How can Islamic State's savagery be explained?

Since the sudden appearance of the extremist Sunni Islamic State (IS), the group has seized headlines with a shocking level of blood-letting and cruelty - but can its savagery be explained, asks Fawaz A Gerges.

Islamic State has become synonymous with viciousness - beheadings, crucifixions, stonings, massacres, burying victims alive and religious and ethnic cleansing.
While such savagery might seem senseless to the vast majority of civilised human beings, for IS it is a rational choice. It is a conscious decision to terrorise enemies and impress and co-opt new recruits.
IS adheres to a doctrine of total war without limits and constraints - no such thing, for instance, as arbitration or compromise when it comes to settling disputes with even Sunni Islamist rivals. Unlike its parent organisation, al-Qaeda, IS pays no lip service to theology to justify its crimes.
The violence has its roots in what can be identified as two earlier waves, though the scale and intensity of IS' brutality far exceeds either.
The first wave, led by disciples of Sayyid Qutb - a radical Egyptian Islamist regarded as the master theoretician of modern jihadism - targeted pro-Western secular Arab regimes or what they called the "near enemy", and, on balance, showed restraint in the use of political violence .
Beginning with the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1980, this Islamist insurgency dissipated by the end of the 1990s. It had cost some 2,000 lives and saw a large number of militants head to Afghanistan to battle a new global enemy - the Soviet Union.
'Killing machine' The Afghan jihad against the Soviets gave birth to a second wave, with a specific target - the "far enemy", or the United States and, to a lesser extent, Europe.
It was spearheaded by a wealthy Saudi turned revolutionary, Osama Bin Laden.
Bin Laden went to great lengths to rationalise al-Qaeda's attack on the US on 11 September 2001, calling it "defensive jihad", or retaliation against perceived US domination of Muslim societies.

Hundreds of jihadists are reported to have swelled IS' ranks in recent weeks

Conscious of the importance of winning hearts and minds, Bin Laden sold his message to Muslims and even Americans as self-defence, not aggression.
This kind of justification, however, carries no weight with IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who cannot care less what the world thinks of his blood-letting.
In fact, he and his cohorts revel in displaying barbarity and coming across as savage.
In contrast to the first two waves, IS actually stresses violent action over theology and theory, and has produced no repertoire of ideas to sustain and nourish its social base. It is a killing machine powered by blood and iron.
Going beyond Bin Laden's doctrine that "when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse", al-Baghdadi's "victory through terrorism" signals to friends and foes that IS is a winning horse. Get out of the way or you will be crushed; join our caravan and make history.
Increasing evidence shows that over the past few months, hundreds, if not thousands, of diehard former Islamist enemies of IS, such as the al-Nusra Front and the Islamic Front, answered al-Baghdadi's call.
'Shock-and-awe' IS' sophisticated outreach campaign appeals to disaffected and deluded young Sunnis worldwide because it is seen as a powerful vanguard that delivers victory and salvation.
Far from abhorring the group's brutality, young recruits are attracted by its shock-and-awe tactics against the enemies of Islam.

Islamic State was rebuked by al-Qaeda for its wanton use of violence

Its exploits on the battlefield - especially capturing huge swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, and establishing a caliphate - resonate near and far. Nothing succeeds like success, and IS' recent military gains have brought it a recruitment bonanza.
Muslim men living in Western countries join IS and other extremist groups because they feel part of a greater mission - to resurrect a lost idealised type of caliphate and be part of a tight-knit community with a potent identity.
Initially, many young men from London, Berlin and Paris and elsewhere migrate to the lands of jihad to defend persecuted co-religionists, but they end up in the clutches of IS, doing its evil deeds, such as beheading innocent civilians.
The drivers behind IS' unrestrained extremism can be traced to its origins with al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by the Americans in 2006.
Not unlike its predecessor, IS is nourished on an anti-Shia diet and visceral hatred of minorities in general, portraying itself as the spearhead of Sunni Arabs in the fight against sectarian-based regimes in Baghdad and Damascus.
Al-Zarqawi and al-Baghdadi view Shias as infidels, a fifth column in the heart of Islam that must be wiped out - a genocidal worldview.
Following in the footsteps of al-Zarqawi, al-Baghdadi ignored repeated pleas by his mentor Ayman al-Zawahiri, head of al-Qaeda, and other top militants to avoid indiscriminate killing of Shia and, instead, to attack the Shia-dominated and Alawite regimes in Iraq and Syria.
Sights on US? By exploiting the deepening Sunni-Shia rift in Iraq and the sectarian civil war in Syria, al-Baghdadi has built a powerful base of support among rebellious Sunnis and has blended his group into local communities.
He also restructured his military network and co-opted experienced officers of Saddam Hussein's disbanded army who turned IS into a professional sectarian fighting force.

IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has threatened to kill US troops if they come to Iraq

IS has so far consistently focused on the Shia and not the "far enemy". The struggle against the US and Europe is distant, not a priority; it has to await liberation at home.
At the height of Israeli bombings of Gaza in August, militants on social media criticised IS for killing Muslims while doing nothing to help the Palestinians.
IS retorted by saying the struggle against the Shia takes priority over everything else.
Now that the US and Europe have joined the conflict against IS, the group will use all its assets in retaliation, including further beheading of hostages. There is also a growing likelihood that it will attack soft diplomatic targets in the Middle East.
While it might want to stage a spectacular operation on the American or European homeland, it is doubtful that IS currently has the capabilities to carry out complex attacks like 9/11.
A few months ago, in response to chatter by his followers, al-Baghdadi acknowledged that his organisation was not equipped to attack the Americans at home.
He said though that he wished the US would deploy boots on the ground so that IS could directly engage the Americans - and kill them.
Fawaz A Gerges holds the Emirates Chair in Contemporary Middle Eastern Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is author of several books, including Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy.

Norway to 'export' inmates to Dutch jails to cut queues

Skien maximum security prison's best known inmate is Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik

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Norway plans to export its prisoners to jails in the Netherlands to ease overcrowding and carry out urgent maintenance work, the government says.

It will rent up to 300 prison places from the Dutch, who already lease some of their extra capacity to Belgium.
Under the agreement, prisoners will be guarded by Dutch wardens, but the director will be Norwegian.
Norway has a current jail capacity shortage despite relatively low incarceration rates.
The nation is known for treating its inmates relatively humanely. Its non-violent offenders, for instance, are often held in open prisons with the freedom to move, work, enjoy recreational facilities and focus on rehabilitation.
However, according to a government analysis in 2013, there is now a backlog of renovation works needed that will cost an estimated NOK 4.4bn (£435m) and will involve temporarily shutting some jails or prison branches.
In addition, the growing queue of convicts needing prison spaces, which currently stands at 1300, is adding pressure to the demand on detention space.

Norway's prison deal

• Norway has 1300 convicts waiting for prison places
• The Dutch prison population has been falling steadily since 2008
• Norwegian prisoners will serve their sentences on Dutch territory under Norwegian law from 2015
• No prisoner presenting a security risk will be sent to the Netherlands
• No Norwegian prisoner will be discharged from Dutch soil
• At 20%, Norway's re-offending rate is one of the lowest in the world

"The situation is urgent, and we must consider short-term measures. Leasing prison capacity abroad may contribute to alleviating the situation. That is why we have started talks with the Netherlands," Norwegian Justice Minister Anders Anundsen said.
However, to begin the cooperation, the two countries must first conclude a treaty. There are a number of details to resolve, including how often detainees may be visited by family and friends living back in Norway.
The Netherlands has already been housing overflow prisoners from Belgium at a prison in Tilburg in the south, near the Belgian border, under a deal the two countries signed in 2009.
Last year, Norway explored the idea of leasing prison capacity from neighbouring Sweden, but the plan was dropped over Swedish reservations at having to adjust its legislation.
Norway, whose population is around 5 million, has an incarceration rate of 72 in every 100,000 people, about a tenth of the level in the United States.

Hundreds of US children treated for respiratory virus

The severity of this outbreak of enterovirus is unusual

Hundreds of children across the US have been treated for a rare respiratory virus and more cases are expected in the next few weeks, doctors have said.

The enterovirus, EV-D68, is believed to be the cause of the outbreak and can cause severe respiratory illness.
Twelve states in the US Midwest have reported cases over the past month, with dozens of children admitted into intensive care.
Frequent hand washing and good hygiene help protect against the virus.
Enteroviruses are common and usually do not require hospital care. The symptoms typically manifest as an intense summer cold, with the number of infections declining in September.
But EV-D68, which was first recorded in California in 1962, is less common in the US and can cause mild or severe respiratory illness.
Over the past month, doctors in a number of states have reported an unusually high number of cases where symptoms have developed into acute respiratory distress and where the patient has needed hospitalisation, and in some cases, intensive care.

