Prompted by Will McCants article (cited below) I thought a thread on ISIS beyond the frontline - which currently dominates the MSM - would be useful. Not the news reporting, rather lessons learned, analysis and commentary as an adversary - for many - and as a threat.

I will endeavour to copy appropriate posts from other threads, notably the current Iraq thread and elsewhere. Outlaw09 has already referred to the information available years ago on ISIS / AQ in Iraq, that was deemed of little value - so I am sure he will chime in.

Now back to Will McCants, a Brookings analyst, 'Five Myths about the Islamic State':http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-fr...-state-mccants