ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ

AND THE LEVANT

&
AL-QAEDA

B. Travis Fernander

INTRODUCTION
Just a week after the ISIS attacks in Paris a member of Al- Qaeda opened fire
on tourist in a Mali hotel.

Although both groups seem to have the same broad goal destabilizing
western supported nations and creating a Caliphate they are both bitter
rivals.

 Al-Qaeda (1988 by Osama Bin Laden)

Destabilize western influence
destroy Israel
topple pro-Western dictatorships around the Middle East
Restore the caliphate.

ISIS (1999 by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi)

to return to the early days of Islam

rejecting all western innovations

restoration of the caliphate. (Tim Fernholz)

Caliphate is an area containing an Islamic steward known as a Caliph. (Britannica

Encyclopaedia)
Caliph a person considered a religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad
and a leader of the entire Muslim community. (Britannica Encyclopaedia)

 Different Ideologies

Al-Qaeda: Destabilize the west

ISIS: Stabilize the east

ISIS defied public orders from Al-Qaeda and entered into bloody combat with alQaedas official affiliate in Syria.
Since then both groups have terrorised and kilt many people
2016 total 812 (June) Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, Mali, Yemen, Syria, India, Niger,
Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Jordan, Israel, Pakistan, Libya, United States,
Lebanon, France, Uganda, Philippines, Cameroon, Belgium, United Kingdom, Central
African Republic, West Bank, & Turkey (BBC, FOX, CNN)
Are ISIS & Al Qaeda truly global threats or are they mainly threats to individual
countries and region?

OPPOSING VIEWS
World Wide Supremacy (Council on Foreign Relations)
December 2015: Control Iraq & Syria with population of 2-8million people
(CIA)
Control over Libya, Nigeria, & Afghanistan with hopes of including North
Africa & South Asia.
As a self-proclaimed worldwide caliphate, ISIS claims religious, political and
military authority over all Muslims worldwide, and that "the legality of all
emirates, groups, states, and organisations, becomes null by the expansion
of the khilfah's [caliphate's] authority and arrival of its troops to their
areas". (NBC News)

STATE SPONSORED
Cameron tells European leaders to be good to their word and stop funding ISIS
with ransom payments.
A.

European and US attacks were by nationals

Saudi Arabia is said to be the world's largest source of funds (Huffington Post)

Also Turkey through Oil Sales to ISIS (The Washington Post.)

30,000 +,with foreign fighters accounting for around two thirds

STATEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING
1. Islamic State is not an country
No United Nations council voted that they should exist
The primary reason that both seek to form a supreme state or the only state in the world.
This has broken countless international laws regarding statehood and human rights, and their
own "laws" are brutal practices that have no place in the modern world.
Somaliland (1991) ONLY Non-UN member state not recognised by any state

STATE SPONSORED
Isis 'executes up to 200 of its own foreign fighters' for trying to flee and return
home IN 2014
The G8 called Great Powers (United Nations Development Programme)

14% World population

60% Worlds Wealth
60% Gross world product
7 of G8 Top military forces ($850 billion ) VS ISIS (2 billion)
4 of G8 own 96-99% nuclear weapons (Federation of American Scientists)

Sanctions
US- 2.3 BILLION assets
UK- 100,000 lbs assets

STATEMENT OF YOUR POSITION

So in my opinion both Jihadist movements are making an global name
themselves however it is my belief that they are primarily a centralized threat
in the Middle East and North Africa. Simply because this is not their main focus,
due to lone wolves. So they can focus their attention on holding territory and
claiming new territory.

STATEMENT OF CONTEXT
Mission
ISIS: mission to stabilize the middle east
Al-Qaeda: it has not forsaken terrorism, its resources today are overwhelmingly
devoted to fighting wars and insurgencies.
It has seized territory and declared a caliphate in northern Syria and Iraq.
Since the attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon it has continued to carry out
high-profile, complex attacks, such as the assault on the Westgate Mall in Kenya.
In Syria alone, no one can credibly dispute that the current number of both
jihadist war fighters dwarfs the maximum possible size of al-Qaeda prior to 2001.

Lone wolves
Both have adopted a default position of encouraging lone wolf attacks by nonnetworked supporters in the West.

While this obviously represents an ongoing problem, individual actors do not represent
the same magnitude of threat that manifested itself on September 11, nor do they
require al-Qaeda to spend its own resources.

ISIS noted in 2015, 30,000 memberships from Russia, France, Turkey, Germany, United
Kingdom, Indonesia, Belgium, Egypt, China, Sweden, Australia, the Netherlands, the
United States, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Canada, Italy, Palestine, Finland, Israel,
Ireland, Switzerland, Argentina, India, Portugal, and Philippines. (CIA)

Al-Qaida: CIA noted 39,000 members from: Af-Pak region, Maghreb, West Africa,
Arabian Peninsula, India, Somalia, Syria, Sinai Peninsula. (CIA)

Holding Territory
Holding territory is the primary rather than attacking US
Both have only attempted a hand full of attacks on US soil
12 of 700+ US directly
Control over Libya, Nigeria, & Afghanistan with hopes of including North Africa &
South Asia

INSURGENCY

Fighters have increasingly adopted the model of insurgency. While terrorist

tactics still proliferate in these regions, organizational goals point to
overthrowing existing regimes and directly capturing and controlling territory.

In contrast, traditional terrorism seeks to sway policies and polities indirectly,

through violence targeting non-combatants.

Including a recent spree of regional terrorist attacks on the soil of its immediate
neighbours Kenya and possibly Djibouti, both of which have troops in Somalia.

STATEMENT OF BELIEF
So it is mu opinion that while some dozens of terrorist conspirators can have
a far-reaching and disproportionate impact -- that is the very reason terrorism
exists in the first place -- such attacks do not suggest a broad global reach.

In the year to date, all known terrorist conspirators combined represent only
a fraction of 1 per cent of active jihadist war fighters. Far more people have
died in 2014 as a result of insurgent activity and warfighting in Syria, Iraq,
Yemen and Mali than in terrorist attacks over the same period.