Black Flags : The Rise of ISIS - Joby Warrick

I came to know about this book through twitter. Recently i started reading all the news articles about ISIS and started spending more time in searching about the fight in Iraq and Syria. Obviously I knew something about ISIS and the war against it. But the details in this book is something I never thought of .

First good thing about this book is the way the author structure the events leads to the formation of ISIS and later its conquest of land territories, like a thriller, an absolute page turner.  The " List of Principal Characters" at the beginning of the books makes it easier for the reader to relate the characters each other as one proceeds reading further. And I think list like this is very important for the books dealing with groups like ISIS.

He had a hero complex and guilt complex.He wanted to be a hero and saw himself as a hero, even when he was a thug. But it was the guilt that made him so extreme.

 First part of the book explains how Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , a Jordanian street thug became chief of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Until Collin Powell's historic speech at the UN , not many in western world know about Zarqawi, US inadvertently made him famous. Zarqawi used the fame to the fullest by murdering an American, who wanted to start radio tower business , Nick Berg. That video changed everything in Arab world and announced that he was there to built a caliphate. The video was so telling - orange jump suit, the Arabic calligraphy on the black flag everything gave some messages to people who watching it.

“In deciding to use the unsung Zarqawi as an excuse for launching a new front in the war against terrorism, the White House had managed to launch the career of one of the century’s great terrorists.”

Though Zarqawi was warned by the Al-Qaeda chiefs, he continued his own way of slaughtering the innocents. He wrote a letter informing the leaders of his obedience. Al-Qaeda gave him the training ground to prepare the jihadits where he developed his own way of running things. He was arrested and put in al-Jafr prison, where he met   Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, a radical preacher. The relationship with the preacher was vital to his belief.

Zarqawi cleverly used American invasion to stoke sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites and organized various bombing including bombing of UN building . But his suicide bombings in Jordon triggered international outrage, specially it made Jordan to act with immediate effect which ultimately leads to his death and immediate demise of the organization.

He was talking about physically restoring the Islamic caliphate in a way that nobody else did.

The rest of the book deals with how the organization was revived by very clear strategy by the current ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He made sure that the legacy of Zarqawi will live for ever through his actions and by announcing the formation of Caliphate.Another important player in this book is King Abdullah -II of Jordon. It seems like he was the only one who foresaw the resurrection of ISIS. Its very interesting to know the creation of Jordon and their constant vigilance against their neighbours . The story of King Abdullah-II and how he became a king in a dramatic manner was very interesting.

The author highlights serious of mistakes by  Bush and Obama administrations. Very unfortunate that such senior politicians like Dick Cheney who forced CIA to find non-existing weapon of mass destruction and Saddam's link with Al-Qaeda. In reality Saddam hated Al-Qaeda. All 'so called' findings by Office of the Special Plans(OSP) were fabricated to justify the invasion of Iraq.  The refusal to accept the insurgency in Iraq by the American politician even after the intelligence reports keep confirming it was another big mistake, by the time they realized it was too late.Another 'fatal' mistake was placing all those most wanted criminals grouped together in a prison, seems like Zaraqawi and others enjoyed their stay there and formed a long lasting friendship and made him as a leader.

The author weaves stories around each key events and key players,which makes a compelling read. The book is well researched.The author did not blame anyone , he just gives facts and circumstances related to each events and maintained the neutrality throughout the book. This book gives the perspectives of players on the frontline, CIA and political leaders. A simple lesson from this book if intelligence is compromised by the politician then disaster will follow.

If you want to start read about ISIS I think this is the best book . A must read book.