Children have been advised to wash their hands

In a cluster of cases in Kansas City, 19 out of 22 children tested positive for EV-D68. In a similar cluster in Chicago, 11 out of 14 cases tested positive for the virus.
"We believe the unusual increases in Kansas City and Chicago might be occurring in other places in weeks ahead," said Anne Schuchat from the US National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
"We don't know as much as we would like to know, but we believe the virus is spread through respiratory secretions," she said.
Infants, children and teenagers are most at risk from the virus, said Dr Schuchat.
More than half of the children hospitalised in the outbreak already had a history of asthma or other breathing difficulties.
No fatalities have been reported.
Dr Schuchat said 12 states had contacted the Centers for Disease Control for help in investigating clusters of the virus.
These include Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Kentucky.
Dr Schuchat urged parents who had children who were having difficulty breathing to contact a doctor.
She also urged medics to consider laboratory testing if the cause of a respiratory illness was not clear.
Frequent hand washing and good hygiene is believed to reduce the risk of infection, she said.
She also advised parents who had children with asthma to make sure they take their medicine regularly.

MH17 crash: Dutch experts say numerous objects hit plane

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The BBC's Anna Holligan reports takes a close-up look at one of the first copies of the report

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MH17 crash

• What we know
• Report key findings
• Faces of MH17
• Russians 'operated BUK'

Dutch experts say Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 broke up in mid-air after being hit by "objects" that "pierced the plane at high velocity" in July.

The new report also said there was "no evidence of technical or human error".
Correspondents say this matches claims that MH17 was hit by missile shrapnel.
Investigators relied on cockpit data, air traffic control and images, as the crash site in eastern Ukraine remains too dangerous to access amid fighting between government troops and rebels.
The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed in rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine.
All 298 people on board, most of them from the Netherlands, died when the plane came down, amid reports it was shot down by pro-Russian rebels.
Tjibbe Joustra, chairman of the Dutch Safety Board, which is conducting the investigation, said a final report would take around a year to publish.
"We're trying to make the report for the next-of-kin - very important - but also for history," Mr Joustra said.

The crash site was in rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, making the investigation even more difficult

Analysis: Richard Westcott, Transport correspondent This report doesn't say flight MH17 was knocked from the sky by a missile. But it pretty much rules out anything else.
There were no emergencies on board, no mechanical problems, the pilots didn't make any mistakes.
Instead, it talks about the plane being punctured by "high-velocity objects", which is consistent with how the BUK missile system works (that's the system many suspect was responsible). They don't actually hit the target, they explode nearby and pepper it with shrapnel for maximum damage.
But all of this doesn't answer the critical question. Who fired the missile?
Both sides in this conflict use the same weapon. To find out who made this terrible mistake, they need to determine where on the ground the missile was actually launched from. And one expert told me that they should eventually be able to work that out with a combination of radar data and evidence from the scene.
There is one very sobering fact also highlighted in this report. Three other, very large commercial airliners flew over the same area at around the same time.
First findings of MH17 crash report
Russians 'operated BUK' in MH17 area

Investigators say the cockpit voice recorder "gave no indication that there was anything abnormal" on board

The Dutch team analysed photographs of the wreckage that showed a number of pieces with multiple holes

They said the plane "broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-velocity objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside."
The cockpit voice recorder revealed no signs of any technical faults or an emergency situation, the experts said.
The investigators have not visited the crash site because of fighting in the area but they said photographic evidence of the wreckage suggests the plane split into pieces during "an in-flight break up".
Maintenance history showed the aircraft was airworthy and had no known technical problems when it took off from Amsterdam, the report added.
Experts said it was manned by "a qualified and experienced crew" and that engines were running normally at 293 knots at 33,000ft (cruise altitude).
Radio communications between the pilot and Ukrainian air traffic control confirm that no emergency call was made.

Final transmissions from MH17 At 13:08:00 MH17 contacts Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk International Airport (DNP):
MH17 to DNP: Dnipro Radar, Malaysian one seven, flight level 330
DNP to MH17: Malaysian one seven, Dnipro Radar, good day, radar contact
Flight MH17's last transmission was at 13:19:56 when it responded to a navigation request from DNP:
DNP to MH17: Malaysian one seven, due traffic proceed direct to point Romeo November Delta
MH17 to DNP: Romeo November Delta, Malaysian one seven
At 13:20:00, DNP sends MH17 another radar message but there is no response:
DNP to MH17: Malaysian one seven, how do you read me? Malaysian one seven, Dnipro Radar
DNP makes two more requests for contact from MH17 before Russia's Rostov airport (RST) calls in at 13:22:05.
RST to DNP: Listening [to] you, its Rostov
DNP to RST: Rostov, do you observe the Malaysian by... by the response?
RST to DNP: No, it seems that its target started falling apart.

