Understanding The Intentions Of ISIS

Graeme Wood, a contributing editor at The Atlantic, wrote in a cover story earlier this year about how ISIS, also called ISIL, is a dangerous religious group that rejects peace and has a hunger for genocide.

Wood wrote, “We have misunderstood the nature of the Islamic State in at least two ways.” He spoke with Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson in February about how understanding ISIS's intentions – and how they are as distinct from al-Qaida's – is crucial to efforts to combat the group.

We revisit that conversation, as well as a rebuttal from Mehdi Hasan of Al Jazeera English, who told Here & Now in March that the Islamic State really isn’t about Islam at all.

• Graeme Wood's piece in The Atlantic, “What ISIS Really Wants”
• Mehdi Hasan’s piece in the New Statesman, “How Islamic is Islamic State?”
• Related: How To Defeat ISIS

Guests

• Graeme Wood, contributing editor at The Atlantic. He tweets @gcaw.
• Mehdi Hasan, a presenter for Al Jazeera English. He tweets @mehdirhasan.

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