From Politico, “the attacks will be spectacular”: Chris Whipple on an exclusive look at how the Bush administration ignored this warning from the CIA months before 9/11, along with others that were far more detailed than previously revealed; and William McCants on how ISIL out-terrorized Bin Laden: Brutality and doomsday visions have made ISIL the world’s most feared terrorist group. A man who goes by the name of Abu Bilal al-Harbi is the leader in ISIS’s recruiting war against Al-Qaeda in Yemen. Use Al Qaeda fighters to beat ISIS: To take down the so-called Islamic State in Syria, David Petraeus wants to co-opt jihadists from America’s arch foe. Lost amid debate over Syria strategy: The moral case for fighting ISIS. Americans have a “moral responsibility” to end the conflict that created the Islamic State: Heather Timmons interviews Rohan Ganaratna of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.
On the management and expansion of savagery: While the jihadis of the Islamic State hope their reputation for brutality will deter their enemies, another group’s snuff video shows that what has happened instead is an expansion of viciousness and cruelty.
