The Secret History of ISIS

The title of this PBS-aired Frontline documentary is somewhat ironic, given the fact that ISIS's ascension hardly occurred in secrecy. Indeed, as filmmaker Michael Kirk clearly shows, the rise of ISIS was accommodated, in large part, by decision failures by both the (George W.) Bush and Obama administrations. Born out of the al-Qaeda movement, ISIS owed much of its initial strength to the efforts of Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a one-time pimp whose radical interpretation of Islam was so extreme that he used a razor to cut off tattoos from his skin in order to maintain the Koran's taboo on skin ink. After he was killed in a U.S. bombing raid in Iraq in 2006, al-Zarqawi's leadership role was eventually inherited by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who holds a PhD but also shared al-Zarqawi's extremist religious fanaticism, including condoning human rights atrocities. While these leaders were bringing thousands of recruits into ISIS through a combination of shrewd propaganda and grand promises, the U.S. government repeatedly underestimated and downplayed the power of ISIS in the Middle East until the group established its own Islamic caliphate and international terrorist network. Offering solid insights into the inner workings of ISIS, this is highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Hall)