ISIS stands for "The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria". It's an militant Islamist paramilitary group which has declared its own state in territory consisting of parts of Iraq and Syria.

Why we're going to war with them has to do with recent unexpected gains which ISIS has made in Iraq. ISIS had originated during the Iraq War as a group called "Al Qaeda in Iraq". They were one of the primary antagonists of the US and the Iraqi government during that war but by the beginning of the Obama administration real progress was being made against them and they were eventually weakened enough that the US no longer deemed them a major threat. In 2011 they sent fighters into Syria to take part in that countries civil war. In Syria they found quite a bit of success as they had more experience than many of the other rebel groups. But they also pursued a policy which looked to build up their own territory, sometimes at the expense of other rebel groups. ISIS used their territory in Syria to bolster their strength through new recruits and especially new financial resources. This summer they attracted a lot of new attention when they made a major incursion into Iraq. They already controlled some territory in Iraq but this new offensive brought them control over Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq. Perhaps more worrisome for the US, who had spent a lot of time and money training the Iraqi Army, was the fact that the Iraqi military units who had been deployed to defend Mosul were completely routed. It's estimated that as many as 30,000 Iraqi soldiers simply gave up and fled in the face of perhaps as few as 800 ISIS fighters. The capture of Mosul gave ISIS new monetary resources and also new military hardware which they looted from the fleeing Iraqi troops.

Their movement into Northern Iraq also put new populations under their control. ISIS is a very very hard line Islamist group made up of members of the Sunni branch of Islam. They believe that all non-Sunnis are heretics who must either convert or die. They also practice an especially hard line version of Sunni Islam. In Syria they actually were attacked by other rebel groups who resented the hard line version of Sharia religious law which ISIS imposed on the territories it controlled. With their new territory in Iraq they began doing the same thing. They started by targeting those they regarded as heretics. They executed hundreds of Shia Muslim Iraqi soldiers who they captured. Perhaps worse they began targeting civilians. While Iraq is a mostly Muslim country it contains pockets of other religious groups, a number of whom now lived in ISIS controlled territory. In particular, ISIS had begun targeting the Yazidi, a religious minority who many Muslims incorrectly believe to be devil worshipers. ISIS killed or displaced many Yazidi and world attention was drawn when it was learned that tens of thousands of people were trapped on a mountain with minimal food and water and with ISIS forces at the bottom waiting to kill them. The US originally began bombing partially to alleviate this humanitarian crisis but also to prop up their Kurdish allies.

The Kurds are an ethnic group which lives in several different countries in the area including Turkey and Iraq. In Iraq they're concentrated in the Northeast and in those areas, sometimes known as Iraqi Kurdistan, they've got a semi-autonomous government. The Kurdish local government is generally viewed as less corrupt and more democratic than the Iraqi national government and the Kurds have their own military force, the Peshmerga, which is separate from the Iraqi military. The Peshmerga were regarded as a pretty disciplined and effective fighting force and most international observers consider them to have more discipline and better morale than the Iraqi military. The Peshmerga were largely able to keep the peace in Kurdistan during the Iraq War and the Kurds have long been American allies going back to the 1990s when American air power allowed them to become effectively autonomous from Saddam Hussein's regime. When ISIS began moving towards Kurdistan it was expected by many that the Kurdish Peshmerga would fight them off. However, the Kurds suffered a defeat in their first encounter with ISIS and had to retreat from a couple of border towns. This seems to be due to the fact that ISIS is better armed than the Kurds. Despite the long term alliance between the US and the Kurds, the US has been reluctant to arm them for fear that they will try to break away from Iraq. So while ISIS had artillery, the Peshmerga was largely limited to Soviet era small arms. So the US was real worried that ISIS might be able to storm across Iraqi Kurdistan too, endangering American diplomatic and business personnel there. In order to stop this they began a coordinated bombing campaign designed to help the Kurds push back ISIS. This has been fairly successful so far and the Kurds have been able to retake the towns they lost as well as Mosul Dam which ISIS had occupied.

The concern now is that without US help no one will be able to dislodge and destroy ISIS. The fear is that if they're allowed to grow in power they will just attract more recruits and become more of a danger to surrounding areas and to others.

ISIS Or The Islamic State Of Iraq And Syria Is A Terrorist Organisation Which Acts As A Military Organisation And Kills People Who Seem To Interfere In Their Agendas.

ISIS Has Been Originated From Al Qaeda Which Was Also A Terrorist Organisation Started By Osama Bin Laden And His Fellow Friends Which Were Also Terrorist.

