News & Events
QUOTE: Have The Islamist Militants Overreached In Iraq And Syria?
By Deborah Amos, July 6, 2014
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: “When they first came to Tikrit, it was a bunch of guys in pickup trucks,” says Zaid Al-Ali, the author of The Struggle for Iraq’s Future and someone who has close family ties in Tikrit. “Now, they’ve booby-trapped the whole city,” he says. IS brought compressors to dig up the streets and plant bombs on strategic roadways, according to relatives who witnessed the takeover. IS is growing in strength, says Al-Ali, “The longer Maliki stays in office, the more entrenched they become.”