Investigative journalist and founder of 21st Century Wire.com Patrick Henningsen assesses the current state of ISIS and outlines how the Islamic militant group has used professionally produced propaganda to get millions of dollars in free PR on media outlets across the world.
Henningsen said he considers ISIS a brand that has been good at publicizing its cause. “ISIS is a brand, that’s all it is. It’s a brand like al-Qaeda was a brand, and it’s not a brand so much for those fighters that you see in YouTube videos, those are all propaganda videos.
Henningsen said ISIS could have never bought the kind of PR they’re now getting – which he points out is probably worth millions of dollars – free PR they’ve been given by the major news networks, which have shown their propaganda beheading videos.
“I won’t even call them the Islamic State because they are not a state – that’s just dignifying them too much. It’s a paramilitary gang, it’s a confab of many different gangs and factions, but in the West, it’s branded as ISIS.”
He also gives his opinion that ISIS might disband at some point with continued military options exercised against it, but he predicts the factions would then likely just spread out, while still remaining part of a more loosely organized group.
Watch the full episode to also hear Henningsen comment on the recent shootings in Canada and the continued top secret status of certain pages in the 9/11 report that purportedly suggest that Saudi Arabia played a role in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
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