Al Qaeda declares war on ISIS - Polidicks

it's actually pretty funny that daesh are such extremists that even extremists think they go to far

[QUOTE=J!NX;48664651]it's actually pretty funny that daesh are such extremists that even extremists think they go to far[/QUOTE] Uh no, that's not it. The reason why they're doing it is because ISIS basically called them illegitimate and told everyone to pledge loyalty to their 'caliphite'. Make no mistake, if Al Qaeda actually had the support and numbers like ISIS they'd have no problem doing the same fucked up shit.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48664628]What "terrain"? Also, what the hell is Al Qaeda going to fight all of the Islamic State with? They've barely gotten any membership left, most have already gone to join IS already or have been killed, captured, or given up due to the intense US conflict with them.[/QUOTE] Even flat terrain is terrain. Hell, the main reason they didn't close down our local air force base is because the area terrain is very similar to what you'd find in the Middle East, so it's used for training Predator pilots, AC-130 crews, etc.

Never thought id say this but. Go Al Qaeda! :v:

Let terrorist organizations destroy eachother

[QUOTE=Ducksink;48666964]Let terrorist organizations destroy eachother[/QUOTE] Al Qaeda really has no resources to deal with defeating the Islamic State in any way, whether it be propaganda or literal battles on the ground.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48666988]Al Qaeda really has no resources to deal with defeating the Islamic State in any way, whether it be propaganda or literal battles on the ground.[/QUOTE]Yeah, but it isn't one blanket organization, it's a collection of affiliates and other groups that have pledged support or were absorbed. Al Qaeda is quite capable of going to war on all the little affiliate groups that have ties or links to ISIS, some of which provide critical support to the organization. (financial, etc) Terrorists operate like any other criminal, just a network of a guy knows a guy, go after the guys who know other guys and that support network crumbles. It's hard finding supporters or people who are willing to do business after that because of how dangerous it is to associate, nobody wants an al Qaeda hit squad kicking down their door because they did business with ISIS. [editline]12th September 2015[/editline] Essentially if al Qaeda went to war with ISIS like a South American drug cartel, the larger organization would start to feel pressure real quick.

IS is able to fund itself. They are able to make over a million a day for quite some time now. On top of that, majority of the affiliates are teetering on joining IS anyway from Al Qaeda. They really don't have much left.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48670644]IS is able to fund itself. They are able to make over a million a day for quite some time now.[/QUOTE]They don't just conjure money out of thin air, I'm not sure what you're imagining but most of their income is generated through pretty mundane criminal enterprises. Financially they're largely just a massive terrorist group that relies on a combination of ransoms, smuggling, financial donations, and a bunch of smaller endeavors. There isn't any definitive way to deduce how much money they make from what exactly, but I can guarantee you they're not getting it from taxes. [editline]12th September 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48670644]On top of that, majority of the affiliates are teetering on joining IS anyway from Al Qaeda. They really don't have much left.[/QUOTE]That's really hit or miss, I don't think there's really any groups left that haven't made up their minds. Also ISIS doesn't enjoy the support of non-Islamic groups that AQ does, and even if they did they wouldn't accept the help anyway.

