Ever Wonder Where ISIS Came From? Here’s The Answer……

Ed Moloney with a view on the origins of ISIS. Ed Moloney blogs @ The Broken Elbow.       

  • Update: A reader, ‘Chris’, from California has written a comment asking how do I know what happened before the attack, that it was not provoked  by something the crowd had done and that the helicopter strike was justified? Well, I don’t know, but I don’t think so. I think that would have been reflected in the interaction between the pilot and his controller. But anyhow, that’s not the point. There is a thing called the rule of law. It says that you cannot be punished unless you have been found guilty by some legally and socially acceptable process. That didn’t happen. And even if the crowd had done something, how does the pilot and his controller know that everyone in the crowd was involved, that innocent bystanders or spectators wouldn’t die alongside the guilty? It is precisely this type of indiscriminate violence by the US in the region that has spawned vengeful groups like ISIS. The attack might have been justified if the crowd was about to take life. But there is no sign in the video of that happening. The video is, sadly, consistent with many of the horror stories we have read and seen about attacks like this. Here is a BBC report on the First Battle of Fallujah which may have been the occasion for this sequence.


A few years ago, I indirectly acquired this 53 second video from someone who had served in Iraq in the opening years of the American invasion and occupation of that unfortunate country. At least that is what I assumed.

My impression was that it was one of many videos sent back to the States by serving soldiers and then widely circulated via the internet to show the folks back home how Ali and Mohammed were getting their rear ends kicked.

It shows the control panel and overhead view from inside the cockpit of a US military helicopter hovering over Fallujah, circa 2004, observing a crowd of perhaps 30-40 people apparently marching towards an unknown objective.

The chopper is so high up it is impossible to see whether the crowd is carrying any weapons and I cannot see how the people on the ground could be judged a threat by a helicopter pilot and his command post so distant from the target.

The events on the ground look like an impromptu protest march of the sort I was very familiar with covering the Troubles in Ireland, when outraged locals would storm off to the local barracks to remonstrate over some piece of military or police excess.

The pilot radios his command post with a question: “I’ve got numerous individuals on the road. Do you want me to take those out?” he asks. “Take them out”, comes the reply. Notice there is no reference to an armed threat. Nor any question from his control about the potential threat posed by the crowd. None of the back and forth suggests that the crowd has been involved in violence. Just a crowd of Arabs marching towards somewhere – in their case towards instant death.

“Oh Dude!” he exclaims when his missile explodes, enveloping goodness knows how many people in dark clouds, red hot splinters of metal and death.

On the face of it, it is hard to describe this event as being anything other than an unprovoked mass murder.

I know from my own experience that police and military violence, and the hunger for revenge it breeds, were the IRA’s most diligent and effective recruiters during the Troubles – and I suspect that it has been the same in Iraq and elsewhere in that region since 2003, except, given the level of US violence, you could multiply the effect several fold.

Nor is there much doubt in my mind that if you wonder where ISIS and its awful, vengeful violence comes from, you need only watch videos like the one below:


7 comments:

  1. I don't buy it. The analysis that is.

    If we want a NI analogy, that would be like saying Bloody Sunday led to the ascendancy of a vicious armed gang of thugs that repressed their own people, stamped down on dissent, defined their own justice and lined their own pockets with gold.

    Oh, hang on...

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  2. Stray,

    What you said isn't that far from the truth. The "vicious armed gangs of thugs" repressed Irish people and while not to the same extent the PUL community as well. While the "vicious armed gangs of thugs" were doing their dawn raids and ripping up floor boards and smashing down walls, they stole watches, jewelry and money lying around. And on a national scale they stole Irish resources. Fcuk Spanish and French fishermen have more rights to fish in Irish waters than the Irish. And now the British and the Corporate State of America are stealing the natural resources in the middle east. And I am sure they also stole the gold bullion Gaddafi had, that was going to be used to back up the new African Dinar.

    Ed,

    What most Americans (Europe is more or les the same) don't understand is when they turn on their TV sets and watch the news they are watching the Disney Channel or News Crop.. the people behind the media outlets in the west also control Wall Street, City of London, DAX, CAC 40...

