ISIS has a credible amount of military expertise, but it has been the almost unfathomable brutality of its troops that has allowed it to consume so much territory so quickly. U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said on Friday that ISIS is “as sophisticated and well-funded as any group that we have seen.” Nevertheless, it received its first large defeat a few days ago when it was pushed off the important Mosul Dam by Iraqi and Kurdish forces, assisted by an aerial bombing campaign from the United States.
Horrific videos have been distributed from ISIS social media accounts, showing its fighters tormenting, torturing and executing any number of prisoners. Also, according to senior officials in the U.S. military who are intimate with the security forces of Iraq, ISIS has exploited such forces in some areas because they lack motivation to fight hard against its brutality.
The total number of Sunnis fighting for ISIS is unknown, but it is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, with many having traveled from all corners of the Earth to take their position as one of ISIS’ bullies. The man who beheaded James Foley, for example, speaks with a British accent. The National Counterterrorism Center in the United States reported that over 12,000 foreign nationals made their way to Syria just last month with no intention other than to fight with extremist groups such as ISIS. The Center says more than 1,000 of those were from the West and approximately 100 of them American.
Tom Kean, a former governor of New Jersey and the former chairman of the 9/11 Commission, recently met with top officials in the U.S. intelligence community about ISIS and other issues. “I was appalled at the ignorance,” he said, reporting that the high-ranking experts were taken aback by the group’s growth, ascendancy and competence.