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Michael Weiss

Hassan Hassan

ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror (Updated Edition) (1) Hardcover – March 29, 2016

by Michael Weiss (Author), Hassan Hassan (Author)

389 ratings

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Fully Revised & Updated Edition of the New York Times Bestselling and Highly Praised Book on ISIS

With newly added material and breaking news including:
—Interview with a former ISIS spymaster
—Why ISIS is targeting Europe and the US
—What Russia wants in Syria
—Revelations on the brutal ideology of ISIS

With brutal attacks in last year across the globe—Brussels, Paris, Beirut, Egypt, Turkey—the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has proved itself the greatest terrorist threat in the world today. They have conquered massive territories in Syria and Iraq in a bid to create a new Muslim caliphate under the strict dictates of Sharia law.

In this fully revised and updated edition of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, American journalist Michael Weiss and Syrian analyst Hassan Hassan explain how these violent extremists evolved from a nearly defeated Iraqi insurgent group into a jihadi army of international volunteers who, with slickly produced murder videos, are spreading violence and mayhem across the globe. Beginning with the early days of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of ISIS’s first incarnation, Weiss and Hassan explain who the key players are—from their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to the former Saddam Baathists in their ranks—where they come from, how they have attracted both local and global support, and how they operate—from their social media strategy to their illicit oil revenues. As money and matériel continue to flow into the region to combat the ISIS’s spreading terror, other forces—Assad’s regime, Russian planes, Iranian Quds Forces, and other Shiite militias—are gaining power and using the fight against ISIS as a means to leverage their agenda in the region.

Political and military maneuvering by the United States, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Russia have fueled ISIS’s explosive expansion. In five new chapters, the authors delve further into the inner workings of the Army of Terror and what it is like to live under their ever-tightening rule. With invaluable and exclusive insider information, the authors explore the Islamic State’s enigmatic recruitment and training methods, the impact of their military successes and failures, and how they structure and empower home-grown cells worldwide to carry out their terror. Drawing on original interviews with former US military officials and current ISIS fighters—and brand-new interviews with a former ISIS spy, as well as Kurdish and Yazidi survivors of the ISIS’s assault on northern Iraq—the authors reveal the internecine struggles within the movement itself, as well as ISIS’s bloody hatred of Shiite Muslims, which is generating another sectarian war in the region. A new generation of terror has dawned in the world and to understand how to stop it, we must understand who they are.

Print length

448 pages
Language:

English
Publisher

Regan Arts.
Publication date

March 29, 2016
Dimensions

6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1682450201
ISBN-13

978-1682450208
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Times of London Best Books of 2015

Wall Street Journal Top 10 Books on Terrorism

"A remarkable book."

— Anderson Cooper

"Weiss and Hassan provide a detailed explanation of how the Islamic State 'manages savagery' on the ground . . . this account of the Islamic State in Iraq is a valuable summation and the most serious book-length study of the Islamic State to be published so far."

— New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

"Weiss and Hassan capture the complexity of the . . . imbroglios that gave rise to the Islamic State . . . in this thorough and accessible book." —Foreign Affairs

"The first book to fully explain what ISIS is seeking and why they are such a threat to the world. An absolute must-read for anyone who wants to understand the risk we all face from radical Islam."

—Douglas E. Schoen, political analyst, author of The Russia-China Axis: The New Cold War and America's Crisis of Leadership

"A . . . detailed and nuanced story."

— James Traub, Wall Street Journal

"Easily the best history I've read of the evolution of the terror group."

— Kareem Shaheen, The Guardian

"Weiss and Hassan have produced a detailed and readable book. Their informants include American and regional military officials and intelligence operatives, defected Syrian spies and diplomats, and – most fascinating of all – Syrians who work for Isis (these are divided into categories such as politickers, pragmatists, opportunists and fence-sitters). The authors provide useful insights into Isis governance – a combination of divide-and-rule, indoctrination and fear – and are well placed for the task. Hassan, an expert on tribal and jihadist dynamics, is from Syria’s east. Weiss reported from liberated al-Bab, outside Aleppo, before Isis took it over."

—Robin Yassin-Kassab, author of The Road from Damascus, is writing (with Leila al-Shami) a book on the civil activists of the Syrian revolution, (The Guardian)

“Recounted in painstaking detail . . . the book presents a granular analysis of the IS’s organization, ideology, funding and recruitment.”

—Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, author of The Road to Iraq: the Making of a Neoconservative War (In These Times)

About the Author

MICHAEL WEISS is a senior editor at The Daily Beast, a CNN contributor, and the editor-in-chief of The Interpreter. He has written for Foreign Policy, The Guardian, Foreign Affairs, Politico, and a host of other publications.

