A few Bullets About ISIS

With all the Jingo crazy bullshit in the media right now hopefully this can shed a little light on a complex and difficult situation

ISIS rose out of the civil war in Syria. They were not created by the US government. Their funding (prior to looting Iraq) came predominantly from Saudi Arabia and other pro Sunni, anti Assad governments and organizations in the region.

ISIS exploited a major security flaw in Iraq in that they gambled a Shea dominated Iraqi military wouldn't fight Sunnis over the predominantly Sunni Region of Iraq, and they nailed it. Many Iraqis don't view Syrians as foreign and  have family and business ties with Syria. Much of ISIS ranks aren't Syrian but many of them are and they are viewed as the defenders of Islam by a great many people in the Muslim world.

Iraq was, and is, in essence a failed state the US spent billions of dollars propping up after the US invasion which proved to be a fiasco. Revenge,Reprisals and corruption of a brutal type most Americans have never seen have predominated Iraqi life for decades. It merely changed players after Saddam's rule. 

Establishing Sharia law under a caliphate is a widely popular idea in much of the Islamic world. They've a tragic history of brutal dictatorships as well as western and communist power meddling at the barrel of a gun. Middle eastern people have one of the longest histories in the world and it is full of foreign invaders imposing foreign ideas onto them which they have always resisted. Middle eastern people know, at least their version of their own history quite well and take a great deal of pride in it. Telling historical stories of great kings, sheiks and warriors is a hugely popular past time in the middle east. It's long been the way their history is handed down.

 

The west has gotten a skewed impression of what a caliphate is from the Taliban version our media  presented.The Taliban were far more interested in holding power through intimidation than they were sharia law. ISIS isn't likely to be any different.

The American press pushes "Jingoism"(very pro war) in the early stages of any kind of armed conflict then turns pacifist when the conflict gets ugly. "Support the troops, not the war" was a slightly bizarre (it was to us Marines fighting that f*****g war) slogan the press invented that encapsulated these two conflicting points of view. 

President Obama was politically stung by the Afghanistan troop surge which was not the success the Iraqi troop surge was and he has shown restraint with the use of military force since.

The reluctance of US middle eastern allies to participate in any actual fighting is motivated by Sunni dominated regions, such as Saudi Arabia not wanting to fight other Sunnis, Assad's massive unpopularity in much of the Muslim world,much of the Arab media favoring ISIS and a host of other complex local political rivalries. Despite the very real threat ISIS poses to the regions governments.

At present ISIS poses no real threat to US homeland security. The rhetoric coming from the far right is nothing more than conspiracy theory nonsense in an effort to  court the tin foil hat wearing crack pot vote the far right created. ISIS does pose a threat to US interests in the region by posing a threat to US middle eastern allies.

Airstrikes, while effective at disrupting supply lines, defensive positions, communication and control and stalling ground assaults aren't enough to completely eliminate a determined enemy. This is particularly true if you're trying to minimize collateral damage, which in the middle of a war isn't possible. An ugly reality many westerners find all but impossible to embrace.

"Moderate Rebels" A term the white house has been throwing around is a bit of a misnomer. Extremist ideas and ideologies bloom from extreme conditions such as war, violence, brutality and injustice. The Ideology driving ISIS is common throughout the Muslim world where these conditions exist. The idea that people experiencing the extreme violence of war, particularly the young men doing the fighting are somehow immune to an extremist ideology, is absurd. 

To most Sunni's Assad and the Alawite minority he represents in Syria aren't true Muslims and Assad's war against the Syrian people is a genocide perpetrated by a hideously evil monster. As in many civil wars throughout history the Syrian conflict will likely end in a genocidal slaughter of the losers carried out by the victors in an effort to "cleanse" the land of infidels. 

The real threat with ISIS isn't so much the privately held army presently occupying regions of Syria and Iraq. It's the ideology that drives them. It's easy to kill people, killing an ideology next to impossible. 

An assault such as the one the US launched on Afghanistan in 2001 would definitely push ISIS out of Iraq, and quickly, but such an assault would require US ground troops. 

President Obama, sensitive as he's always been to political winds knows how badly such an assault could back fire at home if US ground forces are put into the position they were forced into during the Iraqi occupation, which is likely. (What's the old cliche? Two dumb f**k moves don't make a right? Something like that.) 

ISIS and the ideology that drives them isn't going to fade from the Muslim world for decades if not centuries. It took two world wars for European nationalism to be destroyed as an ideology so we can expect the same insanity to continue in the middle east. 

The US assault on ISIS is going to be viewed very unfavorably by much of the Muslim world. Presently it's unclear if US ISIS policy will have any impact to the region's stability. If past US policy is any judge it could be yet another failed opportunity for the US to achieve any sort of real victory in a region of the world where any form of traditional victory is all but impossible. Only time will tell. 

Author's Note

Is president Obama doing the right thing taking on ISIS? In the short term, probably. Long term, probably not. The American public doesn't have the stomach for a protracted conflict and that's what this is likely going to turn into. Big WWII style victories are resigned to history and modern conflict has an unfortunate habit of dragging on indefinitely. The end isn't in site because it never was.