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Dutch Safety Board Chairman, Tjibbe Joustra, says experts will now try to reconstruct how MH17 came down

Criminal investigation While it is not the final report into the crash, the findings are significant because they are the first official account of what happened, says the BBC's Anna Holligan in the Netherlands.
The report does not attribute blame or liability for the crash but a separate criminal investigation is being conducted by prosecutors in The Hague, she adds.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak welcomed the report, saying it "leads to the strong suspicion that a surface-to-air missile brought MH17 down".
Meanwhile, the rebel leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, insisted the separatists did not have the capability to shoot down the plane.
"I can say one thing only: we simply do not have the kind of hardware that could have downed a commercial Boeing, including that Malaysian plane," he told the Russian Interfax news agency.
Ukraine's government and several Western leaders say there is strong evidence that pro-Russian separatists shot down the plane with an anti-aircraft system known as Buk.
Russia has consistently denied allegations that it had supplied any missiles or weapons to the rebels.

The Russian government denies delivering arms to the separatists

The search for evidence has been hampered by heavy fighting in the region, and Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai called on both sides to grant investigators full access.
"The crash site is a criminal investigation area and it is imperative that we protect the integrity of the crash site and allow the investigation to proceed," he said.
More than 2,600 people have been killed and thousands more wounded since violence between rebels and Ukrainian government forces erupted in April.

Key findings of report

• Likely that damage resulted in loss of structural integrity of aircraft, leading to break-up in the air
• Forward parts of plane found near Petropavlivka closest to last flight data broadcast
• Cockpit window contained numerous small puncture holes suggesting small objects entered from above level of cockpit floor
• Damage to forward section indicates plane penetrated by large number of high-velocity objects from outside
• No evidence found of manipulation of flight and data recorders
• No indication of technical or operational issues with plane or crew

Deadly clashes in east Ukraine ahead of Crimea vote

Kharkiv has seen violent clashes between rival groups in recent days

Two people have been killed in clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian activists in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv, officials say.

Five people were injured overnight, as gunshots were fired. Rival groups blamed each other for the violence.
Earlier, Russia and the US failed to agree on how to resolve the crisis in Ukraine's Crimea region, ahead of a secession referendum there.
Russia vowed to respect Sunday's vote - but the US said it was illegitimate.
Moscow has been tightening its military grip on Crimea - the southern autonomous republic in Ukraine - where voters are to decide on whether to re-join Russia or stay with Kiev.
In other developments:

• the UN Security Council is to vote on Saturday on a US-drafted resolution that defines Crimea's referendum as illegal
• US Vice-President Joe Biden will travel to Poland and Lithuania early next week to discuss ways to support Ukraine's sovereignty, as well as Nato members' reciprocal defence commitments
• The Pentagon says it will keep its aircraft carrier battle group in the Mediterranean Sea for several days longer than planned because of the Ukraine crisis
• Russia has moved a column of army trucks and a number of artillery pieces into northern Crimea, eyewitnesses say
• Ukrainian border guards begin checks on trains coming from Crimea into the rest of Ukraine

'Provocation' The violence reportedly began on Kharkiv's Svoboda Square on Friday evening and later moved to an office of a pro-Ukrainian group in the city.

John Kerry: "There will be consequences if Russia does not find a way to change course"

Eyewitnesses said that pro-Russian activists tried to storm the rival protesters, who had barricaded themselves in.
The witnesses said that shots had been fired and Molotov cocktails thrown in.
Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes was later quoted by Ukrainian media as saying that two people people were killed and five injured.
Meanwhile, Kharkiv Governor Ihor Baluta called the incident "a provocation".
Both rival groups blame each other for starting the clashes. A criminal investigation is now under way.
This follows Thursday night's violence in Donetsk, also in the east, where at least one person died in fighting between a pro-Russian crowd and supporters of the new government in Kiev.
Ukraine accuses Russia of using provocateurs to stoke unrest on the eastern border. Moscow denies this, vowing to protect its "compatriots" from far-right radicals.
'Consequences' Earlier on Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov failed to reach agreement on how to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: "We will respect the will of [the] people of Crimea"

After six hours of talks in London, Mr Lavrov said both sides had "no common vision" on the issue.
However, he described the meeting as "constructive".
And Mr Lavrov stressed that Moscow would "respect the will of the people of Crimea".
Meanwhile, Mr Kerry, who described the talks as "direct and candid", said the US acknowledged Russia's "legitimate interests" in Ukraine.
But he stressed that Washington had not changed its position on the "illegitimate" referendum in Crimea and would not recognise its outcome.
He also said that his Russian counterpart had made it clear that President Vladimir Putin was not prepared to make any decision until after the vote.
And Mr Kerry added that he had told Mr Lavrov that there would be consequences if Russia "does not find a way to change course".
Both the US and EU have threatened tough sanctions against Moscow.
Russia's military intervention in the Crimean peninsula - part of Russia until 1954 and host to its Black Sea fleet - followed the fall of Ukraine's pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych on 22 February.

