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Phyllis Bennis is a brilliant foreign policy analyst with a voice like Kathleen Turner’s. Today, she talks about the latest in a series of primers on conflict zones, Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror.
In her valuable new book, Bennis answers the Frequently Asked Questions about the rise of ISIS. We try to define “terrorism”, talk about the various names used as the group evolved from al Quaeda in Mesopotamia to the present group that calls itself the Islamic State and controls territory in Iraq and Syria.
Bennis details the failed American policies that led to the rise of ISIS, including Bush’s “surge” and the de-Baathification in 2004.
One important section of the book details seven different wars currently being waged in Syria, and with today’s official entry of Turkey into the fray, the number keeps growing. We also talk about the improbable Khorosan group, which appears to be an American concoction.