Final Dispositions

"Islamic State has swept across Iraq, seized huge amounts of weapons and money and so it's no surprise that insurgents inside Syria would seek their help."
George Readings, Stirling Assynt (corporate intelligence company)

"We will be in a better position and we will have better (political) weapons in our hands. ... It is time to decide about our self-determination and not to wait for other people to decide about us."
Massoud Barzani, president, Kurdistan regional government

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  In this June 30, 2014 photo a member of the IS militant parading with a long-range missile in Raqa. (AFP)
  

This what Iraq is becoming, dissolving into, separate states, one a threateningly sinister human-rights offending Islamist state of rabidly brutal tyranny, the other a calmly humane and civil nation of people sharing ethnicity and heritage yet prepared to act democratically in respect of others among them whose religion they share, but little else. And they would be living in relatively close proximity. How long before the former attack the latter?

Iraqi Kurdish forces take position as they fight jihadist militants on 29 June in the Iraqi village of Bashir, 20km south of the city of Kirkuk (AFP/Getty Images)

The Sunni jihadist group formerly calling itself the Islamic State of Syria and Al-Sham has declared itself a caliphate and invited all pious Muslims who believe in the supremacy of Islam to join them in their ongoing spread of the Islamic State. The vast majority of Muslims throughout the world would have no interest in becoming an integral part of a conquering militaristic and brutal legion of men devoted to the sword.

But restless, aimless, conflict-loving young Muslim men, disaffected with the daily struggle of life in tyrannical societies will be swift to come to their marauding troops to take part in the bragging, the bullying, the killing and the looting, to become one with the conquerors, to boast of their dedication to jihad and their willingness as martyrs for the caliphate cause of restoring Islam to its past glory.

They are anti-government, which is to say, viciously opposed to any governments that exist who are Shiite while they are themselves Sunnis and therefore entitled to rule as the Islamic majority, and including those who rule to favour the elite and oppress the disentitled. They will, of course, themselves rule as tyrants, favouring their own elite and oppressing the vast grumbling masses with no recourse to escape their clutches.

On the way to their expanding Islamic State they revel in the opportunity to shed blood, to spread terror, to loot and to glory in the power of life and death. Once the exemplar of bold and bloody Islamist terrorism, al-Qaeda now takes a back seat to the Islamic State. They view one another as opponents and will, at some juncture meet on the battlefields, opponents to the death. Until they finally merge, one subservient to the other.

In the meanwhile, busy tearing their way through Iraq, the Islamic State welcomes new recruits from Syria loyal at one time to Jabhat al-Nusra which operates under the imprimatur of al-Qaeda, but bleeding men to IS. In the process enabling the Islamic State which has enriched itself through the acquisition of American-produced arms and vehicles left behind by fleeing Iraqi military forces, and availing itself of hundreds of millions from Mosul's banks, by now also acquiring the Syrian Al-Omar oil field, from al-Nusra.

As of 3 July 2014      Areas controlled by the Islamic State      Areas claimed by the Islamic State
     Rest of Iraq and Syria

Syrian government forces were incapable of holding on to Al-Omar field, according to Rami Abdurrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and Al-Nusra maintained the facilities "selling 10,000 barrels a day". Now that enterprise is IS's. In a video footage a bearded man named Commander Hommam dressed in black is shown, well armed, standing beside a sign: "Euphrates Oil Company - al-Omar Oil Field."

His men, boasts the Islamic State commander, took the oilfield with no conflict required as their enemies "fled like rats". Yet another video features a man in the Al-Nusra stronghold of Sheheil, declaring: "We have decided to declare our allegiance to the Islamic State and the caliph of the Muslims, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi".

They are not alone in transferring allegiance to the Islamic State. There are other groups doing the same, among which are the larger groups such as Army of Islam, the Al-Ikhlaas Brigade, and the Islamic Taliban movement. As for Iraq, poor beleaguered Iraq, General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, claims Iraqi security forces are perfectly capable of the defense of Baghdad, though they are unable to launch an offensive to retake territory won by IS.