ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam (35 page)

45
.
    
“Profile: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” BBC, July 5, 2014,
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27801676.

46
.
    
Di Giovanni, “Who Is ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?”

47
.
    
“US State Department Wants IS Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, Offering $10 Million Reward,”
news.com.au
, September 26, 2014,
http://www.news.com.au/world/us-state-department-wants-is-leader-abu-bakr-albaghdadi-offering-10-million-reward/story-fndir2ev-1227071497608
.

48
.
    
“ISIS Leader al-Baghdadi: ‘Erupt Volcanoes of Jihad,’” NBC News, November 13, 2014,
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/isis-leader-al-baghdadi-erupt-volcanoes-jihad-n247801
.

49
.
    
“ISIS: Portrait of a Jihadi Terrorist Organization.”

50
.
    
Michael S. Schmidt, “434 People Killed in Iraq Since U.S. Pulled Out,”
New York Times,
January 27, 2012,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/world/middleeast/suicide-bomber-attacks-funeral-procession-in-iraq.html?_r=0
.

51
.
    
“ISIS: Portrait of a Jihadi Terrorist Organization.”

52
.
    
Jessica Lewis, “Al Qaeda in Iraq’s ‘Breaking the Walls’ Campaign Achieves Its Objectives at Abu Ghraib—2013 Iraq Update #30,” Institute for the Study of War, July 28, 2013,
http://iswiraq.blogspot.com/2013/07/al-qaeda-in-iraqs-breaking-walls.html
.

53
.
    
Michael Knights, “ISIL’s Political-Military Power in Iraq,” Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, August 27, 2014,
https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/isils-political-military-power-in-iraq
.

54
.
    
AFP, “Syria Death Toll Now Exceeds 200,000: Monitor,” Al Arabiya News, December 2, 2014,
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/12/02/Syria-death-toll-now-exceeds-200-000-monitor-.html
.

55
.
    
Richard Barrett, “The Islamic State,” Soufan Group, November 2014,
http://soufangroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/TSG-The-Islamic-State-Nov14.pdf
.

56
.
    
“ISIS: Portrait of a Jihadi Terrorist Organization.”

57
.
    
Barrett, “The Islamic State.”

58
.
    
Paula Astih, “Lebanon Braces for Attacks from ISIS and al-Nusra Front,”
Asharq Al-Awsat,
December 18, 2014,
http://www.aawsat.net/2014/12/article55339612
.

59
.
    
Aaron Y. Zelin, “Jihad 2020: Assessing al-Qaida’s 20-Year Plan,”
World Politics Review,
September 11, 2013,
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/13208/jihad-2020-assessing-al-qaida-s-20-year-plan
.

CHAPTER TWO: HELL AWAITS: WELCOME TO THE ISLAMIC STATE

1
.
      
Steven Nabil, in telephone interview with the author, September 24, 2014.

2
.
      
Phil Mattingly, “The Phases of Obama’s Iraq War,” Bloomberg, November 11, 2014,
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-11-11/the-phases-of-obamas-iraq-war
; “Obama: Iraq Has to Solve Its Own Problems,” Al Jazeera, June 14, 2014,
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/06/obama-iraq-solve-own-problems-201461316139782530.html
.

3
.
      
“Obama: Iraq Has to Solve Its Own Problems.”

4
.
      
Rebecca Collard, “Why Iraq Is So Desperate to Retake Mosul Dam from ISIS,”
Time,
August 16, 2014,
http://time.com/3126423/iraq-isis-mosul-dam-airstrikes/
.

5
.
      
Fazel Hawramy, “Kurdish Pershmerga [sic] Forces Prepare Escape Route for Yazidis Trapped in Sinjar,”
Guardian,
December 19, 2014,
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/19/kurdish-pershmerga-yazidis-safe-escape-route-sinjar-isis
.

6
.
      
Loveday Morris, “Iraqi Yazidis Stranded on Isolated Mountaintop Begin to Die of Thirst,”
Washington Post,
August 5, 2014,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iraqi-yazidis-stranded-on-isolated-mountaintop-begin-to-die-of-thirst/2014/08/05/57cca985-3396-41bd-8163-7a52e5e72064_story.html
.

