Notes

1. Basma Atassi, “Iraqi Al-Qaeda Chief Rejects Zawahiri’s Orders,” http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/06/2013615172217827810.html
2. “Caliphate” is the name given to an Islamic state led by a supreme religious and political leader known as caliph, or successor to the Prophet Mohammed. Of the succession of Muslim empires described as “caliphates,” the most famous is the Ottoman Caliphate (or Empire) that ruled from 1453 to 1924. Centering on the power of Turkish sultans, the Ottoman Caliphate expanded to cover the Balkans and Hungary under Suleiman the Magnificent in the sixteenth century, and reached the gates of Vienna.
3. Nick Paton Walsh, Gul Tuysuz, Raja Razek, “Al Qaeda-Linked Group Strengthens Hold in Northern Syria,” http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/05/world/europe/syria-turkey-al-qaeda/.
4. To be modern implies a manner of apprehending the world that seizes upon its present possibilities and dynamics of change toward fuller development. Paul Nadal, “What Is Modernity?” http://belate.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/what-is-modernity/
5. Various, “Life Under ISIS For Residents of Raqqa: Is This Really A Caliphate Worse Than Death?” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/life-under-isis-for-residents-of-raqqa-is-this-really-a-caliphate-worse-than-death-9715799.html
6. Hannah Strange, “Islamic State Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Addresses Muslims in Mosul,” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10948480/Islamic-State-leader-Abu-Bakr-al-Baghdadi-addresses-Muslims-in-Mosul.html
7. Roula Khalaf, “Abu Bakr al-Baghdad: Isis Leader.” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ec63d94c-02b0-11e4-a68d-00144feab7de.html
8. Paul Gilbert, Terrorism, Security and Nationality (London: Routledge, 1995).
9. Benoît Faucon, Ayla Albayrak, “Islamic State Funds Push Into Syria and Iraq with Labyrinthine Oil-Smuggling Operation.” http://online.wsj.com/articles/islamic-state-funds-push-into-syria-and-iraq-with-labyrinthine-oil-smuggling-operation-1410826325.
10. Alex Bilger, “ISIS Annual Reports Reveal a Metrics-Driven Military Command,” http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/ISWBackgrounder_ISIS_Annual_Reports_0.pdf.
11. GPO, “PLO’s Ability to Help Palestinian Authority Is Not Clear,” http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-96-23/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-96-23.htm.
12. Press Release, “Islamic State Has Up To $2 Billion for the War Against the US,” http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/politics/60124.html.
13. At the heart of the disintegration of the 350,000-strong Iraqi armed forces when ISIS attacked Tikrit and Mosul in June 2014, one finds more than cowardice and lack of loyalty. One also finds widespread corruption. Commanders drew salaries for “ghost battalions” that didn’t exist, receiving money for 600 soldiers when in fact there were only 200. “Despite the vast expenditure on the army, said to total $41.6 billion in the past three years, units were sent to the front short of ammunition with only four magazines for each assault rifle. ISIS produced chilling videos showing the ease with which its snipers could wound and kill soldiers.” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-caliphate-has-baghdad-worried-because-it-will-appeal-to-angry-young-sunnis-9574393.html.
14. For all the rhetoric of the War on Terror as ushering in a new age of American imperialism, even in Iraq the West has not conquered new territories with the conceit of integrating them into its nation, as in a pre-modern war of conquest.
15. John Gray, “A Point of View: Isis and what it means to be modern,” http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28246732.
16. Lawrence Joffe, “Obituary: Ayatollah Mohammad Bakir al-Hakim.” http://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/aug/30/guardianobituaries.iraq.
17. David Rose, “Heads in the Sand,” http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/05/iraqi-insurgents200905
18. Greg Bruno, “The Role of the ‘Sons of Iraq’ In Improving Security,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/28/AR2008042801120.html
19. Matt Bradley and Ali A. Nabhan, “Iraqi Officer Takes Dark turn to al-Qaeda,” http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304834704579405440767359448.
