ISIS... Even Al Qaeda Thinks They're Crazy

Al Qaeda Appealed to ISIS to Release British Aid Worker

Over the past few months, the Sunni Muslim extremist group known as ISIS, ISIL, or simply The Islamic State has embarked on a campaign of carnage across Iraq and Syria. The brutality of ISIS is unprecedented even in a region known for terrorist violence. On paper, ISIS is merely the better trained, better armed, and better funded offshoot of Al Qaida. The two organizations also share the same long term goal of establishing a unified Sunni caliphate. The gulf between the two organizations lies in their methods and perspectives. Al Qaida thinks strategically, whereas ISIS thinks tactically. Al Qaida follows the formula of a typical terrorist organization, Terrorists work indirectly. The goal of a terrorist attack is not to destroy an enemy or take land, but rather to scare the masses into forcing their leaders to give the terrorist organization what it wants. On the other hand, ISIS follows the typical formula of a revolutionary organization. Revolutionaries work directly. The goal of a revolutionary is to wipe out every trace of the previous regime, leaving a blank sociopolitical slate on which the revolutionary's ideology can be grafted.

Al Qaida and ISIS thus find themselves at cross-purposes. ISIS, along with all similar revolutionary groups, is narrowly focused and short sighted. ISIS is not concerned with the downstream effects of its actions, only with preserving the revolution and keeping it ideologically pure. When ISIS stopped Mr. Henning's convoy, they did not see a humanitarian who missed Christmas with his family to help people in need regardless of religious affiliation, all they saw was a threat to the revolution.

Al Qaida is a global organization that operates through manipulation of public sentiment. This means that public support is key to its success. The emir of Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of Al Qaida, claims he is against ISIS because it violates Islamic law by targeting innocents and attempting to supersede the muftis. It is true that ISIS is in violation of Islamic law, but Al Qaida has no problem violating Islamic law when it has to.

The real reason Al Qaida denounced ISIS is because ISIS makes Al Qaida look bad. The willingness of ISIS fighters to kill anyone, even fellow Sunnis, in the name of revolution robs Al Qaida of its ideological base. If Al Qaida loses the support of the radicalized Sunni population, then it cannot operate.