Mullah Fateh Krekar, former founder and leader of the Sunni terrorist group Ansar Al-Islam, said that "all the world’s powers combined" cannot beat the ideology of the Islamic State organization. Mullah Krekar, whose original name is Najmaddin Faraj Ahmad, arrived in Norway in 1991 as a refugee and has been living there since. In an interview with NRT TV, a channel from Iraqi Kurdistan, Krekar said that if the Islamic State is eliminated, a similar group will emerge, because its ideology is rooted in literary sources that are unchangeable, like the Quran and the Hadith. He labeled President Trump's policies "false bravado" and challenged him to send his "most courageous men" to Libya to fight the "lions of Islam." The interview aired on February 20.

Fateh Krekar: This war [against ISIS] will continue, because it is nothing but a war of technology, while the notions of both belligerent parties pertain to religious ideology. The Islamic State organization embraces Islam as a methodology, as well as an ideology, a faith, a philosophy, a policy, a religion, and a state. This group defends its beliefs with all its might. All the world's powers combined, in my view, cannot overcome these ideas. Although NATO in its entirety occupied Afghanistan, fought Taliban, and removed it from power, the Taliban survived, attacked Kunduz in broad daylight, and liberated the lands from NATO and from its Afghan backers.

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I don't think that there will be a "post-Islamic State." They used to talk about "post-Taliban," but this was nothing but a lie, a war of words. The ideas, or the vision, adopted by the Islamic State group are the Wahhabism of the Faisal Al-Duwaish faction.

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The names are not important. If Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State organization lose some territories, it should not come as a surprise. Even if this organization is eliminated, another organization will appear. The literary sources are the same. The Quran and the Sunna are the sources of guidance, of social and ideological upbringing, and of Jihadi activity. Both sources are there, the Quranic verses are there, and the hadiths are well established. There are 55 hadiths about Jihad in the Al-Bukhari compilation, and 69 such hadiths in the Muslim compilation. These hadiths are imperishable. Generations continue to be raised upon them.

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Even if the Islamic State organization is eliminated, a new group with the same ideas will come along. Perhaps this group will learn from the mistakes of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, but it will adopt the same ideology as the other groups. Among the three [main] sects in Iraq - the Shiite Arabs, the Sunni Arabs, and the Kurds - the Sunni Arabs were the ones who suffered the most under Saddam. The Western forces defended the Kurds and enabled them to run their own region. Sweden provided cameras and computers the Kurdish parliament. Iran adopted the Shiite groups and helped them develop.

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The group that was persecuted the most was the Sunnis. True, fewer Sunnis were killed than Shiites or Kurds, but they were not allowed to grow and have a collective life as a society. Hence, when the occupation arrived, there were already over 20 Jihadi groups.

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The Shiites and the Kurds should acknowledge that the Sunnis have the right to run their own regions, to use their resources, and [to decide] who rules them.

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The Sunnis have the right to decide who rules them, and the issue of the Jihadi groups is an internal [Sunni] matter. The Sunnis will not remain without weapons in their Sunni triangle. They must be armed like the Kurds and the Shiites in order to defend themselves.

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Interviewer: Will the policies of U.S. President Trump reignite the conflict all over the world?

Fateh Krekar: No. This is nothing but false bravado. There's nothing to it. If he is such an important and powerful military man, let him send his army to Libya. Didn't they burn down his embassy in Libya? Didn't they kill his consul and diplomats in Libya? Let him send his most courageous men to Libya, and we shall see how the lions of Islam there confront them.

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What can Trump do when faced with people who believe in monotheism and Jihad?! By Allah, if Trump reenters Iraq with all his forces - even if he decides to refrain from fighting the Kurds and the Sunni Arabs, the Shiites will chase them away all by themselves. If they enter the Sunni triangle, the Sunnis will chase them away all by themselves. I'm not talking about the Kurds, because they are loyal to Trump, just like they were loyal to his predecessor and will be to his successor.

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