Why Doesn't the USA Stop ISIS?
January 7, 2018
Alex Henderson, Periodista and Technical Writer
Back in the early 2000s, after the 9/11 attacks, a wide variety of people across the political spectrum (from right-wing libertarians Ron Paul and Justin Raimondo to liberal/progressive Ralph Nadar) warned that the neocons of the Bush Administration would be opening the floodgates of hell by overthrowing Saddam Hussein's dictatorship in Iraq. But the neocons were adamant: Hussein had to go, and neocons did everything they could to bully dissenters into silence. Ron Paul was demonized at Fox News. And at "liberal" MSNBC, Phil Donahue lost his talk show. Even Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton voted with the neocons.
Sure enough, the floodgates of hell were opened. And just as Ron Paul, Justin Raimondo, Nadar and so many others had warned, Iraq collapsed into tribalist violence and chaos. The Iraq War was, hands down, the greatest military blunder in the history of the U.S. Enter ISIS, an organization so violent and extreme that even al-Qaeda and the Taliban have been critical of their methods.
ISIS is a multi-headed beast, with very aggressive and far-reaching recruitment. While al-Qaeda tends to favor large, spectacular attacks (which are more difficult to coordinate), ISIS welcome all attacks, large or small. ISIS, in order to promote fear and panic, will even take false credit for attacks they didn't carry out.
Saddam Hussein was a brutal and vicious dictator, but he was also a secular dictator who was hated by al-Qaeda. Hussein was a secularist in a part of the world that needs more secularists, and the U.S. overthrew him. Very bad move.
Combating ISIS requires an international strategy, first-rate intelligence and strong cooperation between the U.S. and its allies. And the ideas of the neocons who gave us the failed Iraq War should be rejected because their imperialist nation-building fantasies will only make things worse.
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