Joby Warrick's 'Black Flags' is essential reading to understand the rise of one of the most potent ideas of this century or even this millennium. Never before has a terrorist group so fundamentally endangered existence of normal peace-loving humans across the world; and never before has a terrorist group been able to attract citizens of so many countries on the strength of its central idea alone. Warrick's is an important account of what I consider the most important historical event of the 21st century: a veritable World War III involving NATO, Russia, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, the Peshmerga Kurds and a host of other groups with shifting rivalries and friendships. Who would have thought that a minor student protest in Syria that Assad happened to pay attention to, would lead to the birth of the ISIL idea.Or for that matter, a small-time criminal in Jordan.
To add: if it was the USA's direct involvement that created the Taliban and then Al-Qaeda (and the hundreds of other Pakistan based terrorist groups), it is perhaps, the USA's lack of interest and criminal sloppiness in "accidentally" promoting Zarqawi that created ISIL/ Daesh. Disappointingly, the book stops right at the birth of ISIL (and that is reflected in the title!). I now await a writer of Warrick's salt to write about the Death of ISIL (given that they just lost Raqqa to SDF a few days back).
Related: Do watch City of Ghosts on Amazon Prime about the Citizen Journalists' group 'Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently' (RBSS).
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