The State of ISIS

Eunes Harun
US History Period 3
Day by day people are being executed all across the world due to
the peril caused by a terrorist group that goes by the name ISIS. ISIS is
a radical Sunni Muslim terrorist group standing for the Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria. Their sole purpose is to implement a strict Islamic ruling
for the tri-state area, and cause utter destruction in the process. We
are going to explore what ISIS is, what they are doing, if they are a
threat to us and how the U.S. will deal with this international issue.
Nowadays on the news, all we hear about it is this terrorist group
called ISIS, or also referred to as ISIL, the Islamic State in Iraq and the
Levant. The Levant is a larger area of the Middle East that includes
Lebanon and Jordan in addition to Syria. Aside from the name, this
terrorist group is mostly made up of radical Sunni Muslims. However,
as President Obama said in a speech a few weeks ago, ISIL is not
Islamic (Miller 1). ISIS goal is to establish a strict Islamic state in
which the government is run directly based on their radical
interpretation of the religion. They attempt to do this without regards
to our societys norms of today, or human decency for that matter.
Over the past few months, ISIS has accomplished immense
amounts of annihilation across the region. By just a few weeks ago,

they conquered a large piece of territory in northwestern Iraq and

some of northern Syria (Smith 10). Aside from that, they have been
committed horrendous acts of violence against anyone who stands in
their way. Obama said that ISIL has killed children, executed prisoners,
sexually harassed women, threatened with genocide and killed two
American journalists (Miller 1). These are brutal leaders of an even
more relentless group. They specifically kill Shia Muslims, another sect
of Muslim people and they kill Iraqi soldiers who are captured. One
issue is that the Iraqi soldiers werent able to protect themselves and
were not well enough equipped, and for this reason, they either fled
their posts, or were forced to join in on the ISIS forces. At this point in
time, they captured some American weapons and artillery that we
supplied to the Iraqis to help protect themselves. This means that the
ISIS fighters are now equipped with heavy-duty, high tech equipment
free of charge, and now are using them against others.
ISIS/ISIL is having an immense impact on our society in the
United States even though these events are occurring thousands of
miles away. In fact, precautions are being taken locally -- Gov. Dan
Malloy announced on September 25, 2014 that increased security
personnel would be dispatched throughout the state on our rail lines
and at the airport out of an abundance of caution due to the events
occurring overseas (Schoenfeld). Many people are worried about our
economy and the oil that we need here in the U.S., and is the reason

that people are concerned. If there is civil and political unrest in the
Middle East, oil prices will increase immensely, and our economy can
take a hit for the worse. Another potential risk is the fact that if we
dont do anything, and continue to let ISIS/ISIL create destruction, Iraq
could become a harbor for terrorists this is something that we have
been trying to avoid through the continual occupation of Iraq over the
past 10 years (Smith 11). This would in effect make us lose what we
worked for in the Iraq war that we were fighting overseas for so many
years. In a speech made by President Obama, he detailed what he
would like to do to combat ISIL/ISIS. He says that we have a distinct
four-part objective to, Degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL (Miller 1).
To accomplish this goal, he says that the United States firstly plans to
carry out airstrikes upon ISIS territory and resources. Secondly, he has
deployed several hundred service members to help the Iraqi security
forces protect themselves. When saying this, he makes it clear that this
is not an initiation of ground war like we have done in the past. Thirdly,
Obama says that we are working on our own intelligence to help
prevent terrorism in our homeland and to also prevent future ISIL
attacks. And lastly, Obama stated that we would provide humanitarian
assistance to those innocent people who were affected by this terrorist
group (Miller 1-2). As you can see, the United States is getting
involved pretty immensely to protect our own interests internationally.

In conclusion, ISIS is gaining territory while committing violent

acts against innocent people, or any one who stands in their way for
that matter. They are a terrorist organization that is being misled by
radical interpretations of the Muslim religion and its teachings. I
believe that we are doing the right thing by attempting to degrade and
destroy ISIS so that our interests; like the supply of oil to the U.S. is not
compromised and that our economy continues to recover from without
defects. We have explored in detail what ISIS is, the horrendous acts
they are committing, and how the U.S. is affected and how it plans to
respond to these international events.
Works Cited
Miller, Zeke. Full Text of Obamas Address on ISIS. Time, 17 Sept.
2014: Web.
Smith, Patricia. Middle East Mess. Upfront, 01 Sept. 2014: Print
Schoenfeld, Samantha. "Governor Orders Increased Security Along Rail
Lines & At

_________Bradley Airport." FOX CT. Tribune Broadcasting,

25 Sept. 2014. Web. 25 _________Sept. 2014.