Geography, The Origins of ISIS, second addition.docx.docx



30816554800600“I was forced to watch men being crucified and women stoned to death.” Mohammed, a person who changed his name and survived from ISIS said (Evans). ISIS is one the richest terrorist group in the world. Also, it is known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and this group is full of is Sunni Islamic people who are fundamentalism. Fundamentalism means that they are religious, so they only accept their own religion, so they fight against all other religions, such as Christian, Shiite, or the other kind of Islam religion. Also, they are trying to create more Islamic states in other places (). This was one of the problems in Syria - there is a civil war there. In 15 March 2011, a lot of citizens don’t like the rule of Bashar Al-Assad, (Sharwood) and Bashar doesn’t want to resign, so he waged civil wars against his own people (Kurzgesagt). Later on more outside force, such as al- Qaeda, Kurds in Turkey, Israel, Egypt, joined the civil war. Also, there are people supplying weapons to the civil war, such as the US government, the UN Security Council, the UK, and Russia (CBC). I think to understand why there is ISIS today or why they become that strong; we need to know their origin, which will include economy, religion of Iraq and Syria, and US invasion.3086100114935 To know the origin of ISIS, we can look at the economy of Syria. According to the CIA World Factbook, when the conflict started in 2011, the GDP, or the financial value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific time period (Investopedia), of Syria continued to decrease. The result of this is the decreased amount of exchange reserves, a rising budget and trade financial loss, and the decreasing value of the Syrian pound (CIA World Factbook). “A lack of economic opportunities and weakened welfare systems forced citizens to turn to others.”(Yahya) Because of the weakened welfare system, people don’t get a lot of job opportunities, so they turn to ISIS and ask for jobs (Yahya). About 29% of Arab youth are unemployed (CIA World Factbook). Because of this grim reality, many Arab youth turn to other groups than formal jobs, mostly Islamic groups (Yahya). The government even encouraged ultra conservative groups, to step up and provide jobs for them. Also, now days many other ultra conservative groups are recruiting Arab youth to ISIS (Yahya). Because the economy of Syria is failing, and cannot give jobs for Arab youths, Arab youths look to ISIS to try and get jobs from them, which give them almost an unlimited source of soldiers, and make ISIS become stronger.3080385-10541030861001590040 Besides the economy, religion is also one thing that’s one part of ISIS’s origin. ISIS is a fundamentalist group, or the group that’s extremely religious, they don’t like any other religions, and fighting against all of them. The groups ISIS is fighting include, Christian and the other religion that is really similar to them, which is Shiite Islam (). According to the CIA World Factbook, in Syria, the number of people that are Sunni is 74%, Shiite 13%, Christian 10%, Druze 3%. In Iraq, the number of people that are Shiite is 60-65%, Sunni 32-37%, and Christian 0.8%. Islamic Sunni and Shia are both religious, so in Syria and Iraq, the war inside the country between each other happened very often, so, ISIS became well known as a violent religious group. So, because of the religious differences, they start conflicts, which is one of the reasons ISIS exists and it’s one part of their origin. Also, there is another reason that is one part of the origin of ISIS besides the poor economy and religious fundamentalist, which is the US invasion of Iraq. Without the invasion in 2006 that used airstrike to killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 2006, ISIS would not have this name. According to brooking.edu, after the successor of Zarqawi and Zarqawi himself had been killed, al-Qaeda in Iraq went underground, and renamed themselves as ISIS. Also, with the invasion in 2003 by the US, it shaped who they are today. In 2003, the US invasion happened in Iraq, this war killed many people, but it also helps the other side. According to Garikai Chengu, a research scholar at Harvard University, writes, “ The 2003 American invasion and occupation of Iraq created the preconditions for radical Sunni groups, like ISIS, to take root.” This war makes them flourished, and became stronger, which made the US became the helper of making ISIS strong. The US invasion in Iraq set up who ISIS are today, so I think these US invasions were a part of the origin of ISIS.ISIS became stronger today is not done by their own, it’s has to do with historical events what’s going on in Syria and Iraq, such as their bad economy, diversity religion and the US invasion. The economy of Syria is becoming worse and the employment rate is low, because not a lot of opportunities to be employed, so people join ISIS for money, and this gave them almost an unlimited source of soldiers. ISIS is fundamentalist, but where they located at, have very complex culture and religion, which let them have reasons to attack others. Also, the US invasion set up who they are right now and flourished them. So, all because of these things, that made up ISIS today and make this entire sanguinary thing, such as made other people watch victims getting murdered.0160606This map shows the map of Iraq, ethnic, religious groups, and population of Iraq.-113665143510This picture shows how ISIS looks like as a troop, show how they dress up, and also their ISIS flag.Works Cited : "17 Things about ISIS You Need to Know." Vox. . Web. 21 Dec. 2014. <, Spine Jane. "Survivor of ISIS Children's Camp Reveals How Young Boys Are Whipped and Made to Watch Men Being Crucified and Women Stoned to Death." Mailonline News 28 Aug. 2014. Web. 21 Dec. 2014. <;."The Origin of ISIS( Islamic State)." . Web. 21 Dec. 2014. <, Anthony. "10 Simple Points to Help You Understand the Syria Conflict." .au. 27 Aug. 2013. Web. 21 Dec. 2014. <;."Iraq Explained" Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell. Web. 22 Dec. 2014. <;."MIDDLE EAST :: SYRIA." CIA: World Factbook. 20 June 2014. Web. 22 Dec. 2014. <, Garikai. "How the US Helped Create Al Qaeda and ISIS." Counterpunch. 19 Sept. 2014. Web. 22 Dec. 2014. <;."Syria’s Civil War: Key Facts, Important Players." CBC. CBC News, 3 Apr. 2014. Web. 8 Jan. 2015. <;."Gross Domestic Product - GDP." Investopedia. Web. 8 Jan. 2015. <, Maha Yahya. "The Ultimate Fatal Attraction: 5 Reasons People Join ISIS." The National Interest. 7 Nov. 2014. Web. 8 Jan. 2015. <;. ................
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