Islamic State: Threats, Essence, Counteraction - Term Paper Example

ISLAMIC THREATS, ESSENCE, COUNTERACTION Sur June 09, Introduction Terrorism has become a point of primary concernover the last decades, and there is no country in the world which has not felt its terrible consequences on itself. In this regard, the thing to struggle with is the threat of terrorist groups which, as the life shows, can develop in powerful enough structures and torture not only certain individuals, but also countries and entire regions. This paper will consider the group which has become number one in breaking news of the world – the Islamic State. An overview of Islamic State. Islamic State (also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL))1 is a “…radical Islamist group that has seized large swathes of territory in eastern Syria and across northern and western Iraq.”2 There are debates regarding what to consider the date of the group origin, but there are evidences that the origins of the Islamic State trace back to the year 2002, when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi created a terrorist group Tawhid wa al-Jihad. The year 2003 which is the most widely spread reference to the beginning of the group history is the time when al-Zarqawi became an ally of Osama Bin Laden; they created Al-Qaeda in Iraq, a military power of insurgency which became a response to the US-led allied Iraq invasion. 3 In 2006, al-Zarqawi died, Islamic State in Iraq was created by the above mentioned Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and the newly-emerged group was losing its power under the American army attacks, which was erroneously taken as its being on its last legs. 4 The year 2010 became another milestone in the group’s history – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi became a new leader of the Islamic State and took up significant reformation of the group which enlarged its capabilities both in material and human perspective. 5 Since then, the group carried out quite many attacks in Iraq and took part in Syria civil war against Assad regime, and “In April 2013, Baghdadi announced the merger of his forces in Iraq and Syria and the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis).” 6 Today, the group numbers such a big quantity of its active members which can be compared to an army of a relatively big country – it is reported that the ISIS has the army of 200,000 soldiers, and this digits goes on growing constantly. The quality of their training is also estimated to be high enough: “The Islamic State (Isis) has recruited an army hundreds of thousands strong, far larger than previous estimates by the CIA…” 7 The group has enormous opportunities to replenish its army by the recruits because it controls considerable areas of the two states where it is focused on its combat actions, Syria and Iraq, and area of 250,000 square kilometers with the population of 10 to 12 million people is a supply of the newcomers to the ISIL. 8 The arsenal of the group consists of an enormously big quantity of weaponry of almost all the kinds and manufacturers: they have armored vehicles (tanks, infantry fighting vehicles that were captured from the official armies of Syria and Iraq), rocket launchers and machine guns which they use either traditionally or mount on their trucks, missile systems, including surface-to-air type, and anti-aircraft weapons and, of course, assault and other types of rifles. “Their haul of vehicles from the Iraqi army includes Humvees and bomb-proof trucks that were originally manufactured for the US military.” 9 Red Cell Analysis of the Group The group follows its primary targets: establishment of the Islamic Caliphate which will include most of the Islamic countries of the Middle East and Africa and setting the Sharia law as the supreme power in the Caliphate. 10 It is reported that the group is quite successful in reaching the mentioned goals, and there are several reasons for such a striking success which has been reached within a rather short period of time. Firstly, the group is reported to have a flexible and reliable supply chain which allows for uninterrupted procurement of weaponry, ammunition and other things vital for the activity of the group. 11 Secondly, the group possesses the greatest budget among the world’s terrorist organizations – it is reported that the cash assets of the Islamic State make around 2 billion US Dollars, and most of the monetary investments have come from physical persons of the Arab Gulf region. 12 Obviously, such a big amount of money enables covering all the group’s current expenditures and facilitates reaching its long-and short-term goals. The group has also managed to establish the sources of its stable and regular income gaining: the assault in Iraq has been beneficial for the group because many banks have become the sources of cash, the cities that have given up are also lucrative, and much money out of the total group’s budget is made by the Islamic State from the fields of gas and oil under its control, kidnapping people, smuggling, and taxation. 13 Thirdly, the group is successful in training and recruiting. The instructors are soldiers and officers of the former Iraq army of Saddam Hussein reign, who are trusted by the ISIL leader very well. These people have successfully combined the group’s tactics which gives its benefits and proves its right for existence: they have been taking part in fighting against the US army in Iraq and have both practical and theoretical skills of military nature; at the same time, they have applied terrorist techniques of warfare on the regular army model which has made the group a hybrid of the regular army and the terrorist group. 14 Programs for data collection about the mentioned group When talking about the information gathering about the terrorist groups, it is necessary to mention that traditional methods of intelligence may not be as helpful as compared to their usual application because the terrorists often use masking techniques. In this regard, the latest achievements in technological development will be the best thing, and the program SIGINT is one of them. It will be useful due to the way it works: it traces information that is transmitted by the radio waves that are used by the opposite party. 15 This way of data collection will bring benefit because today’s life has become almost impossible without the use of different devices and gadgets which use radio waves for the purpose of connection with each other. GEOINT program is another means of great efficiency in terms of intelligence because this may help trace the objects that cannot be approached directly. This program is useful when tracking any human activity in any place of the planet which increases the chances for gathering information of high importance. This kind of intelligence will also be beneficial because of its features: it is a complicated field of activity which demands skilled professionals. 16 Agencies for the mentioned intelligence types The agency for the problem of the terrorist group implies consolidation of all the forces available from both governmental and societal sides. This is a threat which actively uses sneak attacks, therefore, all the responsible for intelligence must stay vigilant. The law enforcement of all the levels and nature shall be particularly active to prevent the terrorist attacks. The best sort of intelligence in this case may potentially be insider’s information – preparing a person or a group of persons to become members of this group for the purpose of information gathering and finding out the terrorists’ plans. The long-term intelligence analysis strategies will bring benefit because they consider the attacks reflecting on a long-term basis which is also beneficial in terms of their prevention. The officers of the intelligence services should be the main actors in this regard and both gather the data themselves based on their professionalism and experience and train newly comers to do the same. Conclusion Taking the above said into consideration nit is possible to suggest that the ISIS attacks can be thwarted based on their character: they prefer attacks on big cities, therefore, it is necessary to organize their defense and intelligence in potential aims of the terrorists’ attacks. The specificity of the terrorist groups fighting is that special forces shall be actively used – professional counter-terrorists have skills and knowledge how to eliminate terrorist groups and prevent emergence of those groups in any place. Bibliography Bacastow, Todd, Bellafiore, Dennis. Redefining geospatial Intelligence (American Intelligence Journal, 2009). BBC News. What is Islamic State? (BBC News, 2014), Retrieved 09 June 2015. Cockburn, Patrick. War with ISIS: Islamic Militants Have Army of 200,000, Claims Senior Kurdish Leader (The Independent, 2014), Retrieved 09 June 2015. Lee, Bartholomew. Radio Spies – Episodes in Ether Wars. (15 ANTIQUE WIRELESS ASSOCIATION REVIEW, 2006). Schmitt, Eric. Military Skill and Terrorist Technique Fuel Success of ISIS. (The New York Times, 2014), Retrieved 09 June 2015. Tharoor, Ishaan. ISIS or ISIL? The Debate over What to Call Iraq’s Terror Group. (The Washington Post, 2014), Retrieved 09 June 2015. TRAC. Islamic State of Iraq and ash Sham (ISIS) / Islamic State (Islamic State of Iraq, ISIS or ISIL, IS) (http://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/islamic-state-iraq-and-ash-sham-islamic-state-islamic-state-iraq-isis-or-isil), Retrieved 09 June 2015. Read More