[QUOTE=JumpinJackFlash;48671384]They don't just conjure money out of thin air, I'm not sure what you're imagining but most of their income is generated through pretty mundane criminal enterprises. Financially they're largely just a massive terrorist group that relies on a combination of ransoms, smuggling, financial donations, and a bunch of smaller endeavors. There isn't any definitive way to deduce how much money they make from what exactly, but I can guarantee you they're not getting it from taxes.[/quote] The point is, Al Qaeda cannot "hit IS financially" because IS is financially holding itself together without large aid from foreign institutes or supporters, let alone ones that Al Qaeda just maybe can control or force away from them. [QUOTE=JumpinJackFlash;48671384] That's really hit or miss, I don't think there's really any groups left that haven't made up their minds. Also ISIS doesn't enjoy the support of non-Islamic groups that AQ does, and even if they did they wouldn't accept the help anyway.[/QUOTE] Groups can change minds on a dime, it doesn't matter if they're fully support of Al Qaeda now, in a month they may change. It's partly due to the matter of how they declare allegiance. I can't find the article on it, but what a lot of these junior terror groups do isn't pledging allegiance to the organizations of Al Qaeda or Islamic State. They pledge their personal loyalty to the [I]leaders[/I] of those organizations in a specific religious oath - which is binding until death. The reason a lot jumped ship a couple years ago to Islamic State was because with Bin Laden dead, their oaths were released from Al Qaeda and they would have to pledge allegiance to Zawiri. The other issue with these pledges is that loyalty to the Caliph comes before the oath to whomever else. So it comes down to a matter of legitimacy. If a Zawiri supporter is persuaded after a while that Islamic State is the real, legitimate Caliphate, then he'll release himself from the service of AQ and join IS. It doesn't help that AQ is all talk and no action while IS is posting "bad ass" videos of their soldiers "winning" the wars on all fronts.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48671792]The point is, Al Qaeda cannot "hit IS financially" because IS is financially holding itself together without large aid from foreign institutes or supporters, let alone ones that Al Qaeda just maybe can control or force away from them.[/QUOTE]Re-read my post and you'll see what I mean. Al Qaeda can easily fuck up the income of ISIS by striking the intermediaries that connect ISIS to the rest of the criminal world. There's a lot of these links to disrupt but ISIS can't protect them and they're responsible for their own security. While it makes for good television and film, most criminals really aren't itching to maim and kill anyone they can for the slightest insult and most are pretty easygoing. That's why when the drug cartels fight, their strategy of striking the affiliates of their opponent is [i]very[/i] unnerving. That's why drug cartels from Mexico don't have the influence that the South American ones of the 70's and 80's enjoyed, they're frankly scary as shit and nobody wants to deal with them if they can avoid it. Al Qaeda can adopt a similar "total war" policy that inflicts enough collateral damage. [QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48671792]Groups can change minds on a dime, it doesn't matter if they're fully support of Al Qaeda now, in a month they may change. It's partly due to the matter of how they declare allegiance. I can't find the article on it, but what a lot of these junior terror groups do isn't pledging allegiance to the organizations of Al Qaeda or Islamic State. They pledge their personal loyalty to the [I]leaders[/I] of those organizations in a specific religious oath - which is binding until death. The reason a lot jumped ship a couple years ago to Islamic State was because with Bin Laden dead, their oaths were released from Al Qaeda and they would have to pledge allegiance to Zawiri. The other issue with these pledges is that loyalty to the Caliph comes before the oath to whomever else. So it comes down to a matter of legitimacy. If a Zawiri supporter is persuaded after a while that Islamic State is the real, legitimate Caliphate, then he'll release himself from the service of AQ and join IS. It doesn't help that AQ is all talk and no action while IS is posting "bad ass" videos of their soldiers "winning" the wars on all fronts.[/QUOTE]While this is all true, there are a bunch of groups that didn't support the Islamic State because they really don't think Baghdadi is legitimate and they don't recognize ISIS as the caliphate. I'm pretty sure the groups that made that decision aren't going to just up and change their minds, but I'm not going to lie and say I think this "declaration" isn't going to make a lot of groups jump to the ISIS side of the fence. As you said, loyalty to the Caliph is above all else and maybe there have been Zawiri supporters (or supporters of the small, unaligned groups that everyone ignores for good reason) sick of their current choice of allegiance and this would give them the excuse and motivation to throw in with ISIS. Don't get me wrong, I don't really expect to see a jihadist civil war where all the gun runners and smugglers who deal with ISIS get maimed and killed by Al Qaeda and there's fighting in the streets across the world, but Al Qaeda [i]can[/i] use their opponent's size as an advantage. ISIS is a large, powerful organization that fights on open ground and no longer enjoys the luxuries of an insurgency. Also, as I said before their radical beliefs and conduct does limit who can/will deal with them; nobody ever [i]entirely[/i] ruled out Al Qaeda's involvement with the Iranians despite the Sunni-Shiite thing. Meanwhile ISIS would never in a million years conduct operations with Iran or any number of other Shiite or secular terrorist groups. [editline]12th September 2015[/editline] Despite everything I just typed up, I really don't expect Al Qaeda to do anything I said. I'm just saying it's a possibility.

Its important to remember that there can be no conventional war in case. Here IS will be the conventional force and Al Quaeda the terrorist insugerncy. IS will have a taste of what it feels like to be USA (or any real country in an insurgency-torn region).

[QUOTE=MuffinZerg;48674708]Its important to remember that there can be no conventional war in case. Here IS will be the conventional force and Al Quaeda the terrorist insugerncy. IS will have a taste of what it feels like to be USA (or any real country in an insurgency-torn region).[/QUOTE] Many of the ISIS fighters are recruited from the Iraq insurgency, they already know what it's like and how it's done.

[QUOTE=Zero-Point;48675151]Many of the ISIS fighters are recruited from the Iraq insurgency, they already know what it's like and how it's done.[/QUOTE] Yeah but so far they were fighting an insurgency war against conventional states and a conventional war. They never tried being on the other side.

[QUOTE=MuffinZerg;48675279]Yeah but so far they were fighting an insurgency war against conventional states and a conventional war. They never tried being on the other side.[/QUOTE]That was kinda my point, but I was more focusing on a different strategy they could adopt. I don't expect them to do it, but if they really wanted to hurt ISIS they really could do it that way and see success.

[QUOTE=MuffinZerg;48675279]Yeah but so far they were fighting an insurgency war against conventional states and a conventional war. They never tried being on the other side.[/QUOTE] Point is that they know how to fight an insurgency war, guerrilla tactics, the works. It'll essentially turn into a religion-fueled mob war.