- Mar 7, 2014
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I'm writing this post for a variety of reasons. The first is I don't know where ISIS came from. I can take a few guesses but I actually don't know.
Second, I think it's important that people understand the underlying reasons of terrorism in order to find the best way of dealing with terrorism, which in my opinion is not going around bombing the hell out of people in the first place.
ISIS started life as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad run by Abu Masab al-Zarqawi in 1999 two years before 9/11 and four before the invasion of Iraq.
al-Zarqawi was a guy who went to fight for the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan, but arrived too late, but still met ibn-Laden. His reasons for going to Afghanistan in the first place? Well he was a street fighter and an alcoholic, the sort of guy who fighting for insurgents and others is probably his sort of thing.
But what turns a guy like this into the leader of an insurgency group? Well, the need for someone to be an insurgent against. The guy went to Afghanistan in 2001 and fought against the US troops there.
Bush claimed there was a possibility that al-Zarqawi was in Iraq, and therefore al Qaeda was linked to Saddam before the invasion, as help in justifying the invasion. Turns out that declassified shows there was no link at all, it was just made up. Saddam was even trying to arrest this guy, he didn't want al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Then the Iraq invasion happened in 2003 and al-Zarqawi's group grew. In 2004 he pledged to al-Qaeda, which was now in Iraq, thanks to Bush.
The power vacuum in Iraq allowed these groups to grow and to gain support.
Then the US support for the Arab Spring happened, which led to the Syrian uprising, which in the beginning was supported by people, especially, like McCain, who wanted to fund such groups without much of a clue what they were actually funding. Not much different to funding the Mujaheddin that helped start this off in the first place.
Basically, ISIS is a product of incompetent US foreign policy over a period of time ranging from the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviets, who also helped a little, through Reagan's presidency, then onto Bush Dubya's presidency they grew and grew because of complete incompetence in Iraq, which would seem to be the biggest factor in the rise of ISIS, alongside the support for the Arab Spring.
It's not a case of blaming one president, for it was not only presidents who played a part in this, and there were quite a few, from both parties, who played a major part in this, but to blame US foreign policy in general for helping to create the conditions with which such a group could grow and thrive.
Second, I think it's important that people understand the underlying reasons of terrorism in order to find the best way of dealing with terrorism, which in my opinion is not going around bombing the hell out of people in the first place.
ISIS started life as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad run by Abu Masab al-Zarqawi in 1999 two years before 9/11 and four before the invasion of Iraq.
al-Zarqawi was a guy who went to fight for the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan, but arrived too late, but still met ibn-Laden. His reasons for going to Afghanistan in the first place? Well he was a street fighter and an alcoholic, the sort of guy who fighting for insurgents and others is probably his sort of thing.
But what turns a guy like this into the leader of an insurgency group? Well, the need for someone to be an insurgent against. The guy went to Afghanistan in 2001 and fought against the US troops there.
Bush claimed there was a possibility that al-Zarqawi was in Iraq, and therefore al Qaeda was linked to Saddam before the invasion, as help in justifying the invasion. Turns out that declassified shows there was no link at all, it was just made up. Saddam was even trying to arrest this guy, he didn't want al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Then the Iraq invasion happened in 2003 and al-Zarqawi's group grew. In 2004 he pledged to al-Qaeda, which was now in Iraq, thanks to Bush.
The power vacuum in Iraq allowed these groups to grow and to gain support.
Then the US support for the Arab Spring happened, which led to the Syrian uprising, which in the beginning was supported by people, especially, like McCain, who wanted to fund such groups without much of a clue what they were actually funding. Not much different to funding the Mujaheddin that helped start this off in the first place.
Basically, ISIS is a product of incompetent US foreign policy over a period of time ranging from the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviets, who also helped a little, through Reagan's presidency, then onto Bush Dubya's presidency they grew and grew because of complete incompetence in Iraq, which would seem to be the biggest factor in the rise of ISIS, alongside the support for the Arab Spring.
It's not a case of blaming one president, for it was not only presidents who played a part in this, and there were quite a few, from both parties, who played a major part in this, but to blame US foreign policy in general for helping to create the conditions with which such a group could grow and thrive.
