Viet Nam Human Rights
»
Analysis-Comment
»
home
»
political-social
»
ISIS – The outcome of U.S. interventions
ISIS – The outcome of U.S. interventions
4/11/14
In response to advances by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
(abbreviated ISIL, ISIS, and also called the Islamic State) militants in June
and July 2014, many states began to intervene in the ongoing civil wars in Syria
and Iraq. Rapid territorial
gains from ISIL military operations in Iraq and Syria in the first half of 2014
combined with internationally condemned brutality, reported human rights abuses, and
fear of further spillovers of the Syrian Civil War
caused many countries to consider interventions. The United States started sending (non-operational)
troops to Iraq
in the midsummer of 2014, and began a large-scale air campaign over the region
starting that August. With different agendas and political considerations in a
complex situation, countries have approached intervening in the two civil war
conflicts in different ways, and to different degrees.
Here, we don’t talk about future of
this war but let’s dig into its roots which, in my opinion, is U.S.
interventions.
The Carter
Doctrine set the United States on the course of increased military intervention
in the Middle East in general and Iraq in particular. Carter’s successor Ronald
Reagan continued funding and arming the Islamic fundamentalist forces in
Afghanistan, including the founder of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden.6 He
also backed Saddam Hussein’s war against Iran that, while it ended in a
stalemate, led to the slaughter of well over a million people.
In 2003 of President George W. Bush
conducted war strategy which aimed to overthrew the stable government of Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein, who had never attacked or threatened this country,
based on lies that president told the American people and the world that the
Iraqi leader had “weapons of mass destruction” which threatened the United States.
No such weapons were ever found.
Obama called the Iraq War, which at one
time he opposed, a “success,” and “an extraordinary achievement.” He bragged
that it left behind “a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a
representative government that was elected by its people.” In reality, the US wasted $3 trillion, 4,500 soldiers, and
another 30,000 wounded to wreck Iraq.
One million Iraqis’ lives were sacrificed for the sake of imperial control over
oil. The war left behind a Shia dictatorship ruling over a society rent by
sectarian conflict, and the region on the verge of an even deeper crisis.
The 2003 invasion
of Iraq
was supposed to bring about democracy and improved rights for Iraqi citizens –
or at least bring cheap oil access to George W. Bush’s corporate friends. An
important target was to overcome the “Vietnam Syndrome” – to get the U.S. population used to new military adventures
to secure profits for U.S.
corporations all around the globe.
Now, Iraq is divided into three: Kurdish forces
control the north; the Iraqi government – with the help of Iran – controls the south and west, which are
deeply divided between Shia and Sunni people; and the Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria
(ISIS, sometimes referred to as IS or ISIL) holds the remainder. This is a
nightmare of bloody sectarian, religious, and nationalist divisions for the
people and a complete failure even from the cynical point of view of those who
started this war for oil. As the Committee for a Workers International said in
2003, the invasion of Iraq
would represent the beginning of its dismemberment. This process now seems
irreversible. Instead of overcoming the aversion of the U.S. population to imperialist wars, there is
now a new “Iraq Syndrome,” with a huge unwillingness of U.S. workers
and youth to fight the capitalist elite´s wars.
The beheadings by ISIS have shocked the world. The brutal acts of ISIS,
condemned by socialists, have also forced President Obama’s hand, and the
U.S. and other Western
powers have hastily drawn up a three-year plan to yet again carry out military
actions in Iraq.
But the growth of ISIS directly flows from the bloody history of U.S.
intervention. In attempting to create stable, friendly regimes, U.S.
imperialism has conjured up a nightmare for the people of the region and
created new monsters it can´t control.
This radical
so-called “Islamic” front was created by Western interests is widely known
among Arab scholars. “Missing (from the outrage over ISIS’s actions) has been
any acknowledgement of the integral role of covert U.S. and British regional
military intelligence strategy in empowering and even directly sponsoring the
very same virulent Islamist militants in Iraq, Syria and beyond, that went on
to break away from al-Qaeda and form ‘ISIS,’ the Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria, or now simply, the Islamic State.
