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"The Mehdi Army militia was a towering force in Iraq during the early years of the post-Saddam era. As an aggressive opponent of foreign occupation and one of the principal antagonists in Iraq's brutal sectarian civil war, the militia was central to the violence that ravaged the country and a pivotal political actor. Growing rapidly in size and strength, and controlling entire districts of Baghdad and broad swathes of southern and central Iraq, the Mehdi Army seemed poised to become a Hezbollah-like 'state within a state' that would remain enormously powerful for years to come. Drawing from extensive field experience in one of Baghdad's most volatile militia-held districts, Krohley exposes how, and why, the militia suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed in the midst of the Americans' 'Surge' of forces during 2008. Building from an examination of the Mehdi Army's social and ideological roots, he presents a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood study of the militia's changing fortunes that offers unparalleled local detail and specificity. Krohley shows how the Mehdi Army's demise was ultimately a self-inflicted 'death' as opposed to a triumph of its foes. In so doing, he not only challenges prevailing orthodoxies of counterinsurgency doctrine and the mythology of the Surge, but also offers penetrating insights into the battered state of Iraqi society after decades of dictatorship, privation and war."--Book jacket.
Militia movements --- Mahdism --- Iraq War, 2003-2011. --- Political violence --- Milices --- Mahdisme --- Guerre en Irak, 2003-2011 --- Violence politique --- Jaysh al-Mahdī
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The so-called Islamic State, or ISIS, has inspired young men and women around the world to commit heinous acts in its name. By the thousands, they have flooded into the Islamic State's vase stronghold in Syria and Iraq, and in nearly every continent they have carried out attacks under its black banner. The Islamic State has become one of the most popular and successful jihadist groups on the planet, surpassing even al-Qaeda. How did the Islamic State attract so many followers and conquer so much land ? By being more ruthless, more messianic, and more devoted to empire-building than its competitors. The shrewd leaders of the Islamic State combined two of the most powerful yet contradictory ideas in Islam - the return of the Islamic Empire and the end of the world - into a mission and a message that shapes its strategy and inspires its army of zealous fighters. They have defied conventional thinking about how to wage wars and win recruits. Even if the Islamic State is defeated, jihadist terrorism will never be the same. Based almost entirely on primary sources in Arabic - including ancient religious texts and secret al-Qaeda and Islamic State letters that few outsiders have seen - this book explores how religious fervor, strategic calculation, and doomsday prophesy shaped the Islamic State's past and foreshadow its dark future.
I.S. (ORGANIZATION) --- TERRORISM--RELIGIOUS ASPECTS--ISLAM --- TERRORISM--MIDDLE EAST --- JIHAD --- the black flag --- Mahdi --- sectarian apocalypse --- Caliphate --- Sunni islamic prophecies of the end times --- Islamic State --- twelve caliphs
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