7
.
      
Haroon Siddique, “20,000 Iraqis Besieged by ISIS Escape from Mountain after US Air Strikes,”
Guardian,
August 10, 2014,
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/10/iraq-yazidi-isis-jihadists-islamic-state-kurds
.

8
.
      
“Obama Says Militant Siege Broken—but Iraq Mission Not over Yet,” Fox News, August 14, 2014,
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/14/obama-us-has-broken-iraqi-militant-siege-rescue-effort-not-needed/
; Hawramy, “Kurdish Pershmerga [sic] Forces Prepare Escape Route.”

9
.
      
Mark Landler and Eric Schmitt, “ISIS Says It Killed Steven Sotloff after U.S. Strikes in Northern Iraq,”
New York Times,
September 2, 2014,
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/world/middleeast/steven-sotloff-isis-execution.html?_r=0
.

10
.
    
Ashley Killough, “Strong Reaction to Obama Statement: ‘ISIL Is Not Islamic,’” CNN, September 11, 2014,
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/10/politics/obama-isil-not-islamic/
.

11
.
    
Charlie Spiering, “Obama: ISIS Beheadings ‘Represent No Faith, Least of All the Muslim Faith,” Breitbart, November 17, 2014,
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2014/11/17/obama-isis-beheadings-represent-no-faith-least-of-all-the-muslim-faith/
.

12
.
    
Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on a New Beginning,”
WhiteHouse.gov
, June 4, 2009,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-cairo-university-6-04-09
.

13
.
    
Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President to the UN General Assembly,”
WhiteHouse.gov
, September 25, 2012,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/09/25/remarks-president-un-general-assembly
.

14
.
    
Yoel Natan, “164
Jihad
Verses in the
Koran,”
Answering Islam, 2004,
http://www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Themes/jihad_passages.html
.

15
.
    
Daniel Pipes, “How Many Islamists?,” Daniel Pipes Middle East Forum, January 26, 2013,
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2003/10/how-many-islamists
; Nathan Lean, “Stop Saying ‘Moderate Muslims.’ You’re Only Empowering Islamophobes,”
New Republic,
June 25, 2014,
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118391/troubling-phrase-moderate-muslims-only-empowers-islamophobes
.

16
.
    
Jeremy Diamond, “Poll: Most Americans Believe ISIS Serious Threat,” CNN, November 24, 2014,
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/24/politics/isis-november-poll/
.

17
.
    
Mark Murray, “Poll: Americans Want Boots on the Ground against ISIS,” MSNBC, October 15, 2014,
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/isis-poll-americans-want-boots-on-the-ground
.

18
.
    
“Obama Warns Defeating ISIS Won’t Be Quick,” NBC News, August 26, 2014,
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/obama-warns-defeating-isis-wont-be-quick-n189356
.

19
.
    
Dave Boyer, “Obama Confesses: ‘We Don’t Have a Strategy Yet’ for Islamic State,”
Washington Times,
August 28, 2014,
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/28/obama-admits-isil-dilemma-we-dont-have-strategy-ye/?page=all
.

20
.
    
“Presidential Daily Briefs: A Time-Based Analysis,” Government Accountability Institute, September 2014,
http://www.g-a-i.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/GAI-Report-PDB-Update-9.29.2014.pdf
.

21
.
    
Wynton Hall, “Report: Obama Has Missed Over Half His Second-Term Daily Intel Briefings,” Breitbart, September 29, 2014,
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2014/09/29/report-obama-has-missed-over-half-his-second-term-daily-intel-briefings/
.

22
.
    
Jennifer Epstein, “Barack Obama’s Long Walks Spoiled,” Politico, August 24, 2014,
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/barack-obama-criticism-110296.html
.

23
.
    
Missy Ryan and Erin Cunningham, “U.S. Advisers in Iraq Stay Out of Combat but See Fighting Edging Closer,”
Washington Post,
January 1, 2015,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-advisers-in-iraq-stay-out-of-combat-but-see-fight-edge-nearer/2015/01/01/6da57c3a-9038-11e4-ba53-a477d66580ed_story.html
.