Missing Malaysia Airlines flight systems disabled, PM says

Malaysia's Prime Minister: "These movements are consistent with the deliberate action of someone on the plane"

The communications systems of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 were deliberately disabled, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak has said.

According to satellite and radar evidence, he said, the plane then changed course and could have continued flying for a further seven hours.
He said the "movements are consistent with the deliberate action of someone on the plane".
The plane disappeared a week ago with 239 people on board.
The Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight last made contact with air traffic control over the South China Sea to the east of Malaysia, about one hour after take-off.
Mr Razak told a news conference that new satellite evidence shows "with a high degree of certainty" that the aircraft's communications systems were disabled and then it changed course, flying back over Malaysia towards India.
Satellite signals continued to be picked up from the plane some seven hours after it lost radar contact.
Mr Razak said the authorities were now trying to trace the plane across two possible corridors

• from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan through to northern Thailand
• south from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

The investigation, he said, had "entered a new phase", and the search of the South China Sea had been discontinued.
Addressing reports that the plane had been hijacked, he said only "we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370 to deviate".

A letter from Guantanamo: 'Nobody can truly understand how we suffer'

Dozens of Guantanamo prisoners who have not been tried still await release [EPA]

March 10, 2014 - I write this letter, as I wrote my last, between bouts of violent vomiting and sharp pains in my stomach caused by this morning's force-feeding session. Reading news articles, you would think that we have stopped striking. Perhaps you might think that our protests had even been sated by government concessions. We may be trapped behind the walls of Guantanamo, but we will not be silenced.
I write this letter to tell you that we are still striking. We will not stop until we get our dignity back in this place and are allowed to return home to our families.
With President Barack Obama's blessing, Colonel Bogdan, the warden at Guantanamo, has instituted humiliating groin searches, especially when we are taken for phone calls with our lawyers or families. He has withheld our medical treatment and confiscated our legal papers and Qurans.
The Colonel has been quoted as saying that he knows how to discipline us because he has children at home. We are not his children and this is certainly not our home. We are grown men with families who no longer know what we look like.
Here, a peaceful hunger strike automatically places the prisoner on "disciplinary status", which involves being subjected to various forms of punishment. To discourage striking, the prisoner is moved from communal living to solitary confinement and is force-fed.
Because I decided to peacefully protest my imprisonment here, the special mattress and medical pillows prescribed for my chronic back pain, all of my underwear, my electric razor, and even my bar of soap and toothbrush have been confiscated.

Fault Lines - Life after Guantanamo

I, too, am strapped down and force-fed for over an hour every single day. During the session, I am constantly vomiting the feeding solution into my lap. As I am carried back to my cell, I cannot help but vomit on the guards carrying me.
They put a Plexiglas face mask on my head to protect their clothes from my vomit. They tighten the facemask and press down on it, pushing it into my face. I almost suffocate because I am vomiting inside the facemask and am unable to breathe.
As I struggle for air, the guards make fun of me, laughing loudly. Frequently, they lie me down on my stomach in my cell and press my back forcefully, squeezing out any remaining feeding solution from the previous force-feeding session. The lightest of the guards weighs at least 190 lbs, while I weigh only 98 lbs; it is a wonder they do not break me entirely.
Aside from those imprisoned with me, nobody can truly understand how we suffer. The Colonel will not allow media into Guantanamo Bay, claiming he is protecting our privacy. No man here wants privacy from the media. The Colonel fears that if the media comes in and meets with the prisoners, all of this daily brutality will be exposed. Hopefully this letter serves that end.
There are currently 21 prisoners on hunger strike. I am one of the 16 who are being force-fed. The government does not want the American people to know that we are still striking. They try to discourage us with solitary confinement and brutal treatment but we will not abandon our protest.
We will not be silent. They cannot hide us by refusing to report the number of protesters to the public. Refusing sustenance is the only peaceful voice of protest that we have; it is the only way to demand the attention of the US government and the American people to whom it is beholden.
Colonel Bogdan has explained our treatment by saying we are at war. But it has been 12 years and this is not a war. We are unarmed captives. I ask the American people, where is the freedom the US touts? Do you condone what your government is doing to us? I know that governments do not always represent the voices of their people, and I pray that the American people do not want this, and more, that they will do something to stop it.
Moath al-Alwi is a Yemeni national who has been in US custody since 2002. He was one of the very first prisoners moved to Guantanamo, where the US military assigned him Internment Serial Number 028.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.