David Ignatius
David Ignatius is a extremely well spoken columnist who publishes two columns a week on foreign affairs. Many of the articles he writes are about the conflicts in the middle east. One article I read by Ignatius was entitled “A terrorist with gang-leader charisma”. The terrorist Ignatius discussed was Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Throughout the article Baghdadi’s power is discussed and how dangerous he is. He has extremely loyal followers, a military background and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Recently, Baghdadi broke into a prison holding al Qaeda fighters, raided the prison and let all the three thousand fighters out. He is considered more power than Bin Laden and other predecessors.
Do you think he really does have a “gang leader charisma”? If so how does this make him more dangerous than Bin laden? What do you think Baghdadi plans on doing with his power?
I do think that Baghdadi does have gang leader charisma. This could potentially make him more dangerous than Bin Laden because he could create an army depending on the amount of followers he has. Also, like you said, his followers are very loyal and will do anything to make their leader proud and the leader, Baghdadi, will go to extremes to get what he wants. I think Baghdadi will use his power in horrible and threatening ways to all people, making the country very dangerous. This is something that should definitely be kept track of.
I agree witrh Jackie on how Baghdadi does have gang leader charisma. I think that this could make him more powerful and dangerous than Bin Laden because he can keep doing activities such as breaking into more prisons to get more supporters and soldiers. Seeing that his followers are also loyal I think that makes him more dangerous because his followers will protect him and not give away any information if interrogated. I think Baghdadi will turn into someone like Bin Laden and threaten the US or other countries he could turn into a very dangerous man
I also have chosen David Ignatius as my columnist. While I hadn’t read this specific article until now I do agree that Ignatius is a well spoken author. I must agree with Ignatius and Jackie and say that Baghdadi does have gang leader charisma. If he is bold enough to raid prison to rescue fighters he is more active than predecessors it seems. This makes him a lot more dangerous because we can’t expect the usual terrorist movements. He will be playing a new game and it will be unpredictable. This does seem that it will make him a lot more powerful than Bin Laden. I believe that Baghdadi will use his power to harm innocent people and enemy countries. However, I can’t begin to imagine how he will do so.
I also think that Baghdadi has a gang leader charisma. Therefore I think he is more powerful then Bin Laden. It sounds like Baghdadi has more followers. So many that he can raid a prison and get away with it. I can only guess that he had help during these actions, so that must mean that his followers are already taking action not just watching. Also his military background can make him even more dangerous. For example he might be trained to handle situations like being attacked, which makes it harder to defete him. I think also think that he will continue to be a threat even more so than Bin Laden.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s perseverance and the loyalty of his followers do indeed permit him a “gang leader charisma.” His power-hungry antics and follower loyalty remind me of Hitler’s when he raised an army. A person with enough drive to liberate a prison of fighters for his own army will not be curbed by diplomatic solutions, therefore if he has any qualms with the United States, he is as significant a threat as any enemy terrorist leader.
I do think that he has a “gang leader charisma.” This is because he ensured more followers for himself by releasing prisoners. This makes him more dangerous than Bin Laden because of the amount of followers he already has, not to mention what his followers are capable of. If he says the word, they will obey his command. Because of his military training, I think that he will want to create his own empire. He surely knows how to gain power easily and effectively throughout his community.
Yes, I think he really does have a “gang-leader charisma”. In fact, I think most terrorist leaders do. Their followers are usually uneducated, desperate men who follow them because of promises of riches and a better life. All their followers are undyingly loyal to them, and anyone who is discovered to not be so loyal probably doesn’t last too long. I think that he is more dangerous than Bin Laden because of how determined he is, how loyal his followers are, and the risks he is willing to take, which are much greater than those of his predecessors. Also, the region his is trying to take over is more unstable than it was before, because Syria is in civil war, and Iraq is very disorganized and unsure of what to do with itself, since US forces just abruptly left without fixing the problems that they originally went there to fix. I think that Baghdadi plans to take over as much land as he can and then rule it like a despot or a tyrant. That’s what all these sort of people want , really, as much power and land as they can get, and as many people kneeling before them as possible. I do not think that he will be at all a good leader. I think he will probably take advantage of all the people living in the land he’s conquered, and then leave them with nothing.