Tobin Harshaw, Columnist

Islamic State's Dark Beginnings

New books explain how the terrorist group escaped death, and rose to mete it out.

December 29, 2015 at 1:00 PM UTC

Tobin Harshaw is a Bloomberg Opinion senior editor and columnist on national security and military affairs. Previously, he was deputy editor at the op-ed page of the New York Times and the newspaper’s letters editor.

Does having a flag make you a state?
Source: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Two years ago, President Barack Obama dismissed Islamic State as al-Qaeda's "J.V. team." Today, it controls roughly a third of Mesopotamia and wreaks murderous havoc as far away as Western Europe. The story of that brutal blossoming has been well documented in real time across front pages and websites, and most Westerners have some familiarity on what the Islamic extremists want (a global Muslim caliphate) and how they intend to get it (death, death and more death).

But another part of the Islamic State narrative has been shrouded in mystery. How did a violent movement that was all but extinguished in the late 2000s become the terrorist juggernaut it is today? That's not just an academic question: Just because "know your enemy" is a cliché of warfare, that doesn’t make it any less true.