Why We Should Be Aware of ISIS

Ashli Howell (Staff Writer)

Six thousand five hundred and eighteen miles: that is how far Mosul, an Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS) strong hold, is from Kennesaw State University. Even though ISIS is a significant distance from our suburban bubble in Kennesaw, I believe its existence has the potential to have a tremendous impact on our lives and here’s a short list of why.

1. According to Foreign Policy, ISIS is the wealthiest terrorist organization in the world. In Mosul alone, it is estimated the ISIS brings in between 1 million to 3 million dollars a day illegally selling oil. This is in addition to the reported 12 million the terrorist organization earns monthly. Additionally, according to Charles Lister of the Brookings Doha Center, ISIS not only earns money from oil, but they also bring in money from the taxing water and electricity in the areas they control and the sale of other agricultural products. Charles Lister also notes that ISIS pumps a substantial amount of this illicit income into social programs in and around areas that they control, which brings me to reason number two.
2. If you want to gain popularity (power), appeal to the people. It is widely known that Hitler used social programs and propaganda to gain control in Germany. Hamas, the terrorist organization in Palestine, also used similar tactics to gain control of the government there; the Center for Strategic and International Studies has reported that Hamas has allocated 50 to 70 million dollars annually to social welfare programs in Gaza. ISIS is no different. According to Charles Lister, who sat down for an interview with Frontline on the rise of ISIS, the social programs that ISIS utilizes has caused civilians to have, “at least tacit acceptance of the group’s control…”
3. Speaking of social programs, ISIS also has an eerily large and effective social media presence. A dual American-Syrian citizen, Ahmad Abousamra, is according to what a US official told ABC News, significantly assisting this presence. More than this, however, is that the social media presence of ISIS is drawing people from all over the world using viral tactics that we see every day. The same US official who spoke to ABC News about Ahmad Abousamra says that the ISIS media wing uses memes, Twitter, Facebook, selfies, and YouTube to promote itself on the Internet.
4. Which brings me to reason number four: the TIMES reports that approximately 3,000 foreigners have joined ISIS. ISIS also brags about this, saying in a YouTube recruitment video that foreigners from as far away as Bangladesh and Cambodia have joined their ranks. Now, I don’t want to fall victim to this ISIS propaganda either, but evidence of foreigners joining ISIS is staggering. The TIME reports that approximately 150 Australians have joined ISIS, the British Ambassador to the US has said that an estimated 500 Britons have joined ISIS, and around 12 Americans have reportedly joined ISIS. Additionally, the New York Times reported that the Iraqi Defense Ministry has captured a Chinese man who was allegedly fighting on behalf of ISIS. The New York Times reports that this would be the, “first visual evidence of a Chinese citizen fighting with ISIS…,” and that, “Both the leader of ISIS and a Chinese diplomat said this summer that Chinese fighters had joined ISIS.”
5. This brings me to my final reason: ISIS is barbaric. The terrorist organization has beheaded two American journalists and attempted to circulate a video of the acts by uploading them to twitter and YouTube (the videos were promptly removed, but can still be found). These two acts of incredible cruelty, however, are not the only ones that exist. Multiple news outlets, including CNN, NBC, and The Daily Mail, have reported that ISIS has bragged about slaughtering civilians, soldiers, and police officers in Iraq and Syria and they’ve circulated videos on the Internet of this violence. The cruelty is absolutely astonishing.

Now, my intent with this list is not to incite fear, but to bring awareness. ISIS is something we should be aware of because it has the potential to evolve into something much more than it is today. While researching this article, I have been sickened and slightly dumbfounded by the lengths ISIS is willing to go to, to ensure its goals are realized. I cannot pretend to know what is going to happen in the future nor do I purport to know everything about ISIS. While some, much smarter and experienced than I, have said that we will not be talking about ISIS in a year, it is important to understand that ISIS is real and we should be aware of the threat it has the potential to become.