ISIS's Triple Threat: Fear, Extortion, and Brainwashing

Propaganda:

Photo taken from "Flames of War" propaganda video

Dramatic music, preaching, executions, and explosions. These are the hallmarks of almost every ISIS propaganda video. One of the most dramatic and shocking videos “Flames of War,” released by ISIS in September, exemplifies these pieces of imagery. There are slow motion explosions from attacks against US forces, images of wounded US troops, and US troops being surrounded by flames that engulf the screen. It’s an all too familiar production, with many similar videos having been made and circulated on the Internet. “Flames of War” looks almost like a movie trailer, especially with the final words across the screen: “coming soon.” It suggests a declaration of war against the United States in a very dramatic way. It can be seen that ISIS wants to send a message with these videos. Perhaps one of an overly romanticized vision of their jihad meant to spread fear and recruit young men who dream of being heroes. Whatever the goal behind these propaganda videos is, the quality of these videos is much better than could usually be expected from a rag-tag extremist group. In fact, when it comes to media propaganda, ISIS is ahead of the game. The high quality, drama, and allure of their videos can be attributed to the Al Ayat Media Center, which is a branch of ISIS dedicated to media propaganda. Just like a Hollywood movie production company, Al Ayat puts together videos to incite emotion in both the men they want to recruit, and the Western enemies they despise.

In seeking to inspire other radical Muslims around the world to join their cause, ISIS has taken to visual media. Surely, the West never thought that a medium that was created in a benign fashion would be used as a recruiting tool with the ultimate goal of countless deaths and an Islamic caliphate. Seeking to appeal to young men specifically, the videos have a strong sense of masculinity in them, almost making it seem as if once they join, they’ll be like the hero in a video game or movie. ISIS is even using Western or, more specifically, Hollywood presentation and style in their propaganda videos to help them recruit people to ultimately wage war on the West. The irony of their slick propaganda is that it promotes a sense of self-actualization and individual significance more in line with their sworn enemy’s philosophy than with an Islamic concept of ummah, or community. It never seemed likely at the outset of the War on Terror that a decade later, radicals would be using media in such a Western way to spread their message of fear and death. ISIS sees the power of video and the power of presentation and they are taking full advantage of both to help carry them towards their vision of how the Middle East should be governed.

A Western Audience:

Pro-ISIS propaganda spreading to the West

While ISIS’ recruiting strategies were initially confined to their immediate area, they have now widened their influence globally. Through savvy social media usage, they have successfully recruited thousands of Europeans and Americans to join their jihad. With the advent of heavy social media usage, ISIS has completely changed the landscape of western recruitment and the Jihadi presence on social media. Videos released by ISIS bear similarities to an entertainment show in the specific camera angles and dialogues. They also have created a media conglomerate in which they release documentaries, news reports, and a magazine called Dabiq. They primarily release all their information in a multitude of languages ranging from Arabic to English to French. This is done in order to reach a larger audience and consequently draw in a bigger group of recruits. Because of the amount of outreach done through technology and social media, ISIS has been successful in the recruitment of youths and recent converts from all over the world.

The implications of ISIS’s targeting of young Muslims in countries like the United Kingdom and the United States are alarming. No longer is the reach of radical Islamism restricted to the existing pool of fighters left over from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Soviet-Afghan war; now it extends to Muslims who grew up in secular states that have never been near a warzone, let alone held a weapon. Their savvy use of social media contrasts with the archaic methods of Al-Qaeda; Twitter and Tumblr have replaced fuzzy camcorder recordings of Osama Bin Laden’s monologues. ISIS realizes that sermons are not enough to attract the next generation of jihadis. Instead, ISIS has released a slick media package designed to legitimize ISIS as a state rather than an insurgent group by showing off it’s monopoly on violence within western Iraq and north-eastern Syria. This is a case of success breeding more success: ISIS presents itself as the only serious option for fighters looking to be on the winning side, making more moderate groups like Al-Nusra look weak in comparison. If allowed to spread their propaganda unchecked, ISIS will soon become the default destination for young, disaffected Muslim fighters regardless of how secular or Westernized their backgrounds are.

Kidnappings & Extortion:

Throughout this year, ISIS has shocked the world with its public executions and rampant kidnappings. The most infamous example this year was the video of the beheading of US journalist James Foley; though experts say it was most likely staged, its graphic intensity played up and an UK born english-speaking jihadist brought in to target the video specifically at Western states. Although there were multiple publicized executions, the case of James Foley was the first and arguably most visceral of them all considering its high shock value. 

