Black
Flags: the rise of ISIS, Joby Warrick, Transworld Books, 2015
Be
warned reader: this book can make you sick! Why? Because it describes in
inimitable terms, the nasty work and tactics of the evil group called Islamic
State aka ISI aka IS which today is in its dying kicks in Syria and Iraq, where
it held territory.
The
Washington Post writer Joby Warrick won a Pulitzer prize for this book in 2016
and so this is indeed a wonderful work on a dark and evil group.
There
is nothing Islamic in the IS. Instead, the book shows that IS is a piece of
evil shrouded in death and destruction and floating in a pool of gore. The book traces the meteoric rise of the
terror group from 1999 when the government of Jordan granted amnesty to a group
of political prisoners among whom was Abu Musab al-Zarghawi, the ‘terrorist
mastermind’ who was soon to become the
founder of the IS.
This
is why the early chapters (pages 39-140) of the book trace this evil mind’s
rise from a petty criminal to a terror master. From how he started petty in
Northern Iraq throwing small bombs to 2003 when after the capture of the
unlamented tyrant Saddam Hussein, Iraq
descended into chaos and gave petty criminals like al-Zarghawi to turn big time
terror master under the flag of Bin Laden’s al Qaeeda.
It
was while under al Qaeeda that Zarghawi was killed, bombed to bits by USA IN
2006 (P.287). But even though he was dead, his evil network of death lived on.
One of his disciples was called Al Baghdadi, another ‘Al’ with a woeful record.
He stepped into the shoes of his dead master and formed the IS (P.346).
The
2011 and 2012 Arab uprisings against their pitiable tyrants provided the chaos
that Baghdadi needed to start his terror network once more. This he got when
parts of Syria became ungovernable and parts of Iraq undependable. Thus the
terror IS rushed into to fill in the gaps or vacuum. In 2013, he declared an
Islamic Caliphate in parts of present day Iraq and Syria.
Soon
thousands of disaffected Muslims from all corners of the globe rushed into
fight with IS against anybody who does not share their warped interpretation of
Islam. IS offers a radical, extremist and unyielding almost atavistic
interpretation of Islam. And their terror did not stop at suicide bombings but
also terrorise the people under their control with hangings and immolations in
public. This is why the author insinuates that IS is like a huge swarm of
locusts: they leave nothing green behind. So do they really want to build a
state then with such brutality and cruelty? On pages 394 395, the author gives
a very graphic account of the wickedness and utter brutality that IS visit on
Raqqa, a village in Syria where they established their HQ.
On
pages 404-405, the author ends by describing the Sunni-Shia animosity that has
divided the Arab Muslim world since the 7th century and how IS should be seen
as a Sunni sect intend on annihilating the Shia, Christians, Jews, Hindus etc
etc. In few words, IS is set to annihilate civilization.
This
book offers an interesting insight into the workings of the world’s worst
terror group.
Available
at Timbooktoo, tel 4494345.