Reviews

[rach]

Vice posted a fascinating doco on IS, they were invited in and shown around by IS troops, fascinating insight into their side.

[Baby Ricochet]

Just like the TV show cops which full title should be Cops, on their best behavior

[rach]

haha yeah, still interesting to see, scary it doesn't exactly show a beautiful way of life. They don't shy away from telling you people are being beheaded etc its a little gruesome at times, all media is skewed to show what the people reporting want you to see, I believe that you need to look at a subject from as many angles as possible to start to see the big picture.
If you haven't seen it its really worth a watch.

[Pól]

Isis grew out of post invasion Iraq ( not the Syrian conflict) due to the us's decision to demobilise the Iraqi army, + and the new Iraqi administrations exclusion of the Sunni community.
Your article doesn,t mention the a central reason for the continuing rise of jihadist ideology; the persecution of Palestinians by Israel,and us support for its crimes

[Baby Ricochet]

If you're referring to Paul Bremmer's 03 decision to disband the Iraqi army there's no direct connection between that decision and ISIS. There is a connection between the destabilization of Iraq, which disbanding the Iraqi army was one in a series of bad decisions that lead to that failure. In the Muslim world, particularly in the middle east proper, Israeli conspiracy theories range from the plausible, such as Israel creating computer virus to derail the Iranian nuclear program, to the ridiculous, such as Mussad putting drugs in a local water supply in an effort to give the local fighters vertigo so they couldn't aim their weapons properly. ISIS leaders, like just about every group of motivated demigods who ever wanted to take over the world are interested in power at the barrel of a gun. ISIS would subjugate the Palestinians as quickly as they would anyone if it suit their aims. When I was serving in Iraq one of the things we quickly learned was leaders of opposing militias were quick to talk the talk (what our negotiators wanted to hear)to get us off their backs long enough to organize an ambush. After a few months of that kind of treachery, you stop listening and start viewing the world through your rifle site. Much of the atrocities committed in the mist of war comes from that mind set.

[Baby Ricochet]

When I came home from my first deployment to Iraq I saw American news coverage of the place we had just spent 15 months sweating fighting and dying in. I soon discovered the American press was covering very little of what was really happening. News coverage at the time was a bizarre combination of jingoism, pacifism and of course the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, which was all over the media at the time. What was going on on the ground didn't seem important to the American press unless it was sensational and the talking heads could get a lot of mileage out of it. I found that distressing. The right wing media in this country thrives on xenophobic conspiracy theories and a conviction that President Obama has caused every ill that's ever inflicted man kind so we've a big propaganda problem here. Sometimes it's hard for people to see through all the crazy talk to what's real. I wrote this in an effort to shed some light on this subject. When you post something on this site that isn't poetry it needs to be short, (that's why I wrote it in bullets.It's easier to read that way) and not to much detail. You do have some valid points as do I so I suggest you write your own piece on this subject. If you do please be sure to RR it to me. I would love to read it.

[Kayja Symphious]

I agree. The idea of the U.S. achieving any kind of victory in that region is too hopeful. The amount of hatred, in such regions, goes far beyond the comprehension of most U.S. citizens. Not to mention their distrust of western civilizations. Some of this distrust is justified, but the rest comes down a pipeline of lies and exaggerations.

I know this is a sad thing to say, but I don't see peace coming to the middle east. There is far too much money, and far too much power there. Couple that with strong religious believes, and you've got a recipe for disaster.

Nice article. I enjoyed reading it.

[Baby Ricochet]

Thanks for stopping by

[Matching Socks]

So it's like a short term band aid fix to stop the bleeding but the wound will never heal and eventually become one big pain in the long term a*s?

See how I tried to act all smart there and pretend like I know what the hell I'm talking about?
Those people below me, what they all said...

Hey, wanna go for ice cream?

[Baby Ricochet]

I'll take chocolate.

[Matching Socks]

Had you pegged for a rocky road kinda guy...

[Rita L. Sev]

You really are an honest resource for current events, Mark - thank you for this. I have a bit more understanding, though I still don't have any answers...

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you Rita

[Marie]

I've never understood ISIS. But since reading this, I don't understand it a little better. If that makes sense.


I'm with Frieda and KL

[Baby Ricochet]

Thanks Marie

[Frieda P]

Not sure what the answer is, or if there are any good alternatives. Thanks for sharing this Mark, I'm with KL..you've got my vote.

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you Frieda

[Lyn Anderson]

It seems like the same mistakes are repeated, over and over to the same result, no matter who is in power. When will they ever learn. Thanks, Baby, when are you running for office?

[Baby Ricochet]

My political opponents would have a field day with my less than boy scout like back ground.

[A. Amos]

Thanks for sharing the indepth details...this was informative and powerful!

[Baby Ricochet]

Thank you Amos

[AprilRN1210]

"It is easy to kill people, killing an ideology is next to impossible.".... very true.... it is complex and there is no easy fix... I think it also is going to take the right amount of brains and balls... recent years it has been a teeter totter with too much of one and not enough of the other... I enjoyed this piece, informative, real, and honest...

[Baby Ricochet]

Yes. Many, many, many mistakes have been made.