"ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror" follows ISIS throughout the years of its existence, with the scope of defining not only its origins but also the dynamics that transformed it from a minor jihadist group to a powerful worldwide menace. Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan track ISIS since its very beginning as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) up until the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, using the method of original interviews with US military intelligence and officers and western diplomats, as well as with ISIS fighters or people who got in touch with key people of the group. Their goal is to offer the readers the chance to form their own judgment about the growth of ISIS, by presenting the facts objectively and staying to the point.

"Al Qaeda is a political movement with a demonstrated military ability which has sought to bypass the state while co-opting its attributes and channeling its resources. It has, after concluding that the Arab state system is dying and incapable of defending the people's interests, claimed the right to defend Arab States against their external enemies and most of all the USA. Forging itself as a vanguard, it has separated two tactical fights: the domestic war against failed states, and the international war against the "far enemy".

"Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame". Akbar Ahmed, a Muslim Islamic scholar teaching in the American University, quotes the words of Benjamin Franklin in a thoughtful narration aimed to describe how the U.S. foreign policy and the War on Terror has led the West and Islam to the brink of collision.

Under different circumstances Abu Musíab al-Suri could have been an established academic as he is characterized by strict methodological adherence, intellectual arrogance, inclination to self-citation, strained relations with colleagues and thirst for recognition. Nevertheless, the current international situation renders his candidacy for a university chair out of question. Hence, he rightfully occupies a position in the unofficial intelligencia of militant jihadi Islamism and he holds the undisputed chairmanship in the ëdepartment of strategics. However, more than that and besides his intellectualism, he is an ëadeptí heir of the tradition of field guerrilla warfare theoreticians. If unconventional warfare is doomed to irrelevance in the face of superior technology, organization and intelligence of the modern armies, Suri appears to give it a new breath.

Osama is dead. Seemingly, there couldn’t be a worst time for alQaeda. The death of a leader in the midst of confusing and challenging developments is never good news for a militant “vanguard” organization like Al Qaeda, who together with the Salafi-jihadi current in general, found themselves up against the wall by the untimely winds of the Arab Spring. Nevertheless, by one of those twists of history, the death of Osama may turn into a very timely development for the survival of “Jihad