• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Most top Islamic State jihadis were once held by U.S.

Aug 15, 2014 11:29 pm By Robert Spencer

Abu Bakr al-BaghdadiBut “incarceration was a school for jihad, and they emerged tougher, better connected and more dedicated” — so why were there no effort made during their incarceration to challenge their jihadist beliefs? Because to have done that would have been “Islamophobic.” And why were they released at all, since any fool would have known that they would return to the jihad?

“The Islamic State’s potential weakness,” by David Ignatius, Washington Post, August 14, 2014 (thanks to Ou Tis):

The Obama administration’s Iraq policy seems premised on the idea that the terrorist Islamic State is so toxic that it will be self-limiting and ultimately self-defeating. But that’s not the view of U.S. intelligence officials.

In a briefing for journalists Thursday, a panel of five U.S. intelligence officials summed up their assessment of an organization that has shown a remarkable durability because it is “patient,” “well-organized,” “opportunistic” and “flexible.” Under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group has rebounded from about 1,500 fighters in 2010 to more than 10,000 today — becoming a global jihadist organization that communicates in many languages.

“We don’t assess this as something that will collapse on its own,” said one of the officials, who commented based on an agreement that their remarks would not be attributed. “But with pressure and alternatives [that might draw away its Sunni supporters], it could collapse over time.” The intelligence experts cautioned that counterterrorist tools, such as drone strikes and other air attacks, wouldn’t be sufficient “to defeat it rather than just ratchet it back.”

The officials expressed skepticism that Baghdadi could be deterred from striking the United States by the threat of pulverizing attacks. “We assess that the group sees conflict with the U.S. as inevitable,” said one official. Although the group is preoccupied with its battles in Iraq and Syria, another official noted a chilling Internet statement several months ago: “America, we have not turned our gaze away from you.”

The briefing was a rare example of intelligence officials sharing information about a problem that policymakers are still debating. The group skirted direct policy questions but not their context. Asked, for example, whether the Islamic State can be contained if its bases in Syria aren’t bombed, one official said that such cross-border havens have been “a perennial challenge” in fighting insurgencies since 1945.

The portrait of Baghdadi and his Islamic State was chilling. Under its original name, al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group ferociously battled U.S. forces. Most of its leading fighters were imprisoned by U.S. occupation troops, but incarceration was a school for jihad, and they emerged tougher, better connected and more dedicated….

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), United States, Useful idiots Tagged With: featured


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. Beagle says

    Aug 16, 2014 at 2:58 am

    Recently I read that the Talmud says that those who are kind to the cruel end up being cruel to the kind.
    I will never forget that now, after watching the recent decades unfold.

    How many people have suffered, are suffering, and will suffer in the near future in part because the US was ‘humane’?

    I wrote an email to the Whitehouse not long after 9/11 saying jihadis were too dangerous to ever be released, but sort of scared myself. Who puts the word “kill” in an email to White House several times? I thought about toning it down but didn’t.

    I would not say I feel vindicated as much as concerned I was right. I didn’t want to be right.

    • paddy says

      Aug 16, 2014 at 5:25 am

      Beagle. Really appreciate your well-informed comments. Us blinkered, complacent Brits are in the midst of jihasist fomentation. Yes, you could apportion blame to the US for fine tuning the aims and objectives of these monsters. Nothing can be done about that now except keep those that remain incarcerated. It also highlights the fact that it is foreign muslim mercenaries who are at the heart of this butchery, terror and mayhem being inflicted on the ordinary citizens in this region.

  2. Angemon says

    Aug 16, 2014 at 6:16 am

    Most of its leading fighters were imprisoned by U.S. occupation troops, but incarceration was a school for jihad, and they emerged tougher, better connected and more dedicated….

    Ah, that explains why sheik Hussein has yet to shut down Gitmo…

    • Kathy Brown says

      Aug 16, 2014 at 8:52 pm

      Oh, Ange: You’ve done it again! ‘Sheik Hussein’, forsooth! I love it.

      You know what’s really, really SICK? Zero would love that. I mean: He’d take it as a complement…

  3. vlparker says

    Aug 16, 2014 at 10:06 am

    The IS says they are coming for us. So we wipe them out now. We don’t let them grow and get stronger. A really easy decision to make if you are not a moronic politician.

    • Solo712 says

      Aug 16, 2014 at 10:51 am

      Problem is they know our society is degenerate. It will not kill people who commit mass atrocities because we are culturally dominated by women who mostly believe all men are barbarians equally. IS knows that the men of the West are infantile sissies without honour and self-respect, who will not kill when they have to. That and not the cult of martyrdom – which only motivates a small fraction of jihadis – is a guarantee the IS will grow.

      • Mirren10 says

        Aug 16, 2014 at 4:44 pm

        ”Problem is they know our society is degenerate”

        I don’t consider the West to be ‘degenerate’. Wilfully blind, yes, in many ways, and too much ruled by a load of PC/MC nonsense, and in love with appeasement.

        It was much the same in the Thirties. Very few wanted to believe in the real threat Nazism posed, so we had the yellow bellied appeasers like Chamberlain et al, and the Nazi lovers like Beaverbrook and Lloyd George. When Nazism became too bellicose to ignore, we had a real leader, Winston Churchill, and we fought them, and won.

        This time around, I believe it will be the **people**, not the politicians, who will fight and win.

