The Hijackers: What will happen to Syria?
Hugh Roberts, 16 July 2015
American intelligence saw Islamic State coming and was not only relaxed about the prospect but, it appears, positively interested in it. The US Defense Intelligence Agency document doesn’t talk of ‘the possibility that Isis might establish a Salafist principality’ but of ‘the possibility of establishing’ a Salafist principality. So who was to be the prime mover in this process? Did IS have a state backing it after all?