Isis

[B-A-C]

There has been a lot of focus on HAMAS and Palestine and Israel lately. While I agree this is definitely a bad situation and many innocent
people are dying on both sides. I wonder if ISIS isn't a much bigger issue. They have many more members than say Al Queda, They are
much better funded, they are better organized and have a much larger military presence. They aren't a small terrorist cell or splinter group.
They are an organization that is recognized and supported by several governments. While all of Islam isn't in total agreement with everything ISIS
does, there really isn't much opposition against them in any part of the Islamic State. If you look up "Islamic State" on google or wikipedia, and
go down to the map, you will see this is most of north Africa, virtually all of the middle east, (except Israel) most of central Asia and almost all
of Indonesia. Now of course all of these do not support ISIS, The majority claim not to. However several of the richest countries (per capita)
are included in this group. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Brunai, Kuwait, Bahrain, etc... Now of course none of these are as rich as the
United States on their own, but if you start adding up the population and economic resources of these countries, it only takes a few to equal
the man power and financing of the US. Now maybe all of this is just paranoid conspiracy theory. On the other hand, maybe the next world
power isn't China or India, or even the European Union. Maybe is from someplace not many people have been looking. There are poor
countries with large populations included in this group also. Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and others. Maybe they just don't have the resources to
fight against this, or maybe the majority is simply passive about it because they simply don't care that much either way. I have even been told
by a Muslim co-worker he doesn't support ISIS or what they are doing, but on the other hand if there's less people of other religions in the world
(in their way of thinking "false demonic religions") non-Muslims are considered infidels by many.
There will be some who read this and say you are just trying to paint Islam in a bad light, well I believe those people are not saved. So they
are already in a bad light. Again it isn't all of Islam that supports ISIS, but I think it's enough to be worried about.

 

[DHC]

They aren't a small terrorist cell or splinter group.
Again it isn't all of Islam that supports ISIS, but I think it's enough to be worried about.

Hello B-A-C.

The Islamic organizations, ISIS or ISIL, are now known simply as the 'Islamic State'.

To understand what the terrorist organization known as the 'Islamic State' represents,
one need to know a little about Islam.

The Islamic world is basically divided into two political factions.

'Sunni' and 'Shia' are the two political factions within Islam.

Each regards the other as an apostate faction and are historically bitter enemies.

Islam is a political religion at it's heart, so absolute political control of any state
is an imperative for each of these factions. That is why there is so much conflict among
the Islamic nations. The Sunni and Shia are constantly in a state of friction to gain
control.

What is interesting about the terrorist organization known as the 'Islamic State'
which is currently invading Iraq. Is that the Islamic State is from the Sunni faction
of Islam. Since the Sunnis account for the majority of Muslims worldwide (70%)
there is considerable support for this terrorist organization from other Islamic nations.

This primary division in Islam is similar to the Christian factions of the Catholics
and the Protestants in the past.

So why is a Sunni terrorist organization invading Iraq?

Well Iraq is populated by the minority Shia faction, so the Sunni based 'Islamic State'
is invading Iraq to convert it to the Sunni franchise. Sunnis regard the Shia faction as
apostate and will kill them without hesitation.

The Sunni fighters are from Syria which is primarily Sunni. But there is also a
tremendous inflow of Sunnis from around the world that support the terrorist group
known as the Islamic State.

Iraq which is Shia controlled must be converted to the Sunni franchise now and at any
cost!

If the western powers do not intervene, the Sunnis would dominate Iraq and our oil
supplies would be threatened. Thus the western powers are watching the war in Iraq
very carefully.

The real problem is the 'Islamic State' represents the majority of Sunni Muslims worldwide.

Even though they are a terrorist organization, they are still Sunni Muslims. So the majority
of Muslims worldwide would not be overly critical of the Sunni faction 'Islamic State'.

The West will intervene at some future stage because the Middle Eastern oil nations
must not be allowed to be controlled by the Islamic State organization. Some regard
the rapid rise of the Islamic State as a clear and present threat to the west. Our Western
civilizations are heavily reliant on oil, so we have no real option but to deal with this
hard line Islamic force.

Where the difficult arises for the West is that the Sunnis are the majority of Muslims
worldwide (70%) and have a sympathy for the terrorist organization Islamic State.

Many of the wealthy oil nations are Sunni (the majority) of course, so funding for this
organization known as the Islamic State is plentiful. Not just in money and weapons but
also in technology to boot.

In summary there are two branches of Islam, Sunni and Shia.

Simply the Sunnis are invading the Shia nation of Iraq.

Much of our oil comes from Iraq, so war with the Sunnis is really unavoidable.

I had to use repetition at times in this post since Islam is virtually an unknown quantity
in the West. I have difficulty understanding the Islamic religion and it's politics, it can
be complex.

 

[james1523]

Of course the Muslim countries will support ISIS by doing nothing. But if ISIS was a Christian terror group on the other hand....
I think Pakistan is the one to be worried about, they have one of the best military in the world. They protected Bin Laden under the nose of the USA. Unlike Iraq etc, they have nuclear power and US supplied weapons and technology. USA was wasting its time in Iraq as everyone found out during or after the war. They should have invaded Pakistan instead. But of course USA needs Pakistan as a friend as a counter to India, China and Russia.

 

[judge not]

It's disturbing to hear that ISIS is targeting thousands of Christians, not just Shia followers.
Interestingly, the word ISIS appears in the book of Exodus during the plagues -iSIS was the Egyptian pagan god of life.
You can see a lot of Islam evolving from the Old Testament- with words like the IAMS-Mohammed spent a lot of time with Jewish traders listening to their recounting of the Books of Moses and it appears he adopted many of the terms and traditions to create his own religion.