    The SAS in action in Syria..... The SAS in action in Iraq


    Exactly how the US trained and armed ISIS

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  3. Stray Taoist
    Is the Unionism you're referring too?

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  4. Except Zarqawi had a reach into Iraq, primarily Baghdad but also around Anbar and Mosul prior to the US invasion.And had killed Americans before any US involvement in Iraq (Lawrence Foley). Undoubtably events such as Abu Ghraib gave some added civilian support to their cause, but the wikileaks cables from Damascus Embassy give a better understanding of how ISIS outgrew every other jihadist group. That is the 'how', but the 'why' is due to some old book written 1400 years ago, cant remember its name now....

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  5. No doubt that excessive force is used and innocent people are killed on account of air strikes -but where for instance does that explain the annihilation of the Yazidis'? Or why US air strikes justify sexual slavery and other barbarities? Or the destruction of historic sites throughout the middle east?? OK, blame the US as much as you like for a lot of things but lets not excuse ISIS because someone else makes them do what they do.

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  6. Niall/Frankie:

    Never let a joke get in the way of MOPery, eh? (Another quip, btw, before y'all jump up and down and whatabout again.)

    OF COURSE the Brits treated us (all) appallingly. Tho I still contend that the ISIS-crack-down-on-dissent is better applied to SF.

    (I also agree with diplockcourts (the commentator, not the institution) in that you can blame others for arming them, but they still carry out these barbaric acts on their own.)

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  7. Re: ‘Nor is there much doubt in my mind that if you wonder where ISIS and its awful, vengeful violence comes from, you need only watch videos like the one below:’

    Whilst I do not dispute at all the horrendous reality of slaughter of innocent ppl, injustices and the blatant disregard for life it does NOT repeat NOT explain all of how ISIS came to increasing power and spread of ideology.Nor can it ever justify or cleanse them nor make sense of their pure evil. IS has been a long time in the making... 2001 Yemeni TV - regular Arab national military service – soldier voluntarily offers himself to be beheaded. Totally accepted as a norm & act of honor. This purportedly secular training morphed into the Al Q then IS ideology… am freaking amazed this vid is on youtube uncensored. For those who do not wish to view. The soldiers do some training exercises etc then cover the volunteer soldier’s head/neck to prevent blood spray/spurt as it is severed. Then two hold the severed soldiers head up with pride for all to see and are greeted with roars of approval… NB This is viewed with pride not revulsion.

    Understand the ideology that would spur on a human being to volunteer to be willingly sacrificed. They r INSIDE the ideology totally. The IS ideology is simply perfecting what has come before & the ideology has NEVER needed injustices to spur it into action… The sleeping giant of 7th century teachings has awoken & it craves blood ...
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oej71QxGlj0

    Saudi Arabia imo is where the fire was fed & grew… Islam was never a religion of peace – the opening pages of a Quran inform you of this very clearly. The Quran/hadiths in themselves alert one to a world dominance/Caliphate prescribed as the answer to everything. Hence one cannot just attribute the rise and rise of IS to definite injustices inflicted on civilians and so forth. It is way more complex multi layered that that. I see the US & Britain’s hand in IS very clearly… Oil, gas, wealth, power, deliberate strategies of empowering salafists…. I also see the nwo motto out of chaos comes order. NB The Western has not known an ideology like the 7th century teachings of Islam inflicted on them (& nor have millions of Muslims.) The Shia, Jews Christians and minority religions are most at risk of decimation and in that order… There is no parallel with this ideology in the West NONE. It stands alone as a growing holocaust of horror spreading like a virulent cancer.

    I feel your title of your article leans towards almost justifying atrocities & ‘radicalization’ by pointing at other’s atrocities. Your title would attract those I address now. I have no sympathy for IS ideology nor the Muslim B’Hood in Eire. To them I say: Get out of our land you dogs of war – not all Irish are naïve. You think accessing the pain of our past/injustices into the present will sway us but you are wrong so wrong… the lefties r easy pickings number… You think accessing entrenched residual Catholicism utilizing Maryam as example of how close we r to finding Allah will sway us Wrong again… What you are right about is that it is spiritual warfare but this is an atheist blog so that facet is not addressed. This was written by a proud Christian - one of the people of the Book you love to hate. Have a nice day now.

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