Somehow they
think this is a vindication? If we had just listened to George Bush then all of
this wouldn't be happening?
Let's go
back a few more years and look at all the videos of people warning Bush not to
invade Iraq. They said it would all fall apart and may result in the whole
Middle East descending into chaos. Who is vindicated?
They also
fail to understand the extent of destruction. Since 1991 around two million
Iraqis have died prematurely due to a host of issues associated with American
sanctions, bombings and the 2003 invasion.
The whole
society has been utterly destroyed. It is not inaccurate to refer to it in a
broad sense as a genocide and that's exactly some people view it.
I certainly
did, but I was thinking in those terms back in the 1990's. The 2003 invasion
was just adding insult to injury. This is why the shoe-thrower was viewed as a
hero. His action represented years of pent up frustration and for a brief
moment it didn't matter what faction you belonged to. His insult communicated
in the most visceral of terms how every Iraqi felt.
The United
States spent millions of dollars to temporarily pacify the situation by 2008. And
yet that was just a temporary measure at best. Paying off the Sunnis and a
'surge' of troops could hardly be viewed as a permanent arrangement. The
country is a fictitious creation of the British. It's never been viable and the
only way to hold it together is with force.
You either
maintain a permanent military occupation or you install a dictator.
Or you let
it fragment and break apart through the course of civil war.
Or you mind
your own business and don't invade in the first place!
The United
States paid off the Sunnis to fight and destroy Al-Qaeda in Iraq and to quit
fighting the Shiites who had taken over in Baghdad. Today some of these same
Sunnis are part of ISIS. It's the same Sunni block that lost power in 2003. The
years of destruction and deprivation have created more extremism. The Shiite
government installed by the US alienated them and though not all of them are
quite thrilled with ISIS, the real threat is Shiite regime in Baghdad.
It will
likely get worse. The Syria situation egged on by the United States has also
played a role. Israeli aggression toward the Palestinians has also played a
role.
The
US-backed Egyptian military overthrowing the Muslim Brotherhood has also
contributed to the anger of the region.
The window
afforded the United States an opportunity to get out. It was either then or be
there another twenty years. The rise of Sunni extremism created a situation
that is somewhat reminiscent of the Sino-Soviet split. A common enemy afforded
a rare basis for rapprochement with Iran and a chance to adjust the alignment
of the Middle East.
Obama took
the opportunity. There's was no possibility the status quo was going to hold,
neither politically or practically. From his standpoint at least now they use
surgical methods and arm proxies rather than have tens of thousands of American
troops in place.
I'm not suggesting that's somehow more
'moral'... it's just good old American pragmatism.
Obama wants
to turn his back on the Middle East and posture for a new theatre with China in
the Pacific, but he's trapped.
If there is
a person (or group) to be blamed for all the present turmoil in the Middle
East, it's Bush and those behind him who formed his ideas and crafted the
policy. Their understanding of the world was deficient and naive. The whole
basis for the war was rooted in deception, WMD's that didn't exist and an Al
Qaeda connection that was fabricated. It's not like people weren't saying it
back in 2002.
The Neo-cons
viewed Iraq as the stepping stone for their large-scale project to take out at
least a half-dozen countries. They were clueless and failed and yet they
haven't gone away. They'll be in the thick of it in 2016 and whispering in the ears
of not a few candidates. The objectives of the PNAC live on and still represent
a threat to the peace of the world.
The Arab
Spring was a rejection of US policy and the extremism of Al Qaeda style
Islamism. It has failed and generated a severe reaction. Syria and Libya are in
chaos. The uprisings in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have been suppressed. Iran
crushed its own dissent and ironically has come out rather well in all of this.
Bush and the Neo-cons destroyed the balance of power in the Middle East. Saddam
Hussein was the balancing force between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Tunisia, the
one success is in a fragile state. And Yemen is another society that has been
ripped apart. The United States has played a significant role in this and now
the country is in a state of civil war.
The video of
Bush is an embarrassment an indictment of his failures, a display of his 'stay
the course' ignorance. If the Americans still had tens of thousands of troops
in Iraq, the Middle East would still be in chaos. By now we might have seen the
Jordanians toppled and ISIS pouring into the West Bank. It's hard to imagine
but to think that keeping American troops in Iraq for another 5 or 10 years was
some kind of a viable option is to put ignorance on display.
Afghanistan
will also fail, another situation where the US is once more fighting old allies
like Hekmatyar... but the most dangerous situation is probably in Pakistan. The
United States has been meddling with Karachi since the 1980's and has worked
(advertently or inadvertently) to destabilize a very dangerously situated
nation.
Please tell
your friends and relatives to turn off FOX and start reading or watching some
better quality videos that will challenge your assumptions. You can't hear
which way the wind is blowing from inside an echo chamber and you'll never come
close to seeing the truth if you insist on being blinded by patriotic lenses.
As Christians we are citizens of the Kingdom of Truth. Anyone who puts another
allegiance on equal or superior ground is a traitor to Christ's Kingdom.
