GSE Report

ISIL and Al Qaeda are both contemporary, unapologetic, genocidal imperialist powers. Islam’s successful 7th century imperialism, the expansion of Muslim power from Spain to Persia, is their model. Al Qaeda recruited on its radical message and then its initial imperial “success” of 9/11. ISIL’s May-June 2014 offensive (the one that seized Mosul and took truck-borne ISIL fighters to the outskirts of Baghdad) was an imperialist offensive that also served as a recruiting tool. First Al Qaeda and now ISIL want the “green map” of Muslim authority andSharia Law to cover the entirety of Planet Earth.

Austin Bay

Adjunct Professor, University of Texas-Austin

March 23, 2016