From 9/11 to Arab Spring, ISIS’ Script to Unleash Global Terror

From 9/11, ISIS and parent organisation have followed a strategy to establish the Caliphate, writes Adil Rasheed.

(Photo: Lijumol Joseph/ The Quint)

On the second anniversary of its self-styled Caliphate, the ISIS is planning the apocalypse. That’s right! It has been working steadily to execute its diabolical plan for some time and wants to unleash the Armageddon or the Islamic ‘Al-Malhamal Kubra’ on the world by 2020.

According to strategic expert Jonathan Wright, this apocalyptic ‘masterplan’ was drawn out by the founder of the ISIS’ parent organisation, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, at least a decade ago. Its details were published in a book named Al-Zarqawi: The Second Generation of Al-Qaeda by jailed journalist Fouad Hussein in 2005, but few people gave it much importance at that time. However, most of the details of this plan have presciently come true, which is now causing great unease and concern in several quarters.

Fouad met Zarqawi and his ideological mentor, Abu Muhammad Al Maqdisi in a Jordanian jail where they told him about their seven-phase plan to initiate a global war for establishing a worldwide Caliphate by 2020.

The Strategic Plan

The first phase of this plan is called the ‘Awakening Phase’, which, it is claimed, has already been executed successfully. The aim of this phase was to provoke the US into declaring war on the Islamic world, thereby awakening the masses to globalist jihad. 9/11 was a part of this strategy.

The second phase covered the years 2003 to 2006, which was dubbed as the ‘Eye-Opening Phase’, whereby people of the world (particularly Muslims) were to be made aware of “the Western conspiracy” against Islam.

Fouad writes that this phase began when the US “lost consciousness (after the 9/11 attacks) and acted chaotically against those who attacked it.” Eventually, the US launched its war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was criticised globally for doing so.

The third phase (2007-2010) is described as ‘Rising and Standing Up’. During this period there was to be increased focus on civil unrest and uprising against various Arab regimes, which eerily coincides with the Arab Spring protests.

The ISIS Agenda

• ISIS’ parent organisation has followed a well-written script over the years, beginning from 9/11 attack in 2001 with an intention to provoke US.
  
• The strategy includes a seven-phase masterplan, which aims at initiating global terror and establishing the Caliphate (Islamic State) by 2020.
  
• ISIS leaders have been obsessed with this plan as has been stated by their spokesman with respect to targeting Rome, Paris and London.
  
• Even the Arab spring protests, marked by civil unrest beginning in 2010 were part of a plan that regarded the uprising as ‘Post-Awakening’ phase.
  
• US military was aware of the evil designs of ISIS all along but has chosen to play it safe due to its vested interests in middle east.
  

File photo of Islamic State group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. (Photo: AP)

Goals for 2016-2020

The fourth phase (2010-2013) covers the stage when the power vacuum caused by popular protests and uprising would strengthen the hands of the jihadists. The plan states that at this time Islamists would have started carrying out e-jihad and would increase the use of gold as currency that would lead to bringing down the US dollar.

In the fifth phase (2013-2016), an “Islamic Caliphate is declared”. This again has come true with the establishment of the ISIS’ own Caliphate in Iraq, Syria and other Arab regions.

The sixth phase from 2016 onwards will be a period of ‘Total Confrontation’, leading to the Last Big War or ‘AI-Malhamal Kubra’. It will be characterised by the formation of the ‘Islamic army’ which will instigate a “fight between believers and non-believers”. The seventh or the final phase will be completed by 2020 and will lead to ‘Definitive Victory’ and the success of the Caliphate. According to Hussein, “the world will then realise the meaning of real terrorism.”

The fact that this jihadist ‘Masterplan’ was published in 2006 and its various phases have uncannily come to fruition till date is bewildering many experts. However, much more alarming is what the plan lays out for the present and the future. In fact, the actions of the ISIS seem to be heading in the direction of the stated goals.

Worse Not Over Yet

The ISIS seems hell-bent on turning all Islamic apocalyptic literature into a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, it has captured the small and inconsequential hamlet by the name of Dabiq in Syria at a huge cost, just because it is said to be the prophesised spot from which a Muslim legion will engage with the forces of Rome in the ‘Last Apocalyptic War’. ISIS’ online mouthpiece is also called ‘Dabiq’, underscoring its self-assumed prophesised apocalyptic mission.

In most of his speeches published online, ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi speaks of his obsession with the Vatican and Rome and the dream of fighting a new Crusade. “You will conquer Rome and the world, inshallah,” he repeatedly tells his forces. ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed Al Adnani has also reportedly stated the ISIS plan to first target Rome, then Paris and London.

For its part, the US military has known about the ISIS’ diabolical agenda all along. Former US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempesey had issued a grim warning at the Pentagon two years ago. “They (the ISIS) can be contained, but not in perpetuity. This is an organisation that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision.” As the threat of the ISIS continues to loom over the world, the apocalyptic clock continues to tick unhindered.

(The writer is Distinguished Fellow at the United Services Institution of India and is the author of ‘ISIS: Race to Armageddon’.)

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