First Complex Attack by ISIS in Baghdad

Sofrep ^ | 9/19/2014 | Peter Nealen

[Justa]

Absolutely. ISIS ‘became what it is’ because Maliki, Al Sadr, Shia leaders and the Sunnis staunchly opposed a SOFA and continued US troop presence (2005 - 2006). Then when Dems took Congress in 2007 the Demoratic Congress gutted Iraq and Afghanistan Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding. These two together assired the removal of US troops -who had successfully suppressed ISIS ne: Al Qaeda in Iraq by July 2007. The OCO cuts were so bad that for 2007 DoD had to cut existing programs such as the F-22, Littoral combat ships, etc. just to cover OCO costs.

Thanks to Jack Murtha, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid gutting OCO funds Bush could not continue to haggle with Maliki and the Sunnis’ insistence on no US troops. No US troops and a corrupt Maliki’s abuse of the ‘winner take all’ Iraqi Parliamentarian structure ensured the rise of ISIS. Baghdadi’s claim of ‘restoring the balance’ makes sense in this respect. In 2007 we should have gone with the Kurds and insisted on a weak central government and autonomous, federated states but we didn’t have the support from the Iraqi government or Congress. So the dye was cast. Many predicted the resulting destabilization and violence.

[grania]

You're leaving out the part about regime change in Libya, Iraq, and Syria. US policy created power vacuums, then filled them with arms, training, and financing that ended up with ISIS. And we're STILL looking for moderate radicals in Syria!

The problem began to spin out of control with GWB and regime change. It's never been a good policy. Meanwhile, we still support Saudi Arabia and work to get Assad out of power. This would give ISIS a corridor to the Med...say goodbye to Lebanon.

[Chgogal]

I did not know this. BTTT