20. Bill Roggio, “Analysis: ISIS, allies reviving ‘Baghdad belts’ battle plan,” http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/06/analysis_isis_allies.php.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. The White House, “President’s Address to the Nation, January 10, 2007.” http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070110-7.html.
25. Peter Beaumont, “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: The ISIS Chief With the Ambition to Take Over al Qaeda,” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/12/baghdadi-abu-bakr-iraq-isis-mosul-jihad.
26. Various, “Interior Published a New Picture of the Leader of ‘Daash’ Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” http://www.shafaaq.com/sh2/index.php/news/iraq-news/71597--qq-.html (in Arabic).
27. Jenna McLaughlin, “Was Iraq’s Top Terrorist Radicalized at a US Run Prison?” http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/was-camp-bucca-pressure-cooker-extremism.
28. Various, “The biography of Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghadadi,” https://archive.org/stream/TheBiographyOfSheikhAbuBakrAlBaghdadi/The%20biography%20of%20Sheikh%20Abu%20Bakr%20Al-Baghdadi_djvu.txt.
29. Lizzie Dearden, “Iraq Crisis: ISIS Leader Pictured for the First Time After Declaring Islamic Caliphate,” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-crisis-isis-leader-pictured-for-first-time-after-declaring-islamic-caliphate-9586787.html.
30. Sohrab Ahmari, “Inside the Mind of the Western Jihadist,” http://online.wsj.com/articles/sohrab-ahmari-inside-the-mind-of-the-western-jihadist-1409352541.
31. Interview with Michael Przedlacki, September 16, 2014.
32. Aryn Baker, “Why Al Qaeda Kicked Out Its Deadly Syrian Franchise,” http://time.com/3469/why-al-qaeda-kicked-out-its-deadly-syria-franchise/.
33. Paul Crompton, “The Rise of the New Caliph, ISIS Chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/profiles/2014/06/30/The-rise-of-the-new-caliph-ISIS-chief-Abu-Bakr-al-Baghdadi.html.
34. Donald Neff, “The First Intifada Erupts, Forcing Israel to Recognize Palestinians.” http://www.ampalestine.org/index.php/history/the-intifadas/364-the-first-intifada-erupts-forcing-israel-to-recognize-palestinians.
35. Loretta Napoleoni, Terror Incorporated (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2005).
36. Hannah Allam, “Records Show How Iraqi Extremists Withstood US Anti-terror Efforts,” http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/06/23/231223/records-show-how-iraqi-extremists.html.
37. Bernard Haykel, “The Enemy of My Enemy Is Still My Enemy,” http://www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/26haykel.html.
38. Aryn Baker, “Syrian Rebels Appear to Have a new Type of US Made Anti-Tank Weapon,” http://time.com/57313/syrian-rebels-are-seen-with-u-s-made-weapons/.
39. Erika Solomon, Daniel Dombey, “PKK ‘terrorists’ Crucial to Fight Against ISIS,” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4a6e5b90-2460-11e4-be8e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3ATSuW000.
40. Interview with Francesca Borri, September 15, 2014.
41. Interview with a former Syrian rebel, August 10, 2014.
42. Interview with Francesca Borri, September 15, 2014.
43. “Opposizione siriana, Qatar ha pagato riscatto di 20 milioni di dollari per rilascio caschi blu da al-Nusra,” La Repubblica, September 13, 2014 (in Italian).
44. “Il Fatto Quotidiano. Isis, nuovo video. L’ostaggio John Cantlie ai media: ‘Dite la verità su Stato Islamico,’” http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2014/09/18/isis-nuovo-video-lostaggio-john-cantlie-ai-media-dite-la-verita-sullo-stato-islamico/1125414/ (in Italian).
45. Elliot Ackerman, “Watching ISIS Flourish Where We Once Fought,” http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/watching-isis-flourish-where-we-once-fought
46. “ISIS Leader al-Baghdadi Proves Formidable Enemy,” http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/02/iraq-isis-baghdadi-mystery.html.