Photo from James Foley execution

While it’s no mystery that various terrorist organizations participate in the hostage black market, ISIS appears to be functioning independently of the underground trading society. Many sources, including Peter Bouckaert of the Human Rights Watch, have observed that for the time being, “almost all of the foreign hostages held by IS were kidnapped directly by them”, indicating their autonomy from their counterparts. While it’s easy to be distracted by the sheer evil of ISIS’s tactics, it’s incredibly important to recognize that their self-reliance implies that a method exists to the madness. Although ISIS is independently kidnapping their hostages, they’re still actively participating in the black market. They sell nationals back to the highest bidder; in some cases, back to their own countries. For example, “ISIS itself released two Spanish journalists in 2013 in response to random demands being met, whilst a Scandinavian company reportedly paid $70,000 for the return of an employee”. ISIS makes a large portion of its funding from buying and selling hostages, which makes them even more dangerous to the world because they hold the negotiation power. If the ransom demands aren’t met, ISIS has already proven their ruthlessness and willingness to publicly execute high profile hostages, making it difficult for countries and companies to refuse their financial ransom proposal.

ISIS’ practice of ruthlessness towards Western captives, coupled with the resultant (and extraordinary) financial success they have garnered by collecting ransom from various nations, families, and middlemen, has helped ISIS develop financial power and international visibility. But, for these same reasons, ISIS’ treatment of Western captives has put the captives’ governments in politically, and ethnically, complex situations. Since 2008, it is estimated that al-Qaeda has garnered about $125 million in ransom money- the vast chunk being received by al Qaeda from European countries. The “European policy” on citizen captivity has proven to be easily-exploitable by Islamic extremist groups like al Qaeda/ISIS, but also reveals the weaknesses and exploitability of the “American policy” on citizen captivity and the unequivocal, unapologetic refusal to pay enemy ransom demands- even going to the extent of “...threat(ening) to prosecute family members who make separate attempts to secure the hostage's release.” While ISIS has been able to make huge fiscal gains off European captives, American captives represent a different type of gain for ISIS. Former American captive of al Qaeda David Rhode explains that American government’s refusal to pay enemy ransoms has not resulted in any decreased interest in American citizens abroad- but has rather been exploited in and of itself as a tool for recruitment and publicity. Rhode says that European-American captive policy inconsistencies and polarities have not resulted in ISIS targeting citizens of European countries more than citizens of American countries, but has rather resulted in extremist groups targeting “... any foreigners they can get and use the Europeans for ransom and the Americans for publicity.”

Works Cited:

Caulfield, P. (2014, August 25). James Foley's beheading may have been staged: Expert . Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/james-foley-killed-off-camera-expert-article-1.1915845

Godolphin, S. (2014, September 24). The Rationale of Kidnapping and Hostage Execution: What Drives ISIS Kidnappers? Retrieved from http://globalpoliticalinsight.com/2014/09/24/the-rationale-of-kidnapping-and-hostage-execution-what-drives-isis-kidnappers/

Knefel, J. (2014, October 6). How ISIS Gets Its Hostages. Retrieved from http://www.vocativ.com/usa/nat-sec/isis-hostages/

McCoy, T. (2014, June 17). How ISIS and other jihadists persuaded thousands of Westerners to fight their war of extremism. Retrieved November 24, 2014, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/06/17/how-isis-persuaded-thousands-of-westerners-to-fight-its-war-of-extremism/

News Corp Australia. (2014, October 9). How does ISIS get its hostages? Retrieved from http://www.news.com.au/world/how-does-isis-get-its-hostages/story-fndir2ev-1227085068569

Peter Bouckaert: Human Rights Watch. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.hrw.org/bios/peter-bouckaert

Rose, S. (2014, October 7). The Isis propaganda war: A hi-tech media jihad. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/07/isis-media-machine-propaganda-war

Schiavenza, M. (2014, November 16). ISIS Has Killed Another American Aid Worker. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/should-the-united-states-pay-ransoms-to-terrorists/382803/

Vinograd, C. (2014, September 17). ISIS Propaganda Video 'Flames of War' Shows Attacks on U.S. Troops - NBC News. Retrieved November 24, 2014, from http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/isis-propaganda-video-flames-war-shows-attacks-u-s-troops-n205096

Yan, H., Castillo, M., Shoichet, C., Koran, L., & Labott, E. (1970, January 1). Why is ISIS so successful at luring Westerners? Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/world/isis-western-draw/