ISIS / ISIL: Al Qaeda Version 2.0?

Even though it is far more bloody than its alleged Al Qaeda roots but is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS nothing more than an Al Qaeda version 2.0?

By: Ringo Bones

The terror group’s horrific viral video of their beheading of the American journalist James Foley not only disqualifies them from ever being endorsed by any Hollywood celebrity – i.e. like what Joan Baez and Jane Fonda did supporting the cause of Ho Chi Minh and the then North Vietnam during the early 1970s – but also make the rest of the world wonder if they are nothing more than just a bloodier version of Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda. Even though the Pentagon’s defense analysts where quite agog on how they are a quantum leap better compared to Al Qaeda in military tactical proficiency terms, it is still quite hard to avoid comparing the Islamist terror group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS or – as of late – just Islamic State or if you prefer: " Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIL to its Al Qaeda offshoot. One things for sure though - both Al Qaeda and ISIL share a deep seated animosity against Middle-Eastern religious minorities like the Kurds and the Yazidi.  

Even though they are still in an on-going process of establishing an Islamist Caliphate that the industrialized West can recon with since Osama Bin Laden was still alive back in 1998, like Al Qaeda, ISIS / ISIL / Islamic State’s idea of establishing an Islamist Caliphate is based on a history of Islam that never was – never mind on the future that they want that never can be. But that seems like just a minor inconvenience that never seems to stop them from achieving their goals.

ISIS founder Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi might be gloating on his recent alleged successes this very moment given that halting ISIS in a military operation could cost the US government the amount of time and money no current or incoming administration is wily-nilly enough to commit itself. Even though the United States is certain to win decades down the road, the fanatical folks at ISIS certainly won’t make it as easy as the D.C. jingoists suggests.