47. Middle East Monitor, “Corruption in the Palestinian Authority,” https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/downloads/reports/20131214_CorruptioninthePalestinianAuthority.pdf.
48. Maggie O’Kane, “Where War is a Way of Life,” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/15/afghanistan.terrorism9.
49. Hannah Allam, “Records Show How Iraqi Extremists Withstood US Anti-terror Efforts,” http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/06/23/231223/records-show-how-iraqi-extremists.html.
50. In fact, Moqtada al Sadr followed a similar blueprint in the Shiite suburbs of Baghdad in 2003, creating his own shell-state and social programs, and this approach proved very successful.
51. Aaron Zelin, “The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Has a Consumer Protection Office,” http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/06/the-islamic-state-of-iraq-and-syria-has-a-consumer-protection-office/372769/.
52. Interview with Michael Przedlacki, September 16, 2014.
53. Fehim Taştekin, “Turkey’s Syria borders an open door for smugglers,” http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/04/turkey-syria-borders-smuggling-guns-conflict-kurds-pkk-isis.html.
54. Aaron Zelin, “The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Has a Consumer Protection Office.” http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/06/the-islamic-state-of-iraq-and-syria-has-a-consumer-protection-office/372769/.
55. Ibid.
56. Juan Foerom, “Rebel-Held Zone in Colombia Fears End of Truce.” http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/16/world/rebel-held-zone-in-colombia-fears-end-of-truce.html.
57. Jeremy Bowen, “Iraq Crisis: Fighting in Tikrit After ‘Caliphate’ Declared,” http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28092840.
58. Frank Gardner, “ISIS Rebels Declare ‘Islamic State’ in Iraq and Syria,” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28082962.
59. Francesca Borri, “Behind the Black Flag: Current, Former ISIL Fighters Speak,” http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/06/25/behind-the-black-flag-current-former-isil-fighters-speak.
60. William Dalrymple, “The ISIS Demand for a Caliphate Is About Power, Not Religion,” http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/13/isis-caliphate-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-jihadi-islam.
61. Dr. Zachariah Matthews, “The Golden Age of Islam,” http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_401_450/golden_age_of_islam.htm.
62. It would be a mistake, however, to include the Taliban regime in this category for several reasons, among them the importation of a foreign creed and political model into Afghanistan, a territory into which the caliphate had not originally reached.
63. Interview with an Albanian translator who worked for the US army in Kosovo, July 25, 2014.
64. Ludovica Iaccino, “ISIS Insurgents Tweet Picture of Beheaded Man: This is our ball. It’s made of skin #WorldCup.” http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-insurgents-tweet-picture-beheaded-man-this-our-ball-its-made-skin-worldcup-1452643
65. Interview, Loretta Napoleoni.
66. Roula Khalaf, Sam Jones, “Selling Terror: How ISIS Details its Brutality,” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/69e70954-f639-11e3-a038-00144feabdc0.html.
67. BBC News, “Iraq’s Annual Death Toll Highest in Five Years,” http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25568687.
68. Aaron Zelin, “The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Has a Consumer Protection Office,” http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/06/the-islamic-state-of-iraq-and-syria-has-a-consumer-protection-office/372769/.
69. Francesca Borri, “Behind the Black Flag: Current, Former ISIL Fighters Speak,” http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/06/25/behind-the-black-flag-current-former-isil-fighters-speak.
70. Deborah Amos, “Islamic State Rule: Municipal Services and Public Beheadings,” http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/09/12/347748371/islamic-state-rule-municipal-services-and-public-beheadings.
71. BBC News, “Battle for Iraq and Syria in Maps,” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27838034.
72. Interview with Francesca Borri, September 15, 2014; see also Francesca Borri, La Guerra Dentro (Torino: Einaudi, 2014).
73. Michael Daly, “ISIS Leader: See You In New York.” http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/14/isis-leader-see-you-in-new-york.html.
74. Fox News, “The Next Bin Laden: ISIS Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi,” http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/06/13/next-bin-laden-isis-leader-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi.
