Founding ISIS

David Goldman thinks Trump has a point when he accuses Bush, Clinton, and Obama of creating ISIS.

Bush ended a millennium of Sunni rule in Iraq when he appointed “Nouri al-Maliki to head Iraq’s first Shia-dominated government.” The result, Goldman argues, was predictable: “the Sunnis—disarmed and marginalized by the dismissal of the Iraqi army—were caught between pro-Iranian regimes in both Iraq and Syria.” They “had no state to protect them, and it was a matter of simple logic that a Sunni leader eventually would propose a new state including the Sunni regions of Syria as well as Iraq. Sadly, the mantle of Sunni statehood fell on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who projected not only an Islamic State but a new Caliphate as well.”

Goldman quotes a long passage from a defector’s account of a 2013 meeting in which Baghdadi convinced his followers of the need for an Islamic State to replace the stateless terrorism of al-Qaeda:

Baghdadi also spoke about the creation of an Islamic state in Syria. It was important, he said, because Muslims needed to have a dawla, or state. Baghdadi wanted Muslims to have their own territory, from where they could work and eventually conquer the world. . . The participants differed greatly about the idea of creating a state in Syria. Throughout its existence, al-Qaeda had worked in the shadows as a non-state actor. It did not openly control any territory, instead committed acts of violence from undisclosed locations. Remaining a clandestine organization had a huge advantage: It was very difficult for the enemy to find, attack, or destroy them. But by creating a state, the jihadi leaders argued during the meeting, it would be extremely easy for the enemy to find and attack them…. Despite the hesitation of many, Baghdadi persisted. Creating and running a state was of paramount importance to him. Up to this point, jihadis ran around without controlling their own territory. Baghdadi argued for borders, a citizenry, institutions, and a functioning bureaucracy. Abu Ahmad summed up Baghdadi’s pitch: “If such an Islamic state could survive its initial phase, it was there to stay forever.”