ABSTRACT
This book was designed to examine and explain, in depth, the genesis and evolution of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS). Most significantly, this examination specifies the threats IS poses to the United States and its allies in the Greater Middle East and the West and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the strategies and tactics they have employed in an effort to counter those threats. The book sought to achieve those objectives in the following ways. First, it traced the origins of IS to the aftermath of the elimination of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime, through the prosecution of Operation Iraqi Freedom in spring 2003; then it explored the ways in which the group has evolved, ideologically, theologically and geopolitically-beginning in Iraq through 2010, then in Syria from 2011-13, and in both countries since late 2013. Further, it examined the economic, ideological, geopolitical, religious and strategic causes of the evolution of IS, with an emphasis on the 2013-15 period. Second, it examined the challenges and threats IS poses in the Greater Middle East and the responses to those threats from states and non-state actors within and outside of that region. And third, it examined the challenges and threats IS poses in the West, and utility of the responses to those threats from the United States and its allies.
