Our essential error has been to not understand the mind of the middle eastern peoples.
First, according the Bible, you will never be able to tame the Arab (Gen. 16:12). So our assumption that if we remove a brutal dictator will result in a free, ordered democratic process was pure foolishness.
Second, islam is islam. Set them free to follow sharia, and they’ll do sharia in the most delightful ways. We somehow thought that they wouldn’t. Either that, or we knew and and we’re enablers.
Third, any tribal or people group feuds or hatreds in the region go way way back. We think we can bomb and kill a few, and they’ll be peaceful. We have no idea how deep the hate is. And now they hate us.
Fourth, we didn’t have a cohesive stable replacement for Saddam and Momar.
If you believe that the God of Israel is sovereign and is going somewhere with this, then this becomes a most interesting series of events.
You absolutely get to the ultimate truth of the matter referencing Gen. 16:12
Only He has the solution to all this and it will be on His terms. Currently, in order to hopefully prod/lead us back on track to Him, He is utilizing Ishmael’s descendants as a form of punishment upon our nation until we, as a people, repent.