24
.
    
Ibid.

25
.
    
Nicholas Watt, “Defeat of ISIS Cannot Be Achieved without Ground Troops, Says Tony Blair,”
Guardian,
September 21, 2014,
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/22/blair-defeat-isis-ground-troops
.

26
.
    
Ryan and Cunningham, “U.S. Advisers in Iraq.”

27
.
    
“US Flies Roughly 85 Percent of Airstrikes against Islamic State, in Complex Mix of Tactics, Politics,” Fox News, November 30, 2014,
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/30/us-outpaces-allies-in-airstrike-in-iraq-syria/
.

28
.
    
Josh Rogin and Eli Lake, “Iran-Backed Militias Are Getting U.S. Weapons,” Bloomberg, January 8, 2015,
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-01-08/iranbacked-militias-are-getting-us-weapons-in-iraq
.

29
.
    
Martha Ann Overland, “U.S. Strikes Have Killed 1,100 ISIS Fighters and Cost $1 Billion,” NPR, December 24, 2014,
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/12/24/372168736/u-s-strikes-have-killed-1-100-isis-fighters-and-cost-1-billion
.

30
.
    
Hollie McKay, “Iraq’s Peshmerga Desperate for US Arms in Fight against ISIS,” Fox News, January 3, 2015,
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/01/03/iraq-peshmerga-desperate-for-us-arms-in-fight-against-isis/
.

31
.
    
Agence France-Presse, “Kurdish Peshmerga Forces Launch Offensive to Retake ISIS Held Areas,”
Guardian,
December 17, 2014,
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/17/kurds-peshmerga-offensive-isis-sinjar-territory-mosul
.

32
.
    
Agence France Presse, “Kurds Push Back ISIS in Syria’s Kobani: Activists,”
Daily Star
(Lebanon), January 5, 2015,
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Jan-05/283114-kurds-push-back-isis-in-syrias-kobani-activists.ashx
.

33
.
    
Reuters, “‘Islamic State Seeking Bases inside Lebanon,’”
Jerusalem Post,
January 3, 2015,
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Islamic-State-seeking-bases-inside-Lebanon-386552
.

34
.
    
Erin Banco, “ISIS Destroys at Least Six Border Control Stations on Jordan-Iraq Border,” International Business Times, December 16, 2014,
http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-destroys-least-six-border-control-stations-jordan-iraq-border-1759922
.

35
.
    
Alessandria Masi, “ISIS Claims Attack on Saudi Arabian Border, Signals Strategy Change in Militant Infiltration,” International Business Times, January 5, 2015,
http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-claims-attack-saudi-arabia-border-signals-strategy-change-militant-infiltration-1773754
.

36
.
    
Damien Sharkov, “Saudi Arabia Constructing 600-Mile Wall to Keep Out ISIS,”
Newsweek,
January 15, 2015,
http://www.newsweek.com/saudi-arabia-constructing-600-mile-long-wall-keep-isis-out-299664
.

37
.
    
John Hall, “ISIS Signs Up More than 6,000 New Recruits Since American Airstrikes Began, As France Makes Ruling on Groups [sic] Name and Says It Will Start Calling Them Derogatory ‘Daesh Cutthroats,’”
Daily Mail,
September 18, 2014,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2760644/ISIS-signs-6-000-new-recruits-American-airstrikes-began-France-says-start-calling-group-derogatory-Daesh-cutthroats.html
.

38
.
    
Greg Miller, “Airstrikes against Islamic State Do Not Seen [sic] to Have Affected Flow of Fighters to Syria,”
Washington Post,
October 30, 2014,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/airstrikes-against-the-islamic-state-have-not-affected-flow-of-foreign-fighters-to-syria/2014/10/30/aa1f124a-603e-11e4-91f7-5d89b5e8c251_story.html
.

39
.
    
Laura Dean, “Allegiance to ISIS: Egypt’s Ansar Beit al-Maqdis Pledges Support,” NBC News, November 12, 2014,
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/allegiance-isis-egypts-ansar-beit-al-maqdis-pledges-support-n246741
.