▻http://www.salon.com/2016/05/09/media_really_got_isis_wrong_its_brutality_helped_al_qaeda_terrorism_expert_sa
“The media really got ISIS wrong for a long time,” argues scholar Max Abrahms, a prominent terrorism expert.
Many Western media outlets “made it seem as if ISIS has a big advantage over al-Qaeda because it is even more radical; that because the group uses violence in such a brutal fashion, it will be able to out-recruit al-Qaeda, have a larger membership size, more staying power and greater capabilities.”
Yet actually, in the long term, Abrahms says, al-Qaeda is the group that has benefited the most from ISIS’ extremism, because it allows al-Qaeda to present itself as the more “moderate” alternative.
ISIS’ brutality, and the attention much of the world has paid to the extremist group, has allowed al-Qaeda to grow with much less opposition, and even with support of U.S. allies in some areas, particularly in Syria.
Max Abrahms is an assistant professor of political science at Northeastern University who has closely studied terrorism for more than a decade.
