Iraq Crisis: Islamic State Now Threat to West, Says U.S. Wall - TopicsExpress



          

Iraq Crisis: Islamic State Now Threat to West, Says U.S. Wall Street Journal (08/15/14) Gorman, Siobhan; El-Ghobashy, Tamer; Malas, Nour Several U.S. intelligence officials issued warnings on Thursday about the threat from the Islamic State, the militant group that has been on the march through northern Iraq over the last several months. The officials noted that the groups efforts to create an Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria are ultimately aimed at establishing a base from which to stage attacks against the West. However, the Islamic State is currently focused on staging local attacks for now. One official said the group may also be planning to export terrorism by having its Western fighters return to their home countries to establish terrorist cells there. The officials noted that the Islamic State will be difficult to defeat for a variety of reasons, including the instability in the Middle East, the lack of adequate security in Iraq and Syria, and growing sectarianism--all factors that have helped it become stronger over the last several months. One official added that the Islamic State cannot be eradicated until some of the broader issues in the Arab world are dealt with. This is not a problem that can simply be dealt with by bringing out some of the counterterrorism tools we have used in the past, the official said. The idea that the group can just be rooted out somehow is probably not the right way to think about it.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 21:40:04 +0000

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