October 27, 2019

WHICH IS WHY THEY WERE NEVER A THREAT:

Baghdadi Is Dead: The self-proclaimed caliph of ISIS had already lost his state, even before he reportedly lost his life. (Graeme Wood, 10/27/19, The Atlantic)

When I began speaking with ISIS supporters five years ago, they parroted all the points of propaganda that the group has since made famous. But they included one point that the Islamic State has since de-emphasized. To be a valid caliph, they said, one must have control over territory and implement Islamic law within it. A pledge of allegiance to a caliph (called bay'ah, both classically and by ISIS), they stressed, is a contract, an agreement between parties in which each offers something to the other. The caliph offers an Islamic state; his subject offers obedience. The contract evaporates when the caliph stops providing a state.

The hardest part of fighting non-state actors is finding them; and if you could trick them into founding "states" that would be much easier.  The caliphate was pretty much the ideal circumstance for us.  Just consider how easy it was to topple the Taliban.

It's why Donald withdrawing from the Middle East has real benefits for us, just not ones he understands. Re-establishing a Taliban state and a caliphate is pretty much just a matter of easy target acquisition.

Posted by at October 27, 2019 9:57 AM

  

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