What do YOU think "ISIS", "ISIL", or "ISLAMIC STATE" actually is?

[YoungDemCA]

8. A few of my thoughts

First, read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takfiri

Basically, they are an incredibly fanatical group of (mostly) young, often well-educated and middle-class Sunni Muslim men (and some women, surprisingly) from a wide variety of nationalities-ranging from Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere in the Middle East to the United Kingdom and even the United States. They are united by thinking that they are the only true Muslims, and that anyone-Muslim or otherwise-who dares disagree with them, or whom is simply not like them, must be viciously and brutally killed. Furthermore, they are willing to bend and break their own religion's rules, because "the ends justify the means."

Their stated goal is to create a new Caliphate, but I honestly think that a lot of ISIS/ISIL's strength is driven by the political rivalries between different countries in the Middle East-particularly between the Saudis and the Iranians, who have both been fighting something of a protracted proxy war in Iraq and Syria (Actually, the Syrian conflict and the Assad regimes' brutality is a big catalyst for the recent resurgence of Sunni jihadists in the region...)

Also, as much as I hate to say it...the United States and its allies do bear some of the blame for destabilizing the region with the occupation of Iraq, and not replacing Saddam Hussein's government with something...well, something that could be tolerable and competent. Iraq's post-Saddam government has been dominated by the majority Shiites-a group that is more oriented toward Iran. Now, it's not surprising that the (mostly) Sunni Baathists were driven out of Iraqi politics and civil society, considering what happened under Saddam's rule. But that situation has definitely had an effect on what's happened since.

Finally, it's pretty obvious where all the gruesome and barbaric actions of ISIL came from; remember Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi? His group was the direct ancestor of ISIL, more or less. So it's not like there weren't plenty of jihadists already in the region with similar tactics (particularly since, again, the wars in Iraq and Syria). Exploiting social media for the shock value of beheading Westerners and showing how scary ISIL is=political theatre for ISIL.

Anyway...I believe they have received funding from a wide variety of sources-especially from sources within the Persian Gulf states-but since they've captured a lot of territory and resources in Iraq and Syria, they are becoming increasingly self-sufficient. Therefore, I don't know how much targeting funding sources from outside the region will have a big effect, particularly as time goes on.

That's my analysis, anyway.