By Taylor Popielarz
In an exclusive interview with Q30’s Taylor Popielarz, Quinnipiac political science professor Fodei Batty explained what the Islamic militant group known as ISIS is.
“ISIS is this majority Sunni fundamentalist group,” Batty said.
According to Batty, some reports say the group has been around since the late 1990s, but there has been a recent surge in the group’s authority.
“Over the summer, they [ISIS] were able to rapidly take over territory in Iraq,” Batty said. “And this coincided with less than a year after American withdrawal from Iraq, so this raised a lot of concern.”
Batty went on to explain that ISIS, which stands for “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria,” is a group that wants to ultimately establish a caliphate. “A caliphate is a middle century Islamic kingdom under the sole authority of one ruler,” he said.
When asked if he saw the mission of ISIS in any way justifiable, Batty said not at all. He said there is no way to justify the killing of innocent people, especially when the reason is religious differences.
According to Batty, ISIS has received a lot of its funding by taking over banks, taxing the people now under the group’s control, and by dealing in oil.
Batty also touched upon America’s involvement in the fight against ISIS: “The U.S. is at the head of a major coalition that President Obama put together,” Batty said. “He was able to make a case, and convince, NATO and other allies that ISIS is a threat to world order.”
When asked why Quinnipiac students should be informed about ISIS, Batty said that we live in a global community. “If you go out as a Quinnipiac graduate, you are expected to know,” Batty said. “You can’t scratch your head and be oblivious to recent trends that everyone is talking about.”
Batty also touched upon what makes ISIS different from other terrorist organizations: “Someone best described them as Al Qaeda on steroids.”
In his closing words, Batty suggested that students looking to further inform themselves about the Middle East read two pieces of literature. The first is the book, “The Middle East,” by Bernard Lewis. The second is a special edition of the magazine The Economist entitled, “The tragedy of the Arabs.”