HASSAN HASSAN is a resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy and associate fellow at Chatham House. He is also a columnist for The National in Abu Dhabi. His writing has frequently appeared in The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs and the New York Times.

Product details

Publisher : Regan Arts.; Updated, Revised edition (March 29, 2016)
Language: : English
Hardcover : 448 pages
ISBN-10 : 1682450201
ISBN-13 : 978-1682450208
Item Weight : 1.28 pounds
Dimensions : 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #263,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #47 in Syria History
- #102 in Iraq History (Books)
- #230 in African Politics

Customer Reviews:
389 ratings

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phormion

Interesting, but biased and uneven

Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2016

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This book is definitely interesting, but also flawed. By reading it I found out about some courageous Syrian activists, like the lady that kept protesting in front of the ISIS headquarters, or the activists in al-Bab and Kafranbel (sadly, even by the time the book was out, they had all left Syria). It also points to other brave reporters, some of the interesting stuff coming from their writing - Martin Chulov from the Guardian, Anthony Shadid, Christoph Reuter etc. It also explains a bit the background of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, then ISI, then ISIL/ISIS etc.

Now for the flaws: the book's bias is much too obvious. From reading the book, you'd think most of the blame for the rise of an essentially extremist Sunni sect lies with a Shia regime (Iran) and a secular, non-Sunni one (Syria). Salafism-spreading "charities" from the Gulf only get a passing note, when talking about the proselytizing done on Kurds from Halabja. Gulf monarchies are hardly ever mentioned, and their support is seen as coming only from the Syrian diaspora living there. This is at least weird - you have Biden and Hillary Clinton on record talking about how angry they are at Qatar and Saudi Arabia for supporting extremists in Syria - see Patrick Cockburn's book on ISIS for that.

Robert Fisk wrote about the Lebanese Civil War that it had no good guys - they were all bad guys. It helps to keep that in mind when covering a civil war, and it helps your credibility if you don't have a special bias against one of the actors. The aforementioned Cockburn book did a much better job at explaining the missteps of both Sunni and Shia.

Also, the book is sometimes uneven; for example, the interesting quote of an al-Nusra guy via Christoph Reuter saying that "they just picked the cool name and with that they get money from the Gulf" doesn't get a too deep analysis; is it that you have gangs in Syria just picking whatever name suits them just to get funds? Who are the guys from the Gulf? Also, even if they've interviewed ISIS people, they don't seem to have reached anybody important (unlike Chulov, or Reuter with the Haji Bakr files). There's definitely more interesting stuff on ISIS available elsewhere, though this book gives a few pointers.

14 people found this helpful

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Comment

Probably the best of the early books on the Islamic State

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2020

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Of all the early books on the Islamic State ISIS Inside The Army of Terror might be the best one. It covers the rise, fall, and then rise again of the group in Iraq, its expansion into Syria, and then overseas. It deals with why people were drawn to IS, its governance, financing, ideology, indoctrination, and its foreign terrorist attacks. It still has some faults, but overall, it sticks to the Islamic State unlike other releases which highlights authors Weiss and Hassan’s research.

ISIS Inside The Army of Terror is mostly a chronological history of the Islamic state with occasional flashes forward to make comparisons between the past and present. It starts off with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who started the group just before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Although Zarqawi was a Jordanian he found Iraqis who were willing to follow him due to Saddam Hussein’s Faith Campaign in the 1990s which allowed for the growth of Salafism in the country, and Sunni resentment over the loss of their power in the new Iraq. That brings up the role of Baathists in the organization which was a hot topic amongst researchers in the 2010s. Weiss and Hassan note that there were a number of former regime members in the top echelons in the group and asks whether Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s rise to the top of the group was due to his ties to Baathists. In the end it argues that the 2007 Surge and Awakening/Sahwa wiped out most of the group’s leadership that allowed Iraqis to rise through the ranks thus allowing former Baathists to take on more prominent roles.

One thing it gets wrong, which was true for most of the books of its time was falling for the misinformation campaign IS launched about Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. Weiss and Hassan write that Abu Ayub al-Masri succeeded Zarqawi after his death in 2006 and claimed that Omar al-Baghdadi may have been a front man. They also believed that Masri was closer to Al Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri than Zarqawi and therefore was not committed to the war versus Iraq’s Shiite like the former leader. IS spread this story that Omar al-Baghdadi might not be a real person and if he was, he was just a figurehead and not the real leader of the group at the time to mislead the Iraqis and Americans about what happened after Zarqawi was killed. Omar al-Baghdad was the legitimate emir of the organization and helped rebuild it after the Surge and Awakening, something that the book documents when it discusses how IS went after the tribes that had turned on it with a carrot and stick approach, while not giving Omar al-Baghdadi credit for the strategy. This misinformation about Masri and Baghdadi was repeated by many other authors who had releases in the 2014-15 period when there was a boom in books on the group after it declared its caliphate.