75. Juan Sanchez, Terrorism & Its Effects (Global Media, 2007).
76. www.assabeel.net (n1 539, 2 May 2004).
77. Sohrab Ahmari, “Inside the Mind of the Western Jihadist,” http://online.wsj.com/articles/sohrab-ahmari-inside-the-mind-of-the-western-jihadist-1409352541.
78. VICE News, “The Islamic State,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUjHb4C7b94.
79. “Islamic State Switches to New Platforms After Twitter Block,” http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28843350.
80. Jack Healy, “For Jihad Recruits, a Pipeline from Minnesota to Militancy,” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/us/for-Jihad-recruits-a-pipeline-from-Minnesota-to-militancy.html
81. J. M. Berger, “How ISIS Games Twitter,” http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/06/isis-iraq-twitter-social-media-strategy/372856/.
82. Cahal Milmo, “ISIS Jihadists Using World Cup and Premiere League Hashtags to Promote Extremist Propoganda on Twitter,” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-crisis-exclusive-isis-jihadists-using-world-cup-and-premier-league-hashtags-to-promote-extremist-propaganda-on-twitter-9555167.html.
83. “ISIS Leader al-Baghdadi Proves Formidable Enemy,” http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/02/iraq-isis-baghdadi-mystery.html.
84. Cahal Milmo, “ISIS Jihadists Using World Cup and Premiere League Hashtags to Promote Extremist Propaganda on Twitter,” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-crisis-exclusive-isis-jihadists-using-world-cup-and-premier-league-hashtags-to-promote-extremist-propaganda-on-twitter-9555167.html.
85. Interview with Francesca Borri, September 15, 2014.
86. Sohrab Ahmari, “Inside the Mind of the Western Jihadist,” http://online.wsj.com/articles/sohrab-ahmari-inside-the-mind-of-the-western-jihadist-1409352541.
87. Jonathan Owen, “British Fighters Make Up a Quarter of Foreign Jihadists,” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/islamic-state-backgrounder-british-fighters-make-up-a-quarter-of-foreign-jihadists-9681547.html.
88. Interview with Francesca Borri, September 15, 2014.
89. Jason Burke, “The ISIS Leader’s Vision of the State is a Profoundly Contemporary One,” http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/24/isis-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-jason-burke.
90. Tom Englehardt, “Don’t Walk Away From War: It’s Not The American Way,” http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2014/06/10/dont-walk-away-from-war/
91. Robert Fisk, “Iraq Crisis: Sunni Caliphate Has Been Bankrolled by Saudi Arabia,” http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/robert-fisk/iraq-crisis-sunni-caliphate-has-been-bankrolled-by-saudi-arabia-30351679.html.
92. Damien McElroy, “ISIS Leader: Muslims Must Fight Until Rome Conquered,” http://www.independent.ie/world-news/middle-east/isis-leader-muslims-must-fight-until-rome-conquered-30399749.html.
93. Ibid.
94. Saladin (1137/1138–March 4, 1193) was the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. He led the Muslim opposition to the European Crusaders in the Levant. At the height of his power, his sultanate included Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Hejaz, Yemen, and other parts of North Africa.
95. Because Qutb was imprisoned, tortured, and eventually hanged by the Nasser regime, his suffering has become emblematic of the victims of repressive Arab regimes.
96. McElroy, “ISIS Leader: Muslims Must Fight Until Rome Conquered.”
97. Ben Hubbard, “ISIS Threatens Al Qaeda as Flagship Movement of Extremists,” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/world/middleeast/isis-threatens-al-qaeda-as-flagship-movement-of-extremists.html.
98. “How Saudi Arabia helped Isis take over the north of Iraq,” http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/how-saudi-arabia-helped-isis-take-over-the-north-of-iraq-30435038.html.
99. Nick Patton Walsh, “The Secret Jihadi Smuggling Route Through Turkey,” http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/04/world/europe/isis-gaining-strength-on-syria-turkey-border/.