The fact can’t be refuted. ISIS was
born of Western intervention in Iraq
and covert action in Syria.
This Frankenstein-like experiment of arming the alleged freedom-seeking Syrian
opposition created the monster that roams the region. ISIS and the U.S. have a
curious relationship—mortal enemies that, at the same time, benefit from some
of the same events. The U.S.
is being played.”
In a long speech
on the Senate floor, the Kentucky Republican laid out his foreign policy
vision, and took transparent swipes at members of his own party. Rand Paul
criticized both the Bush and Obama administrations for interventionist
tendencies, blaming the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria on past meddling
in the Middle East. “Intervention”, he said,
"toppled secular dictators, leading to the radical jihadist groups of
today in places like Libya.There were no weapons of mass destruction, that
Hussein, Qadhafi, and Assad were not a threat to us. Doesn't make them good,
but they were not a threat to us. Assad is not a good guy, but he’s a thousand
times better than these Wahabis, jihadis, salifists, and this ISIS
group.”
"Intervention
created this chaos," he said. "To those who wish unlimited
intervention and boots on the ground everywhere, remember the smiling poses of
politicians pontificating about so-called freedom fighters and heroes in Libya, in Syria,
and in Iraq.
Unaware that the so-called freedom fighters may well have been allied with
kidnappers and are killers and jihadists."
It is the
political consensus between informed and disinterested parties almost
everywhere that whatever America
does in this latest conflict, it will not bring order or solve the basic
problem. Even if IS can be destroyed, its destruction will be meaningless
because America
has no intention of filling the resulting a vacuum and is reluctant to allow
the rise of any state that can.
The U.S.
established itself as the dominant capitalist power, and as “the world’s
policeman.” It was able to use its military and political power to influence
other nations and enrich the U.S.
ruling class. However, recently the U.S. government has not been able
to exert its influence to the same extent and has faced a number of humiliating
setbacks./.
Popular Posts
-
Religion is a part of the spiritual life in society, this phenomenon of the superstructure has been strongly changed with economic - social... -
Vietnam has just done well for the second cycle of Universal Periodical Review (UPR) in Geneva, Switzerland. So, what’s the UPR? an... -
Thai people in Shutdown Bangkok protests Not until this crisis, we have realized the ne... -
Representatives from foreign countries congratulate Viet Nam on its election to the Human Rights Council for the first time on November ... -
A street flowers vendor in Hanoi Another new spring has come to Vietnam, bring... -
If nothing changes, there will be a preferential credit program with hundreds of thousands billion of capital for agriculture and r... -
Recently, several anti-governmental individuals have established series of illegal groups and organizations in the name of civil soci... -
Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a private, nonprofit international broadcasting agency of the United States government that broadcasts and...
All comments [ 10 ]
That's what U.S. democracy and human rights values would bring. Don't be deceived by them, be yourself and you'll be ok.
ISIS militants are so brutal and barbarous, and what could the great U.S. policeman do? Nothing, just air strikes and watch!
A fact can't be denied that ISIS was born of U.S. and Western intervention in Iraq and covert action in Syria.
Assad is not a good guy, but he’s a thousand times better than these Wahabis, jihadis, salifists, and this ISIS group.
The U.S. now is afraid of getting bogged down in another war in the Middle East.
Intervention created this chaos and aware that the so-called freedom fighters may well have been allied with kidnappers and are killers and jihadists.
The U.S. finally gets tired of involving in other countries' internal affairs, so stop getting your nose into others' home, Uncle Sam!
whatever America does in this latest conflict, it will not bring order or solve the basic problem. Even if IS can be destroyed, its destruction will be meaningless because America has no intention of filling the resulting a vacuum and is reluctant to allow the rise of any state that can.
The U.S. has had a lesson for their owns from that.
For those who still believe in American dreams of democracy and human rights, that ISIS is a gift for them.
Your comments