Thursday, October 30, 2014

‘The Rise of ISIS’- PBS Frontline

 
Description from PBS video page for Frontline documentary “The Rise of ISIS,” first aired 28OCT14:
FRONTLINE investigates the miscalculations and mistakes behind the brutal rise of ISIS. Correspondent Martin Smith, who made "Truth, War & Consequences," "Beyond Baghdad," "Private Warriors" and "Gangs of Iraq," reports from Iraq on how the country began coming undone after the American withdrawal and what it means for the U.S. to be fighting there again.
“The Rise of ISIS,” Chapter 1

“The Rise of ISIS,” Chapter 2

“The Rise of ISIS,” Chapter 3

“The Rise of ISIS,” Chapter 4

“The Rise of ISIS,” Chapter 5

3 comments:

Nader Uskowi said...

A must see documentary on ISIL. Taking us to the early days of the organization when it was known as Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), when it began its campaign against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq and its expansion in Anbar and other Sunni areas of Iraq; to the surge of American ground forces under Gen. Petreaus and his strategy of uniting Sunni tribes against AQI; to AQI's virtual defeat as the result of the Sunni Awakening movement; to the departure of U.S. forces form Iraq.

It then shows us the story of Arab Spring-type massive demonstrations in Sunnis area, especially in Fallujah and Ramadi, calling for equal rights and opportunities for the Sunnis; Maliki’s military response and killing of Sunni demonstrators; Maliki’s purge of Sunni military and civilian officials; and the revitalization of AQI in 2012 and start of its deadly campaign against the government in Baghdad; to its name change to Islamic State in Iraq (ISI) and its capture of Fallujah in January 2014; to its rapid growth in eastern Syria and the capture of oil fields and territory and its name change to Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS of ISIL); to the fall of Mosul in June 2014 and the establishment of caliphate under the name Islamic State. It will then show ISIL’s tactics today and the international community’s response to it. A must see.

Brig. Gen. Basrawi (IQAF.ret) said...

Great documentary. All of these events are the consequences of the 2003 illegal & unjustified invasion of Iraq. The removal of Saddam is and will always be the root cause for the mess that we're seeing right now. Sure, Saddam was not a kind leader, but Iraq was one. Iraq was a nation-state, united to a good extent & Iraqi land was protected by its armed forces & the borders were secure. The Bush administration knew that his elimination would open up a pandora's box. I believe that in some ways they didn't mind Iraq breaking up the way it did. Sectarianism worked for them and against them. They intended to make profits out of a 'liberated' Iraq. With that in mind, some trouble from sectarianism was counted into the equation. There is definitely truth in the old saying 'divide & conquer'.

Nader Uskowi said...

Sectarian violence in Iraq did not start in 2003. In fact Saddam invaded Iran in 1980s, and the war took more than a million lives, on both the Shia and Sunni sides. In 1990s, after being driven out of Kuwait, Saddam killed thousands of Shia and Kurd opponents, including using chemical weapons against the Iraqi citizens because of their sect or ethnicity. The 2003 invasion by the U.S. did have its many consequences, and this blogger opposed that war from the very beginning, but it is too simplistic to suggest that the sectarian and ethnic violence in modern Iraq started then.