Isis: The Origins of Violence Page #5

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what looks like a kind of Roman city.

Except that this destruction was

made, it wasn't made by legions,

it was made by suicide bombers.

When they came into Sinjar, they

left...

...heads everywhere on spikes,

hanging in public places,

like the cruellest of Mesopotamian

kings.

And like a Roman legion,

they took away the women and the

girls into slavery.

So, what I think is...

...they are...

They're like ghosts, risen up from

the past of vanished empires.

And they're kind of like ghouls

picking their way over this rubble.

Oh, and I'm going to be sick.

What I'm thinking is, uh, that...

...when you go to a Roman city and

you go up a street...

...like Pompeii or something,

you can be reasonably sure that

you're not going to get blown up.

But this looks like it hasn't been

cleared.

And there's been a lot of fighting

here.

And part of me is wondering what

might go off at any minute.

And it strikes me that, um...

...that's kind of true to history,

actually,

because there are things in the past

that are like unexploded bombs,

that just lie in wait in the rubble.

And then... ...something

happens to trigger them.

And... There are clearly

verses in the Quran,

and stories that are told about

Mohammed that are very like, um...

...mines waiting to go off.

Improvised explosive devices and

they can lie there for...

...oh, you know, maybe for centuries.

And then something happens

to trigger them, and you get this.

It's scary.

Really scary.

I've got to sit down.

The question is, if these

were unexploded bombs,

then what were they doing here, and

what triggered them to go off?

So it is possible for Muslims in

Islamic State

to genuinely feel that God wants

them to commit the violence

that they are committing?

Yes. The members of Islamic State

who conduct these acts

regard themselves as doing

God's work,

they regard themselves

as being just,

that they are implementing the

laws of God.

And they would say, you know,

it's not for us to decide,

it's not for us to bring our own

inclinations or whims

to this matter.

What about the things for which it's

particularly notorious, say,

the beheadings, the crucifixions?

Beheadings, crucifixions, these are

all things that are discussed

within the context of the

Islamic punishment system.

So again, Islamic State would say

that they are implementing these

punishments, as they have understood

them from the texts.

Do you think that they genuinely

think they will defeat the West,

that Islam will conquer the world?

They absolutely believe Islam will

conquer the world.

And how ancient do you think that

assumption is?

How far back does this idea that

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