This morning I spent an hour with Peter Boyles of KNUS Denver, discussing the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and its implications.
This morning I spent an hour with Peter Boyles of KNUS Denver, discussing the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and its implications.
John C. Barile says
Long life to an independent, secular, greater Kurdistan.
John C. Barile says
Islam certainly believes that unleashing “the steeds of war” is the preferred means of political discourse.
John C. Barile says
The jihadists’ Levant includes Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel.
John C. Barile says
Throw in Arabistan (adjacent to Iraq) in Iran.
John C. Barile says
And Kuwait–the jihadists’ envisioned Levantine caliphate, that is.
Cicero says
yes I agree that incorporation of the land of ISRAEL into the Middle East Caliphate may be part of the agenda. And yet…. And yet ISRAEL and her views appear to have been totally occluded from discussion, debate and perspective of the main stream media.
Why is that. Does any one know? DOES the world care what the people of ISRAEL think?
gravenimage says
Cicero, much of the world’s media, certainly, cares *nothing* for what the Israeli people think—or what sort of threat this fledgeling Caliphate presents to them.
This would be sickening in any case—and is much more so, considering Israel is the only democracy—and our only true ally—in the region.
Rather surprisingly, one of the few media outlets that addresses this at all is the Huffington Post:
“ISIS: What Does It Mean for Israel?”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronald-tiersky/isis-what-does-it-mean-fo_b_5489756.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics
John C. Barile says
The Ottomans Turks were the original, historic imperial power and overlords of the Arabs, Kurds, Armenians and others. The British and French are late-comers and short-lived custodians of long suppressed nations, riven by ancient rivalries and hatreds.
John C. Barile says
“Ottoman Turks.”
John C. Barile says
Peter Boyles overworks his Indochina analogy; he needs to work on a longer, less parochial, perspective.
John C. Barile says
He reminds me of Oliver Stone when he harps on it.
BW022 says
It has the same ‘feel’ to it. Only the timelines may be different…
1. It has the same sense of fatalism, hopelessness, and despair. The thousands of dead soldiers, the hundreds of thousands of dead civilians, the millions of refugees, trillions of dollars, diplomacy, time, effort, etc.
2. The realization that millions are doomed to awful lives despite all your promises. You lied to them and betrayed them. They would have been better to have just surrendered or lived they way they were.
3. You realize this was all predicted. Voices from all sides said what was going to happen. None of this needed to happen. You could have had a much better result… simply by doing nothing.
4. You realize that others will pay the price you started. Just like Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, etc. other nations in the area will fall after Iraq.
5. You realize that you will have to have this fight again. Your enemy is emboldened, you’ve depleted your resources and good will with allies, and you’ve show them how to defeat you.
6. You’ve lost faith in your leaders. You can no longer trust that your own government is able see the obvious folly of this and that they can deceive the American people (and others) to the point of doing this.
gravenimage says
Also, whatever its inevitable shortcomings, Western influence represented the high-water mark of comparative civilization in Dar-al-Islam.
The only reason places like Egypt, Iraq, the Levant, the Mahgreb, and the Sahel have had vestiges of comparative decency is the influence of Western law and cultural norms, which had lingered until fairly recently.
We still see vestiges in Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco, but it is is eroding fast in much of Dar-al-Islam.
First in Iran thirty years ago, the final bloody erosion of such norms has revealed Islam’s naked face unrestrained by any remaining civilizing norms—and we see things like the incipient Shari’ah state of ISIS, with decapitated heads lining the streets of Mosul. The horror…
John C. Barile says
Barack Hussein is the godfather of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams–thanks to his release of their “emir,” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from Camp Bucca in 2009. And Mr. Obama is the patron of the Ikhwan, the Muslim Brotherhood, both here and abroad.
John C. Barile says
Odd–I unintentionally omitted Mr. Obama’s surname. I guess that just shows how so reflexively racist and bigoted I must be. /sarc
Cicero says
The unfolding tragedy in Iraq. Seems like the outcome of one ‘s worst nightmare. hearing Peter Boyle’s good potted summary of the history of the Middle East provides the context of today’s ominous developments emanating out of hat area.
thank you Robert and Peter
John C. Barile says
ISIS’s al-Baghdadi broke with Zahahiri and al-Q central. Now I think I know why ISIS burned it bridges behind it and has gone for the brass ring–Awwad Ibrahim Ali al Badri (al Samarri), aka Abu Du’a claims to be a direct dscendant of Mohammed–THE Mohammed–http//:www.businessinsider.com/origin-of-isis-extremists-and-what-they-want-2014-6# .
John C. Barile says
http://www.businessinsider.com/origin-of-isis-extremists-and-what-they-want-2014-6#
John C. Barile says
“Burned its bridges behind it”
John C. Barile says
We know him by his nom de guerre–as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
John C. Barile says
Strike “direct” before “descendant.”
Kepha says
It’s probably too late to save any modicum of civilization in Iraq.
However, I honestly hope that in the next political cycles here in the USA, the conservatives take the gloves off and hammer the O administration–including former SecState Shrillary Shrooooo–why the advance of ISIS in Iraq is such a crisis when the O administration has been openly supportive of its counterparts in Syria? This tells me that the O and team’s foreign policy is downright incoherent and incompetent.
gravenimage says
Kepha wrote:
…why the advance of ISIS in Iraq is such a crisis when the O administration has been openly supportive of its counterparts in Syria?
………………………..
Very important point, Kepha. Right now, our “foreign policy” is more incoherent than ever.
And tragically, the political opposition such as John McCain—while perhaps more morally well-intentioned—is almost as irrational and inconsistent as the current administration.
Dark days…
voegelinian says
Reading through the comments here make me wonder if I’m reading Jihadica, rather than Jihad Watch, with all this learned “realism” about various Muslim factions supposed to be decent and democratic…
John C. Barile says
Realistically, you would prefer to fight a battle against one enemy at a time, not all at once. Realistically, Baathist Syria has been a Russian client state since the Cold War began in earnest–if you are a Christian, a Druze [who are notMuslim], or a Kurd [who are not Arab] who would you prefer, Assad or ISIS? And the Kurds owe the United States big time–they are natural enemies of Erdogan’s Turkey, the mullahs’ Iran–as they were to Saddam’s Iraq and his client, Mullah Krakkar’s Ansar al-Islam; as they are to al-Baghdadi’s ISIS. Sometimes, you need clients to do your dirty work for you–you find them where you can; sometimes it takes a dog to eat a dog.
voegelinian says
Of course in the short term while we continue to pursue a foreign policy that ignores the perennial, global jihad, it is in our interest to try to cultivate an awareness of Lesser Evils vs. Greater Evils, while hoping that our achingly glacial Learning Curve inches incrementally away from the TMOE paradigm (“Tiny Minority of Extremists”) and its closely related cousin, the TBMFMWANRAMBTSIJBRBSOPICLAOHOE paradigm (“The Bewilderingly Myriad Factions in the Muslim World Are Not Really Motivated By The Same Islamic Jihad But Rather By Some Other Pragmatic or Ideological Concerns Like All Other Humans on Earth”) and by doing so will over time help to imbue our pseudo-“realism” with a bit more Islamorealism.
“if you are a Christian, a Druze [who are notMuslim], or a Kurd [who are not Arab] who would you prefer, Assad or ISIS? ”
We should not care about Kurds or Druze (or any other individuals or groups deformed by Islam) and only use them for our geopolitical benefit.