ISIS is spreading worldwide (map)
- Thread starter buygreekbonds
- Start date
So basically that map just shows where there are Muslim jihadist groups... because that map hasn't changed in like 20 years, and probably longer than that considering my first briefs on these types of things were about 20 years ago. The names are different, but the ideology and locations (even number of locations) are literally the same as they were in 1999.
Did you watch the video? Did you read the article? Here's a quote:
"The map is part of a classified briefing document received by the White House dated "August 2016" and prepared by the National Counterterrorism Center. It shows a stunning three-fold increase in the number of places around the globe where ISIS is operating." (in two years)
"U.S. State Department documents indicated that in 2014, when the U.S. military began its campaign to destroy the extremists, there were only seven nations in which the fledgling state was operating."
Right, but what I'm saying is that if you remove the term "ISIS" from that, and replace it with "Extremist Muslim jihadi groups", the map literally has not changed. That big block down in Nigeria isn't ISIS. It's Boko Haram. They've been there for two decades. The blob in the PI? Yeah, that's Abu Sayyaf. They've been there for almost 50 years.
That those groups "pledged allegiance" to the caliphate is no surprise. Of course they did. The key is destroying the "caliphate", and then those groups go back to being themselves and the map looks literally no different except there is no reference to ISIS.
That those groups "pledged allegiance" to the caliphate is no surprise. Of course they did. The key is destroying the "caliphate", and then those groups go back to being themselves and the map looks literally no different except there is no reference to ISIS.
mmm i'm not sure about this. It depends on what pledged allegiance means. The isil core isn't a loose group. It's organized and has social and financial structure. If other groups start funneling decision making and finances through it that would be a significant development that was not taking place 20 years ago.
Maybe, but that creates a situation where you cut the head off the snake. I don't think they're going that route. That suggests that if ISIS is defeated in Syria and Iraq that Abu Sayyaf or Boko Haram goes away. That's not going to happen.
Otherwise, there is plenty of evidence that AQ was providing funds/arms/support for similar groups like Abu Sayyaf and even the Tigers and such. So I'd still argue that it's no different, it's just a different name/organization.
"On 23 July 2014, Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Totoni Hapilon swore an oath of loyalty to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIL.[6] In September 2014, the group began kidnapping people to ransom, in the name of ISIL.[34][35]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Sayyaf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Sayyaf
Yeah, that's what I meant. But my point was that, as your link notes, the group has been around since 1991. It's not new and ISIS being defeated won't make it (or its ideology) go away.
"Abu Sayyaf (
i/ˌɑːbuː/ /sɑːˌjɔːf/; Arabic: جماعة أبو سياف; Jamāʿat Abū Sayyāf, ASG, (Filipino: Grupong Abu Sayyaf)[22] is an Islamist militant group based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands in the southwestern part of the Philippines, where for more than four decades, Moro groups have been engaged in an insurgency for an independent province in the country."
"Abu Sayyaf (
i/ˌɑːbuː/ /sɑːˌjɔːf/; Arabic: جماعة أبو سياف; Jamāʿat Abū Sayyāf, ASG, (Filipino: Grupong Abu Sayyaf)[22] is an Islamist militant group based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands in the southwestern part of the Philippines, where for more than four decades, Moro groups have been engaged in an insurgency for an independent province in the country."ISIS is now a coordinated, worldwide organisation instead of widespread gaggle of radical Islamic cults.
I was stationed at Clark Air Base 1983-1986 and I visited the Island of Mindanao in support of a USAF outpost there. They had 12 airmen and eight military dogs. There was very little threat, no Islamic jihad at all. The "insurgents" were totally fed up with Marcos' corrupt dictatorship. Their quest for independence had nothing to do with killing infidels.
I lived in the Philippines for three years. You do not know more about the situation there than I do.
I was stationed at Clark Air Base 1983-1986 and I visited the Island of Mindanao in support of a USAF outpost there. They had 12 airmen and eight military dogs. There was very little threat, no Islamic jihad at all. The "insurgents" were totally fed up with Marcos' corrupt dictatorship. Their quest for independence had nothing to do with killing infidels.
I lived in the Philippines for three years. You do not know more about the situation there than I do.
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lol you lived there for three years 30 years ago. You don't know jack about the current situation anymore than I know jack about the current situation in Indianapolis, where I also lived during most of that time period and haven't lived there since 1988.
As I quoted from one of your own links, Abu Sayyaf was founded in 1991, five years after you left the PI, and more than 20 years before the existence of ISIS. I last visited the PI in 2012. I receive regular briefings on 5th and 7th fleet extremist groups, so yeah, I probably do.
You quoted articles that talked about Abu Sayyaf pledging allegiance to ISIS. That does not mean Abu Sayyaf *IS* ISIS. How are you not cognitively able to grasp this concept? When one major extremist group grabs attention, smaller, more regional groups jump on the coat tails. It happened with AQ. Happening with ISIS. The fates will be the same, and yet those other groups like Abu Sayyaf will continue to exist.
The folks in ISIS now, many of them "pledged allegiance" to AQ before. Does he think they are still AQ? Or are they something new?