        ” … we are culturally dominated by women who mostly believe all men are barbarians equally”

        What utter rubbish. I’m a woman, and I believe no such thing.

        • gravenimage says

          Aug 16, 2014 at 10:27 pm

          Hear, Hear, Mirren!

        • Kathy Brown says

          Aug 17, 2014 at 12:50 am

          The opinion of a bunch of murdering savages, pedophiles, rapists and barbarians is irrelevant to any rational individual, or society. As if the Muslim monsters are in any position to judge anyone.

          That said, I must disagree with Mirren. The West has become degenerate. We have: Legalized abortion. When babies are not killed by their own mothers right up to the very minute of their births-and after-the majority of those births take place out of wedlock. Lesbians and homosexuals ‘marry’, and push their depraved agenda everywhere, largely w/o resistance. The Judeo-Christian foundation of our beloved country is denied and reviled, by Americans. The filth in our public schools is literally indescribable. Pornography and perversion of every kind is rampant.

          And this is a short list.

          If the foregoing does not constitute depravity, nothing does.

          However: Western society still possesses adherents to the aforementioned Judeo-Christian values which made it great. We recede from depravity to the extent that we return to those values.

          God Save These United States. Because He’s the only One Who can.

        • Solo712 says

          Aug 17, 2014 at 12:01 pm

          Solo712: ” … we are culturally dominated by women who mostly believe all men are barbarians equally”

          Myxlplik: “What utter rubbish. I’m a woman, and I believe no such thing.”

          Your being a woman does not invalidate what I said. I said “mostly”, not “all women”.

      • dumbledoresarmy says

        Aug 18, 2014 at 12:03 am

        You wrote, generalising wildly and I think exaggerating grossly:

        “… we are culturally dominated by women who mostly believe all men are barbarians equally.”

        Now, below, having been challenged by Mirren 10, you grandly conceded that ‘not all’ modern western women are as you claim them to be, but…what precisely does that weaselword “mostly” cover? 90? 80? 70? 60 percent? On the basis of what *evidence*, exactly, do you base this claim? And..*every* western country? Again, what is the *evidence* for this sweeping claim that lumps together all western countries?

        Further:
        ” IS knows that the men of the West are infantile sissies without honour and self-respect, who will not kill when they have to..”.

        Again: what *precisely* is your *evidence* for this sweeping claim? And what percentage, precisely, are “Infantile sissies without honour and self-respect”??? Because you didn’t qualify this statement *at all*, so presumably you regard *100 percent* of all men in all modern western countries as “infantile sissies”?? Which I do think is a gross slander. How do you **know**? What is the *precise* basis for your claim? – links, with *evidence*, please. You do realize that pretty well every young man currently serving in the standing armies of the West…who are handicapped by stupid rules of engagement, and perform magnificently even so…is a refutation of your sweeping dismissal, don’t you? That if you mean to dismiss *every* man in the West, then you must include Mr Spencer and Col Allen West as sissies, too; and all the formidable Vietnam combat veterans in the USA and in Australia, many of whom are still quite able-bodied and very much alive and kicking within our societies, and I am sure will rise to the occasion if and when required.

        Incidentally, which country are you from, and how old are you? And what is *your* personal experience of armed combat?

        • Kathy Brown says

          Aug 18, 2014 at 12:00 pm

          Dumble: Solo is right. The reference is to the [demonic] so-called ‘women’s movement’; what Rush refers to as the ‘chickification’ of the society.

          Everything inherently male has been villainized-territorialism, righteous war, and the inherent, God-given, instinct to protect women and children.

          Instead we have open borders, rules of engagement which are designed to aid and comfort the enemy instead of getting the job done; the really sick glorification of all things unnatural (‘gay marriage’) and the penultimate idiocy of ‘women in combat’.

          Sacred Scripture clearly defines the signs and symptoms of societal depravity. ‘You shall be led by the effeminate’. The only generals n our heroic Armed Forces? They are Obama yes-men; he’s purged all else.

          Solo is right, I repeat. Now, Allen West and the examples you cite? They are against the flow! And of course the enemy knows this.

  4. manuel-rafael says

    Aug 16, 2014 at 2:31 pm

    Should we thank Holder or Obama first?

  5. Brazooka says

    Aug 16, 2014 at 7:49 pm

    As unlawful enemy combatants, these Muslim thugs were not entitled to any Geneva protections. Therefore, they should have been executed. Officials from both the Bush and Obama administrationsresponsible for their release should be prosecuted for dereliction of duty, homicide by depraved indifference, and treason.

  6. Myxlplik says

    Aug 16, 2014 at 8:39 pm

    McCain meets with Caliph last year.

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154385877915012&set=a.107870495011.190493.601700011&type=1&theater

  7. gravenimage says

    Aug 16, 2014 at 10:32 pm

    Most top Islamic State jihadis were once held by U.S.
    ……………………………

    Is anyone surprised by this suicidal madness?

    “Leader of Jihadist Onslaught in Iraq Released on Obama’s Watch”

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/joseph-klein/leader-of-jihadist-onslaught-in-iraq-released-on-obamas-watch/

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • Mojdeh on Chief Rabbi of UK Says It’s ‘Alarming’ That 44% of Muslims Are Anti-Semitic
  • Michael Copeland on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West
  • Michael Copeland on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West
  • Westman on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West
  • gravenimage on Erdogan: ‘Turks must defend the rights of Jerusalem, even with their lives’ for ‘the honor of the Islamic nation’

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.