General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe American Response to ISIS: They’re Patterns, Not Coincidences
The wide wake that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is leaving across the Levant is mysterious in a number of ways. How they have so easily overwhelmed a third of Syria and a quarter of Iraq is one. But perhaps most mysterious is the American response to the rise of the Islamic State. Though the ascendancy in the region of the very force the war on terror is supposed to eliminate from the region would seemingly be blipping away on the American radar, America was silent as ISIS advanced. And the only thing more mysterious than the American silence was the sudden explosion of that silence by the recent airstrikes on Iraq. Why was America so strangely silent as ISIS established the Islamic State, and why has America so suddenly changed its policy?
America does whatever it wants. So, if they did not oppose ISIS, its because they did not want to oppose ISIS. And, if they did not want to oppose ISIS, its because, somehow, the ISIS advance was consistent with American interests in the region.
What those interests might be can best be answered by looking at where that advance was. ISIS has poured through Syria, Iraq and is now trickling into Lebanon. Iraq, Syria and Lebanon are precisely Irans three great allies in the region. The pattern is not a coincidence. ISISs interests coincide perfectly with Americas. America has long been bent on removing Assad from Syria in order to isolate Iran. But Syria is no longer Irans greatest ally in the region: Nouri al-Malikis Iraq is. And America has for some time now been seeking a change of his regime as well. And Lebanon is home of Irans ally Hezbollah. Notice that if the pattern breaks and ISIS attacks Jordan, then Israel, and perhaps the States, would come to Jordans aid. Perhaps America has not stopped ISIS from doing its work because ISIS is simultaneously doing Americas work: regime change and weakening of Irans allies.
http://original.antiwar.com/Ted_Snider/2014/08/13/the-american-response-to-isis-theyrepatterns-notcoincidences/
Interesting article. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and sometimes it's not.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)Hard to know if his view about ISIS will turn out to be true, but thought he made some points to think further about. I wondered about the last minute hold on bombing Syria and how that facilitated Syria removing the WMD stockpiles, which was a good thing and we seem to be working with Iran to install the new puppet in Iraq, but then what?
This might get more views in "Good Reads," if you could post it there.
CJCRANE
(18,184 posts)The last decade is a continuum with a short break in Obama's first term when things seemed to be going in the opposite direction.
The neocon mouthpiece Murdoch was in trouble, Al Qaeda was on the run, the war in Iraq was wound down, we were talking to Russia and the economy was improving.
Now all of a sudden in the second term, everything is flipped 180 and all the same neocon memes from the Bush era are back with a vengeance bigger and stronger than ever.
All the dominoes we thought were being set up to fall in one direction were pushed in the exact opposite direction.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)sort of "Out of the Box" of thinking...and something to keep in mind..whether he's got an insight that works out or not. His other writings at the link are interesting reads, also...I thought, anyway. But, then I tend to like to read all kinds of opinions/views when I'm confused. With so much MSM disinfo and mis-reporting sometimes it's good to get out of that box and listen to other viewpoints.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)KoKo
(84,711 posts)He has some interesting other articles at the link.
Being a "Near Eastern Expert" doesn't make one infallible, either.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)But it does help one realize that a Sunni group like ISIL might have other interests in undermining the champion of Shi'a Islam than simply being American puppets.
Or that a group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant might have an interest in taking over Iraq and the Levant other than being American puppets.