Lying among a pile of papers at the hideout in Pakistan where Osama Bin Laden was shot dead was a carefully worded 21-page letter.

It warned of the rise of a new and ruthless group of Islamic extremists capable of such extreme brutality that Al Qaeda should sever all links with them.In fact, it claimed the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (or ISIS) had such complete disregard for civilian life that it could damage the reputation of Al Qaeda – if such a thing were possible for an organisation that has long traded in murderous terrorism.The document, written by one of Bin Laden’s senior officials in 2011, went on to catalogue some of its acts of barbarism – including the use of chlorine gas as a chemical weapon, bombing mosques  and a massacre in a Catholic church  in Baghdad.In essence, the letter said that ISIS was simply too extreme even for the group that killed thousands in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.Today, ISIS, which now styles itself as simply Islamic State (IS), has become a powerful military force that has control of an area larger than Great Britain.Living under its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam are six million people, a population larger than that of Ireland, Denmark or Finland.Its trademark black jihadi flag has  fluttered in the background of chilling ‘promotional’ videos of executions – including crucifixions and beheadings – as the militia seizes vast areas of Iraq and Syria. In short, the ‘caliphate’ – or Islamic state – it claims to have established represents the biggest shift in the political geography of the Middle East since  the borders of modern Iraq and Syria were drawn under the Sykes-Picot  agreement drafted between Britain and France in 1916. But what marks them out as being particularly savvy is the way they have used social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to create a digital ‘public relations’ machine to promote their jihad and strike fear into the hearts of their enemies.Any fighter on the ground can film an act of brutality and upload the footage in a matter of minutes – although some videos of botched amputations or killings have led to a clampdown by IS commanders. One Spanish fighter promised  to upload a film of a man being  crucified for his friends back home, but was quickly reprimanded by  his superiors.His later contrite posting simply read, ‘Our leadership forbade anyone filming it.’However, the videos already in  circulation have already created a climate of terror.Some opposition soldiers, particularly in Syria, are defecting to the group. After all, IS has money – some of which is said to have come through private donations from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.Equally, those captured by the militia face a stark choice – defect or die.Despite being trained by American troops, the Iraqi army has proven worryingly ineffective in taking on this threat.It’s why the terrorists now control much of the north of the country. They have also seized a former chemical weapons plant and a large dam that could be blown up to flood the regions downstream.The populations of the Kurdish capital of Irbil, as well as the national capital Baghdad, are now in no doubt as to the fate that would befall them if these Sunni extremists prevail.If IS cannot be stopped, they are clinging to the hope that rescue will come in the form of Iran, which supports Iraq’s Shia-led government, or the US.However, both countries are reluctant to commit troops on the ground in the political and religious quagmire of Iraq.Abu Bakr al Baghdadi knows this only too well.It is why his IS troops have been so emboldened to sweep across much of Syria and northern Iraq in recent weeks. In the past fortnight they have fought on five fronts: against the Iraqi army, the Kurdish peshmerga, Bashar Al-Assad’s Syrian regime, the Syrian opposition and the Lebanese army.When he was released by the American military police from the Camp Bucca detention facility in Umm Qasr, where he was held as an insurgent, al Baghdadi said ominously: ‘I will see you guys in New York.’A fanciful threat?Perhaps not, when you consider that the greatest threat Islamic State poses to the world is that this so-called caliphate becomes a training ground for international terrorism, and unleashes an army of extremists against the West to kill and maim far from the bloodsoaked deserts of Iraq.(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.az