The Haystack

The student news site of Wheat Ridge High School

The student news site of Wheat Ridge High School

The Haystack

The student news site of Wheat Ridge High School

The Haystack

The Rise and Power of Daesh

The Rise and Power of Daesh

By Isabelle Olson

Martin Smith, a well known and courageous journalist, went deep into the conflicts in Iraq and Syria to come out with a full proof history of the rise of Daesh, or as many people commonly know them, ISIS.

Smith reported the that the sparks that lead to the flame of Daesh all started when America left Iraq in 2011, believing it to be in good hands and in a state of independance. However, while Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was in America announcing the new and improved Iraq with President Obama, he received word that hired bodyguards were attempting to assassinate one of his right hand men.

 The men accused of this were Sunni. Maliki believes Sunni were lesser than his people and that they have no real worth, and because Iraq was now in his hands, he went back to Iraq gave the order to begin killing Sunnis. The result? Bodies on the streets, hands tied behind their backs and bullets in their heads. Children and men lined the sides of many streets, and the violence did not stop there. Sunnis responded to this by protesting in peaceful manner; waving banners and chanting in large groups, but soon the groups of protesters started getting bigger and bigger and the fight started getting even more heated.

The members of Daesh are the leaders of terrorism that America did not manage to take out while in Iraq. This shows that they are powerful and dangerous, even though their beginning numbers were small. Their end goal is to create a state that they think to be ruled by God, and they will not stop until that is achieved.

When they heard of the Sunnis rebellion, they decided to put their dislike of them aside and to join forces with them to fight against the government they do not believe in. While the Sunnis believed in peaceful protests, ISIS began using violence in the name of their fight, and because the Sunnis had nothing and a great fear of what exactly they were fighting for, they let ISIS take their peaceful fight and make it one of violence.

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 “This is one of the first terrorist groups saying, ‘You know what? We’re not going to hit and run, and we’re never going to participate in politics as you know it. We actually want to kill everyone who disagrees with us,’” says counterterrorism expert Ali Soufan.

Daesh are experienced in fighting and bombing, and they are something to be feared. With the recent attacks in Paris, we can be sure they are not just setting their sights on one place or one enemy anymore, and who knows what could come from that.

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