ISIL in Iraq: The image of an insurgency

ISIL is gaining on the ground but who, if anyone, controls the story?


>With the newsstories in the Middle East alternating between Egypt and Syria, it took many by surprise when the compass swung to Iraq. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIL has been a growing part of the story but few anticipated the dramatic turn - taking control of half of Iraq and a decent portion of Syria. And they are not only taking land and resources, ISIL have been spinning the PR and establishing their organisation.

The Iraqi media is normally polarised according to sectarian lines, but the external threat is uniting them. For the global media, the situation has posed a problem: they found themselves churning out the same neo-con analysts they used back in the Iraq invasion in 2003 - despite the fact that everything they said has proved to be wrong.