ISIS: An American Legacy in the Middle East?

The relationship between the Central Intelligence Agencies (CIA) and armed groups, specifically Jihadist Movements such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), has become well know. These groups are mostly used as political leverage by the US government to control other countries’ policies, especially in the Middle East. Here are essentially three requirements to understand the organic relation between the US government and al-Qaeda as well as the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS): Firstly, the roots and history of al-Qaeda--;-- secondly, the historical evolution of the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)--;-- and finally the interests of the US behind arming these groups.

Al-Qaeda is considered as “the first multinational terrorist group of the 21st century, as it embodies the new enigmatic face of terrorism” (Hellmich 39). Al-Qaeda is an Arabic word that means “base of operation”, it was created by the US government during the Cold War in 1989 to fight against the Soviet forces (Chengu). It is also believed that Osama Bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda, received American and Saudi funding. The history of the United States shows that the U.S. has backed up terrorist groups (Chengu). Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State of the United States, proclaimed that the U.S. government supported and funded al-Qaeda. In a recent interview, she claimed that the U.S. government aligned itself with what she called “a force of mujahedeen” in order to fight and force the Soviets in Afghanistan leave (Chengu). Clinton said: “we created the problem we are now fighting.” Moreover, Robin Cook, a former British foreign secretary, said that Osama Bin Laden was breastfed by the CIA during the 1980’s. Moreover, he added that thousands of those who belong to al-Qaeda were trained by the CIA and funded by both the United States and the Saudi Arabia in order to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan (Chengu).

Furthermore, al-Qaeda is a group that is not driven by ideology. Tom Quiggin, a Senior Researcher at the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University, believes that “an ideology is thought to be the set of beliefs in which a group´-or-an individual is represented by” (Quigging). He additionally says that this set of beliefs, which is non-material, encourages that certain group to work harder in order to get to their goals (Quiggin). On the one hand, the Pentagon intelligence team claims that “al-Qaeda is not driven by ideology” (Hellmich 40). On the other hand, Stephen Schwartz, a senior policy analyst with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies based in Washington DC, claims that Osama bin Laden and his followers are practically following Wahhabism (Hellmich 40). Quiggin suggests that al-Qaeda’s ideology was not originally formed in 1989 as it is sometimes portrayed--;-- however, most of al-Qaeda’s own views have their origin to individual thinkers such as Sayyid Qutb, and the reference to such groups is Qutb’s commentaries on Quran (Quiggin). Hellmich assumes that "religion, in the case of Islamic fundamentalism religion serves as a mechanism for obtaining political legitimization and is being abused for purely political ends. In contrast, fundamentalists throughout the world act and perceive themselves to be the true believers" (Hellmich 42). For years al-Qaeda was the most prominent leader of the global jihadist movement--;-- however, this organization’s unstable ideologies led to conflicts between its leaders and as a result the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) recently rose to international prominence (Zelin 8).

In order to understand the rise of ISIS and its relation to the US government, one has to understand the fall of al-Qaeda and its previous history with the US government. Aaron Y. Zelin argues that today’s conflict between al-Qaeda and ISIS is rooted in October 2004 when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of Jamaat al-Tawhid wa-l-Jihad (JTWJ), had an unsuccessful baya [in Islamic terminology an oath of allegiance to a leader] with Osama bin Laden, after eight months of negotiations. Zelin argues that this was the initial seeds of today’s conflict. He also adds that today’s conflict between ISIS and al-Qaeda lies in the different ages they came from--;-- those who fought and trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in the 1980’s and 1990’s, and those who fought and trained with AQI (al-Qaeda in Iraq) and now ISIS (Zelin 2). Furthermore, James F. Tracy, a Florida Atlantic University Associate Professor, says that there was always a CIA-sponsorship on training Mujahdeen (Jihadists), particularly in Clinton and Bush administrations. Well, he believes that according to the history of CIA-Jihadists relations, the ISIS phenomenon has not to be new. Additionally, he says that ISIS is overtly supported by the US government: the government that is run by Obama, and the government which overtly sought to wage war against the Syrian government one year ago (Tracy). Accordingly, it is necessary to understand the relationship between these movements and the media, which is “a dependent relationship, where each group completes the other” (Torres Soriano 6). Tracy presents a question that was raised in Iran’s Press TV to the audience: "Why does the ISIS have much easy access to Twitter, YouTube and other social media to propagate its ideologies?" The answer choices are, "1) Because the ISIS has very capable technicians who can best use social media, 2) Because the US and Britain have provided the ISIS with unrestricted social media platforms." Tracy notes that almost 90 percent of the readers selected the second choice (Tracy), which shows that the historical relationship between these Jihadist movements has always been an overt relationship.

It is also important to focus on America’s Middle East Policy that revolves around oil and Israel, which is the main reason behind arming such movements. Accordingly, the United States is not using ISIS as an instrument to serve its interests in the Middle East--;-- it is using it to attack its enemies in the Middle East. Garikai Chengu, a research scholar at Harvard University, claims that the main reason behind creating the ISIS is “to topple the Syrian government and to put pressure on Iran” (Chengu). Moreover, Chengu says that one of the wars that are being waged in Syria is between the United States and Russia, which is the new-Cold War that led the United States to take the risk of arming the Jihadists in Syria, because Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, is “a key Russian ally” (Chengu). Furthermore, Ghali Hassan argues that “ISIS is not a by-product of US-Israel terror and Zionist policies in the region--;-- ISIS is a US-Israel product, a proxy terrorist force of foreign mercenaries” (Hassan). Moreover, Hassan claims that ISIS was provided with equipment and access to social media by Western governments led by the US to spread its violent actions and topple the Syrian government (Hassan).

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) is not an Islamic resistant movement that is applying Sayyid Qutb’s commentaries on Quran´-or-any other Islamist thinkers--;-- it is a US-sponsored group of terrorists, which is used to serve the US-Israel Zionist interests in the Middle East. Therefore, there is only one way possible to stop these terrorist groups--;-- if the US stops backing them up with resources and motivation to attack the Middle East. “Terrorism is the symptom--;-- American imperialism in the Middle East is the cancer” (Chengu).

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