,
29
,
64–8
,
77
,
136–7

destabilization of
x
,
xiii–xiv
,
4
,
8–10
,
32–3
,
73
,
137
,
144
,
147
,
150

al-Qaeda in (former name of ISIS)
9
,
11–12
,
41
,
42
,
44–5
,
73
,
135

ISIS in
ix
,
x–xi
,
xix–xx
,
9
,
13
,
16–18
,
21
,
23
,
25–7
,
32
,
36
,
37–8
,
43–5
,
48–50
,
53
,
61–77
,
87
,
98
,
129
,
131
,
136–7
,
145–6
,
151
,
154
,
156
,
159

media in
113–15
,
116
,
123
,
125
,
128–31

Shia government of
xvi–xvii
,
16
,
18
,
24
,
33
,
39
,
47
,
69–71
,
102–3
,
149

Sunni resurgence in
61–77

war in
x
,
xi
,
xii
,
xv
,
xvi
,
4
,
8
,
9
,
23–5
,
34–5
,
38
,
44
,
48–9
,
53
,
55
,
57
,
59
,
61–77
,
100–1
,
111
,
112
,
114–15
,
116
,
120
,
125–7
,
138
,
142
,
144
,
152
,
154–6