Conclusion
The defectors testimonies as well as the captured documents of Haji Bakr make clear that ISIS is a ruthless
organization. It profited from the meticulous intelligence planning techniques of former Iraqi Baath
regime elements who joined ISIS. Emni has been the core structure that gave birth to ISIS, both as a
terrorist organization and as a nascent totalitarian state. Emni was formed by disgruntled former Sunni
Baathists dismissed from the intelligence regime of Saddam Hussein following the 2003 American-led
Coalition invasion of Iraq. Angry over the Shia ascendance in Iraq and by the many attacks against Sunnis,
and fiercely nationalistic, as well as strategic and fanatical in its drive to put Sunnis back into power, the
ISIS’ Emni cadres have seen it opportune to clothe themselves in Islamic garb in order to manipulate the
masses. Yet, on closer scrutiny, it is clear that there is nothing Islamic in their actions, nor in their corrupt
and ever shifting alliances, their calculated plotting, their masterfully carried out propaganda campaigns, and
its Internet seduction. As Christoph Reuter wrote of ISIS, “Faith, even in its most extreme form, is just one of
many means to an end. Islamic State’s only constant maxim is the expansion of power at any price.”[80] Power
and restoration of Sunni dominance in Iraq and Syria is the main mission of the ISIS Emni and calculated
manipulation of faith is only one of its means to that end.