100. “Under the Microscope,” Al Jazeera Arabic Satellite TV broadcast, July 1, 2004, broadcast (in Arabic).
101. Various, “The Biography of Sheikh Abu al-Baghdadi,” https://archive.org/stream/TheBiographyOfSheikhAbuBakrAlBaghdadi/The%20biography%20of%20Sheikh%20Abu%20Bakr%20Al-Baghdadi_djvu.txt.
102. Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003).
103. http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2356.
104. Ibid.
105. The Future of Sharia: Negotiating Islam in the Context of the Secular State,” http://sharia.law.emory.edu/index.html%3Fq=en%252Fwars_apostasy.html.
106. “How Saudi Arabia helped Isis take over the north of Iraq,” http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/how-saudi-arabia-helped-isis-take-over-the-north-of-iraq-30435038.html.
107. Mike Schuster, “The Origins of the Shiite-Sunni Split,” http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2007/02/12/7332087/the-origins-of-the-shiite-sunni-split.
108. “The Saud Family and Wahhabi Islam,” http://countrystudies.us/saudi-arabia/7.htm.
109. Nassima Neggaz, “The Falls of Baghdad in 1258 and 2003: A Study in Sunni-Shi’i Clashing Memories,” https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/707405.
110. Bashaer, no. 26, December 27, 2004. For more information on the concept of Americans as the new Mongols see also “Iraqi Vice President: ‘Thousands of Suicide Attackers Will Fight Against US,’” Der Spiegel, February 1, 2003; Sam Hamod, “The New Mongols,” al Jazeera, November 19, 2004.
111. Ibid.
112. On April 28, 2003 Saddam Hussein declared that Bush had entered Baghdad with the help of Alqami; see al Quds al Arabi, April 30, 2003.
113. Loretta Napoleoni, “The Myth of Zarqawi,” http://www.antiwar.com/orig/napoleoni.php?articleid=7988.
114. Back in 2003, the presence of foreign fighters and of suicide bombers in the Sunni Triangle was one of the key elements that differentiated the Sunni resistance from the Shiite insurgency. Another was the backgrounds and motivations of the two groups. While the latter was essentially a class struggle, the former was a counter-Crusade against Coalition forces and a civil war against the Shias. From the outset, Moqtada al Sadr’s Shiite revolt had sought political recognition for his followers, theretofore excluded from key political positions, and a share of the political pie for al Sadr himself. Indeed, the Shias managed to attain full control of a “democratic Iraq;” Sunni insurgents, instead, were busy fighting a full-fledged war against occupying powers and, after the suicide attack against the Imam Ali Mosque, a civil war against Muslim heretics.
115. John Cantlie, “Lend Me Your Ears,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcew3qmidRI.
116. Ali Khedery, “How ISIS Came to Be,” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/22/syria-iraq-incubators-isis-jihad.
117. Ibid.
118. Ibid.
119. Ibid.
120. Amnesty International, “Nigeria: Gruesome footage implicates military in war crimes,” http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/nigeria-gruesome-footage-implicates-military-war-crimes-2014-08-05.
121. Mary Kaldor, New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era (Malden, MA: Polity Press, 1999).
122. Conal Urquhart, “Iraq crisis: Isis militants plan to ‘marry’ captured Yazidi women,” Independent, August 17, 2014, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-crisis-isis-militants-plan-to-marry-captured-yazidi-women-9674922.html.
123. Ben Taub, “Journey to Jihad,” New Yorker, June 1, 2015, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/01/journey-to-jihad.
124. Author interview with a hostage negotiator, fall 2015.
125. Author interview with refugees, fall 2015.
126. Author interview with a hostage negotiator, fall 2015.
127. Author interview with a hostage negotiator, fall 2015.
128. Yakushiji Katsuyuki, “Abe’s Hollow Victory?,” Tokyo Foundation, October 8, 2015, http://www.tokyofoundation.org/en/articles/2015/abes-hollow-victory.
129. Author interview with a former member of the Red Brigades, November 2015.