“The Rise of ISIS,” photo provided by Frontline.
Iraqi anti-government gunmen from Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province march during a protest in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on April 26, 2013. The United Nations warned that Iraq is at a “crossroads” and appealed for restraint, as a bloody four-day wave of violence killed 195 people. The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that broke out in Sunni areas of the Shiite-majority country more than four months ago, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict. AFP PHOTO/AZHAR SHALLAL/AFP/Getty Images)
This is footage we’re not seeing on the network TV evening newscasts: evidence of Nazi-like atrocities committed in the name of religion, clips from networks around the globe charting the growing threat, in-depth interviews with Iraqi politicians, American policymakers and military experts pinpointing what missteps allowed al-Qaeda to metastasize into ISIS.
PBS “Frontline” this week explores how ISIS rose to power in a typically thorough report, airing Oct. 28 at 9 p.m. on RMPBS.
While all the networks have devoted some time to the ongoing jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), “Frontline” stands apart in putting the story together with a longer view. Veteran producer , who has documented the conflict in four other films since 2003, continues his exploration.
The point is, an interview subject tells Smith, ISIS has grown into “the al-Qaeda that Osama bin Laden only dreamed of building.”
This is a terrorist group, the hour notes, that has no interest in being a political party as we define it. They simply want to kill everyone who disagrees with them, according to counterterrorism expert Ali Soufan.
With as three teen girls from Arapahoe County apparently went to Syria intending to join the Islamic State, this report has local reverberations.
