INTELWIRE Weekly Brief 9/4/2015, ISIS Leader Profiled, and More

PODCASTS

Jihadology Podcast: Turkish Jihadism at Home and in Syria
North Caucasus Caucus comes on the show to talk about his recent research trip to Turkey. Hosted by Aaron Zelin.

Middle East Week: Child Soldiers of the Islamic State
John Horgan comes on the show to discuss his work studying the Islamic State's use of child soldiers. Hosted by Karl Morand.

ISIS WATCH

The believer: How an introvert became the leader of the Islamic State
This essay tells the story of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (a.k.a. ISIS), a group so brutal and hardline that even al-Qaida deemed them too extreme. Baghdadi, an introverted religious scholar with a passion for soccer, now controls large swaths of land in Iraq and Syria. By William McCants.

Domestic Counterterrorism: Material Support or Bust
A longstanding counterterrorism tension is how to balance a robust intelligence presence and tough legal measures against hardcore terrorists with the need to gain the support of local communities. In the struggle against the Islamic State, this tension seems particularly acute. By Seamus Hughes.

The ISIS Economy: Crushing Taxes and High Unemployment
How the Islamic State uses economic persecution as a recruitment tactic. By Joanna Paraszczuk.

What Happens to Former ISIS Fighters?
In the last few years, more than four thousand Europeans have abandoned their home countries for the jihadi battlefields of Syria and Iraq, and close to a thousand have quietly returned. By Ben Taub.

Radical preacher Anjem Choudary to stand trial on terror charges
He is set to stand trial next year for allegedly encouraging support for the so-called Islamic State group.

TERROR WATCH

Chechen Jihadists Leave Syria, Join the Fight in Ukraine
A battalion of fighters from the Caucasus is deployed on Kiev’s side in the Ukraine war. But their presence may do more harm than good.

Sovereign citizens consist of all colors and creeds
Olajuwon Ali Davis, an African-American soon to be sentenced in a criminal case, illustrates the changing face of the sovereign citizen movement.

Were foreigners involved in the Nord-Ost hostage crisis?
An Ahrar al-Sham commander claims his brother was involved in 2002 Moscow theatre attack.

‘My Jihad Is’ app fighting for youth
Developers of a project aimed at countering violent extremism and reclaiming the term “jihad” from destructive forces say the government needs to ensure national ­security spending supports community-led projects and not just law enforcement agencies.

Police arrest foreigner in Bangkok shrine bombing case
Thai police arrested a foreign suspect and seized bomb-making materials Saturday in the investigation of the bombing of a shrine in central Bangkok that killed 20 people, officials said.

Hoover chiropractor sentenced; filed $4.2 million in false IRS refunds
A chiropractor, whose lawyers say was "bamboozled" by the Patriot and Sovereign Citizen movements during a low point of his life, was sentenced Tuesday to serve five years on federal probation for trying to block an IRS investigation into his bogus tax refund claims of nearly $4.2 million.

Buy the new book ISIS: The State of Terror by Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger.

Buy J.M. Berger's seminal book on American jihadists, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam

Labels: Weekly-Brief

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