WMDs in Iraq

[KeithE]

have finally been found.





When we will ever learn. When we will try the Jesus Way of loving our enemies.

[William Thornton]

Implied by Keith is that these beheadings and immolations are our fault and are a creation of our policies. Perhaps he could compose a contrite apology and these genocidal, sadistic barbarians would disappear and we could have a big global hug.

[KeithE]

[Dave Roberts]

I suspect that ISIS/ISIL/IS does not have nearly the strength they want us to believe. What they are, however, is a group with a mastery of terrorist theater which the new media, esp. FAUX and Blaze keep running for ratings that are based on fear. They exist in largely failed states like Syria, Iraq, and Libya which have weak or competing governments not supported by the people. The strongest forces against them are the Kurds in northern Iraq, but the central government does not want to support the Kurdish fighters lest they rebel against Baghdad. Interestingly, the Iranians also are helping to fight IS folks, but we Americans won't share anything with them because of Israel. IS groups exist in vacuums.

[Sandy]

There would not now be an ISIS or ISIL, or whatever they go by, if the US had not invaded Iraq, removed Saddam Hussein from power, in so doing upsetting the balance of power in the region, and creating the vacuum into which this particular insurgency has spread. Volumes can be written about the whole history of the region, from British imperialism to the economic interests that have led to exploitation of resources and of cheap labor, that explain the developments of the day. When people are impoverished and oppressed, and they feel powerless, the only thing they have to turn to is their religion, and in the process, it becomes fanatical and its principles get distorted because it is seen as the only effective weapon and the only way out.

The country of Iraq is a product of the Treaty of Versailles and the end of the Ottoman Empire, a drawing on a map designed not to pull together the common cultural and religious elements of one people, but to best benefit the British Empire's growing need for oil, and its trade routes to India. There are a lot of "ifs" here but the bottom line is that governments created by the Western powers in the wake of insurgencies will never gain the respect of the people, and there will always be another insurgency to take the place of the previous one.

[Haruo]

I am inclined to think that to a lot of poor Muslims in the Middle East the ISIL groups look a lot like Robin Hood.

[Dave Roberts]

[KeithE]