ISIS Has Covered Many Parts Of Iraq And Syria And Now Has Spoken About The Right Of Pakistan Over Kashmir To Get Political Attention And Seeks To Extend Its Range From Iraq And Syria To Other Native Countries Of The Gulf.

I care about ISIS why?.... Let them fight it out!

It is a war for the middle east to resolve. Let's fight the war of poverty, crime, starvation, and failing economy here in our Nations homeland. Spending billions of dollars and countless American lives in the middle east over the past 14 years has gained us what? What has been the net result thus far? ..... Nothing! ... Just more hatred for the US from the people in middle east. oh yes, and a great collection of weapons for ISIS as the Iraq military drops them and runs away.

The only sustainable solution is one that the majority of people who live there want. Once upon a time there was a republicanism terrorist group called the American Patriots. I'm thankful that the British and American Loyalist militia were defeated by those rebels in a revolt. What if France and others had given more support to stop the change that the people in this fairy tale wanted?

My point..... Let the people decide what they want in the area that they live. Who are you to decide?

no.. ISIS although stands for ( Iraq Syria islamic state) it is not islamic at all islam in arabic means "peace" but there isn't any peace in what Isis done... according to islamic scholar Imran Nazar Hussein (and i agree with him) Isis is a result of a plan which leads to demonize the islam, in making a strong zionist state cloaked in a mantle of islamic state so as a consequence it will suspect the muslim attack on Israel by this israel could easily wage war on islam and yet not as an aggressor.... to accomplish his mission which took centuries; and which many Israeli people know..... to build a state from river Nile to river Euphrates....

I'm just as clueless as you are, but from my understanding- ISIS is a group of terrorist that kill innocent people because of their "religion". The USA wanted to put a stop to it, bombing iraq. ISIS then beheaded an american for interfering with their religion. war has been declared.

Sorry but its a lot of illiterate Jack Asses put together in oblivion !!! Islam teaches us all to respect all religions especially Jews and Christens as they are also a part of the book.... The word Jihad does not mean to pick up arms and kill other people or go against humanity,,,,, especially when one has not physically picked up arms against you and even then one is allowed to defend them selves against .... Islam teaches us patience and so much more other then what the news informs us off....

This is mostly true except for the fact that the CIA created it to stop Al-Queda. It's their strategy of fighting terrorism. They used Al-Queda to fight the Mahadajean when it turned south. Bin Laden is from Them. CIA Opratives trained and supplied and commanded them. So we (Our elected poloticians) have screwed us over. Once we stop ISIS with the next "Freedom fighter" org, they will turn south forcing us to intervene making the USA less and less popular.

Crazed Animals. Who kill innocent men, women and children for believing in their faith. Men who tie up women so they can be raped by their soldiers anytime they want to. They want control, they want to rule. One of their main goals is coming after America. When The Pope said they need to be destroyed. That should sum it up to all. These animals need to be stopped before they can grow, Before we have another 9/11. We need air strikes in Syria, not a tank here or there. We need Our Guys on the ground. They are the only ones we can trust. It saddens me to say this. Ask Our Guys who has been there who was helping them to be able to stand on their own. This breaks their hearts. It's like what they was for nothing. I am a proud American and I want us to Stand Strong.

Let's just say the U.S. decided to give weapons(high class and very expensive) to middle eastern countries. This group have seized these weapons and are using them to take over regions across the middle east. They are a ruthless group, and attempting to unify the "Islamic State" or islamic countries, killing anyone in their way. Currently they are attempting to overtake Iraq, which if you remember from recent history was "reformed" by the United States after the dictatorship was taken over.

look it up online ,and watch some news for gods sake and learn what is happening in the world , you probably don't even know anything unless its celebrity gossip and nothing about politics do you ? and this is in spite of the fact politics affects everything that happens on the planet in one way or another

go turn on cnn when you get up in the morning and watch it for a while before work or school

Am I the only confused about whats going on? one

day everythings fine, next Im hearing about ISIS. I know they are group of Islamic Extremists or terrorists, but what did they do? Why are we going to war with them?

If anyone could help clear this uo, and maybe even add to it I'd appreciate it.

My Ogre Brethren Have Come To Reclaim This Land.

ISIS... are... freaking RACIST If you aren't the same religion as them...

I thought I hate racist people but being HONEST I hate the ISIS even better...

Muslims image are... being ruined just because of these beasts... killing innocent people with families... with their bare hands!

SUCH MONSTERS. I respect their religion... but this ISIS... are ruining the image of the MUSLIMS...

ISIS is a terror group, but so were the World War II allies -