Another issue with Weiss and Hassan was on how IS became such a phenomenon and brought in followers from around the world. They mention a researcher who argued that the Islamic State had a revolutionary appeal like communist and socialist groups had in the 1960s and 70s. Other ideas were that it promised a true Islamic life, exploited the Sunni-Shiite divide and offered a sense of adventure. The authors didn’t emphasize the utopian vision of the caliphate enough nor had much depth to its use of the Internet that spread its message internationally far beyond any previous jihadist group.

On the other hand, it has a deft portrayal of the Islamic State’s governance which it emphasized to its fans. Yes it provided services and gave a sense of stability to war zones when it first took over. At the same time it came with a huge dose of repression. It enforced sharia law, it made women cover themselves, it extensively used torture, it banned popular habits like cigarette smoking, and carried out public punishments and executions to scare and intimidate the populations it ruled. The book doesn’t try to make it is as if IS made the trains run on time. It focuses upon the system of oppression the group created to maintain its rule.

ISIS Inside The Army of Terror stands out amongst its contemporaries. This is the revised and updated version which includes new chapters that brought the story of the group up to 2015. Many other books released at this time went off into other subjects like the international jihadist movement to give context that might have been motivated by their knowledge of Al Qaeda more than the Islamic State. This release maintains its focus upon IS and shows that Weiss and Hassan put in the work to find out as much about their topic as they could. Yes, it has some flaws, but most of its main points have proven true, and it provides an extensive history of the group.

Musings On Iraq blog

One person found this helpful

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All American Foreign Policymakers Should Read

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2018

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This book helps enlighten the Western mind to the intricacies of Middle Eastern tribal thought as much as any tome could hope to do. Well researched and thought provoking gleaned factoids via personal interviews with ISIS confederates that has the reader in constant wonderment of how the authors have survived for so long. The boldface lying of both the Syrian government and Russian government and their use of ISIS for their own political purposes becomes especially apparent. Even though our government constantly tells us how much territory ISIS and al-Quida has lost, it is clear that this battle against this force of evil cloaked in an arcane interpretation of religious fundamentalism, useful to flip-flop between Sunni and Shia as the situation warrants, is far from over.
My advice for anyone truly interested in understanding the thinking of the religion of Submission ('submission' is the Arabic meaning of the word Islam), and I particularly recommend this to our governmental policy makers, is to read the Quran. Any of the 4 and 5 star translations will do. It is a free Kindle download from Amazon; and no, you will not immediately be converted to Islam.....:)

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Don't waste your time

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 2, 2019

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Full of accusations, stating theories are facts when the evidence really doesn't stack up at all. They claim the Syrian war started peacefully, which has been proven wrong. The protests were hijacked by armed Jihadis bused in from Turkey (they stockpiled weapons in mosques before the protest started. The book claims Assad a Shia Muslim supported both AQ & ISIS (Sunnis). There's no factual evidence to support these claims, Assad had locked up anyone with links to AQ for years. They're his biggest allies Russia & Irans enemy also. He had NOTHING to gain from supporting them and everything to lose. And strangely the Authors don't point out the geopolitical tension between Turkey, Qatar, Saudi regimes at all. They're the main supporters of the so-called opposition both with arms, money & logistics, and yet this fact is nowhere to be found in the book. They also don't bring up the fact that ISIS was allied with the FSA from 2013-2015 as well as Nusra Front (Later rebranding as HTS) we were AQ in Syria. It seems there is a bias for the 'rebels' who have committed the same crimes as ISIS had. The blame for everything seems to be targeted as the Syrian government, Russia & Iran. Even the US seems to get a mostly free pass for the blame of invading Iraq and strengthening AQI, which lead to ISIS creation with Saudi support. They also don't seem to question how 80% of AQ & ISIS managed to freely cross the Turkish border into Syria. This book needs to be placed in the Fictional section, very badly researched, or worse, deliberate propaganda.

4 people found this helpful

Marcus Case

Shocking and Unforgettable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2019

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Carefully researched and written with apparent authority, 'ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror' offers the reader solid and remarkable insights into the history, development and day-to-day reality of life within and around this terrorist caliphate. The writing of this fine and memorable book must have been incredibly laborious and immensely time-consuming. Shocking and unforgettable.

Very good insight into ISIS

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 6, 2018

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Yes, if you want to know more about this radical groups and where there army, support and momentum springs from then look no where else.

Amazon Customer

Good read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2018

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Good read

AdrianB

A must read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 17, 2016

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Exactly as described, Very prompt and efficient,

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