A Time to Tweet, as Well as a Time to Kill: ISIS’s Projection of Power in Iraq and Syria

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A Time to Tweet, as Well as a Time to Kill: ISIS's Projection of Power in Iraq and Syria

by Heather Marie Vitale and James M. Keagle

Key Points

The Islamic State of Iraq and alSham (ISIS) uses a combination of intimidation, military might, and digital propaganda to project power militarily, economically, politically, and informationally.
ISIS runs a sophisticated and multidimensional social media campaign, exploiting it as a weapon of war to intimidate, spread official messages, recruit, fundraise, network, and justify its gruesome acts.
ISIS has been emboldened by the borderless nature of the region and the clash of religious and secular sub-identities in Iraq.
The United States needs to develop a comprehensive digital strategy that is slicker, faster, and more nimble than ISIS’s to fight the insurgency.