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On a recent Ricochet Podcast, Noah Rothman averred that the Iraq War was successful, as, at least eventually, it resulted in a reasonably stable Iraqi government that is not totalitarian and not terrorist. He did not really include any commentary about why that is the case.
George W. Bush initiated the war on the grounds of WMD in the possession of Saddam, which was not verified. After the initial invasion, chaos broke out, and Petraeus had to rescue the peace with the invasion of Fallujah, etc. That left a tenuous peace in the region that was quickly destroyed by Obama, with his evacuation of Iraq followed by his arming of the faction in the Syrian war that morphed into ISIL (as Obama called the group).
Obama had help arming that group from Turkey (Erdogan, his favorite world leader). Even John McCain, or particularly John McCain, knew that that was a very bad idea and tried to stop it, unsuccessfully. ISIL then promptly took over a massive area in the middle of the Middle East. Obama created an almost impossible situation that threatened Baghdad and the entire region. It looked as if the entire Middle East was going up in flames.
Then Trump was unexpectedly elected President. Eventually, he gave Jim Mattis the task of destroying ISIL and let him do it. In short order, ISIL was completely destroyed. Completely. Annihilated. And it has not regrouped or been reconstituted. The governing system put in place by the end of the Bush Administration has more or less held.
I would assert that Trump's annihilation of ISIL is the principal reason Iraq has remained more or less stable ever since. Even with the advent of Biden. Apparently, enough of the terrorists were eliminated that ISIL could not be reconstituted.
Trump, with the help of Mattis, demonstrated what thus far has been the only effective approach to dealing with such terrorist entities. I would advise the same approach to Hamas. Netanyahu and Israel, and many others, have seemed to agree but Israel also seems to be wavering, as opinion in Israel seems more focused on the return of hostages than the destruction of Hamas. And as the world collapses into a fervor of pro-terrorist mass psychosis, Israel's task becomes increasingly difficult. Netanyahu continues to insist that Hamas will be destroyed. We shall see.
I wonder if Noah would agree with my perspective. As a very astute observer of the international scene, and particularly of the events in Israel, his comments on this would be very much of interest.
Discussion (9)
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Very interesting topic. The destruction of ISIS (I prefer the real term as opposed to what Obama preferred) is one of the great unsung victories in the Middle-East, not just for America, but for all the Muslim countries. Also, the triumph of Iraq's stable democracy is an even greater hidden story. There are people even on this site who completely dismiss the idea that Iraq is a democracy, and some who aren't even aware of it.
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As an alternate theory, consider that terrorist groups persist as long as they have a sponsor. Sponsors provide means and motivation to a group of idle men, which seem to be great supply in the Middle East. Perhaps ISIL lost their sponsor as Iraq stabilized. Perhaps Hamas can only be vanquished after they have lost their sponsor(s).
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They originally called themselves Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). Then they changed their name to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), probably because they figured a lot of people don't know what "Levant" means. Then I think they changed it again, to just Islamic State because they seemed to think that their empire would keep on expanding and they reckoned they would get tired of changing the name each time they took over another country. So Obama was a little behind the times, just like the people who still refer to The Ukraine.
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Some theorized that Obama didn't want Syria to be associated with a terrorist group, hence using the acronym with Levant. But then he unfairly associated pianist Oscar Levant with terrorism.......My brain still lurches into writing "The" Ukraine, but then I catch myself............
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Yeah.
I think its great that Noah and the posts author are ignoring the fact that Iraq is now controlled by Iranian backed militias.
As to the destruction of Isil under Trump/Mattis, I am currently reading a book that shows it was Syria/Russia that did the dirty work along with Iran while, America was the one who armed up Isis.
Also now that Saudi Arabia is making peace with Iran to the point that like two weeks ago their relative heads of state met for the first time since the fall of the Shah. How was any of this in the interest of the West?
Its not.
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