The Iraq War Fueled the Destruction of the Middle East

[wvwvw]

The Iraq War Fueled the Destruction of the Middle East
The human and material costs of the war keep mounting
by César Chelala Posted on April 07, 2018

Fifteen years after it started, the Iraq war has nearly destroyed the country, one of the most prosperous in the Middle East, and destabilized the whole region by intensifying internecine and religious conflicts and giving rise to new and violent groups. And the human and material costs of the war keep mounting.

In addition to the American soldiers who were killed or injured, the war has had a considerable negative effect on the U.S. economy. The war has also had a negative impact on US troops’ morale There has also been a high rate of suicides prevalent among those returning from the war.

Like a malicious octopus, the ill-named Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) has extended its deadly tentacles into nearby countries, and turned the region into the unmanageable mess it is today. Major Danny Sjursen, a US Army strategist who fought in Iraq recently wrote, “That ill-fated farce of an invasion either created the conditions, or exacerbated the existing tensions, which inform today’s regional wars.”

The war has increased Sunni-Shiite tension, fostered the emergence of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and strengthened Iran as a military power in the region. Following the US led invasion, the Iraqi Shiite Arab majority took a central role in government, an unprecedented event in the Middle East, which also encouraged the Shiites across the region. In a persistent crisis, the Sunnis in Iraq rebelled against the Iraqi Shiites, launching a rebellion against them that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

There was no Al-Qaeda in Iraq before the US and British invasion. It first appeared in Iraq in 2004, when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi formed an alliance with Al-Qaeda, pledging his allegiance to Osama bin Laden in return for his endorsement as the leader of the group’s franchise in Iraq. Al-Qaeda’s main targets were Iraqi Shiites, whom they attacked during religious processions or at their mosques and shrines. After 2007, Al-Qaeda was considerably weakened after the US funded Sunni groups called “Awakening Councils” to expel this organization from Iraq.

Although less powerful than during its peak years, Al-Qaeda continues to be active in its violent activities, whose targets now also include Syria and Yemen. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemeni branch of Al-Qaeda, is now thriving in Yemen, taking advantage of the chaotic environment in the country. A ravaged country, Yemen continues to be one of the poorest countries in the world.

In Syria, Al-Qaeda still has a presence, albeit less powerful now. Jabhat al-Nusra, Al-Qaeda’s ideological heir, and Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group it formed, remain in eastern Ghouta, northern Hama and western Aleppo provinces, contributing to the prolongation of Syria’s bloody war.

At the same time, the militants of ISIS, the brutal offshoot of Al-Qaeda, have no restraints in pursuing brutal tactics to cement an Islamic emirate. In an ISIS propaganda video, after bulldozing the Syrian-Iraq border, an ISIS militant says, “We will break the barrier of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, all the countries. This is the first of many barriers we will break.”

The Iraq war has proved to be a disaster for the Middle East. The destruction of Iraq, Syria, the ravaging of Yemen and a region swamped in weapons are connected, either directly or indirectly, to the Iraq war. It may be tempting to think that the war had some redeeming value. However, considering its consequences, one can only conclude that nothing will assuage the savage wounds of this senseless war.

Dr. César Chelala is an international public health consultant and a winner of several journalism awards.

[StonyArabia]

It certainly did. The Iraq war destabilized Syria and in turn lead to the refugee crisis. I have said this ok here many times. The Americans regret the war, so does Britain. It was a cowardly war. The traitors who helped the Anglo-American are working as janitors or low end jobs a humiliation they shall endure in their beloved West lol.My people the SyrianDesert Iraqi Bedouins of the western regions resisted and never bowed down, even when we were being genocided. We might have lost but we lost with honor. That war was not for any humanitarian reason which is lie to get public support in the West, it had geopolitical implications, and plans which are unfolding as we speak. The U.S even backstapped its loyal allies and proxies in the region, to me as an Iraqi Bedouin it's something that gave me a little amusement because that what traitors deserve.

[ovidiu]

There's no doubt that it contributed greatly to the mess there now, although there are deep roots to every problem. Saddam at least did keep order and the relative vaccuum of strong power after him left things open for terrorists/extremists. But no use dwelling on the past. What's the best way to bring about some degree of stability? Isis is dwindling militarily but that doesn't mean everything is better; institutions and leaders imposed by the West, coupled with prolonged military presence won't guarantee anything. There need to be effective power-sharing arrangements partly along the lines of religious groups, and maybe more local authority in some areas. Then there's the Kurdish question, Turkey's role in the region. The rivalry between Saudis and Iranians is another problem now. Not to mention Israel and the still ongoing Syria conflict (and Russia's involvement).

[Massagetae]

Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. You can thank America and Israel.

https://s9.postimg.org/cbvy19pyn/duhhhhhhh.jpg (https://postimages.org/)imagen (https://postimages.org/)

[AK-47]

Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. You can thank America and Israel.

https://s9.postimg.org/cbvy19pyn/duhhhhhhh.jpg (https://postimages.org/)imagen (https://postimages.org/)
Islam Fueled the Destruction of the Middle East.;)
Muhammad was a genocidal pedophile and his Koran reads like a hybred of a Stephen King horror novel and Hitler's Mein Kampf.
Keep pushing the west and WE will bury you all.
The EU is an inch away collapsing and taking severe action against the Muslim invaders that have destroyed once great cities like Berlin/Paris and London.
Turks have surely worn out their welcome in Germany, bet the Finnish aren't thrilled with you either.

[Massagetae]

Islam Fueled the Destruction of the Middle East.;)
Muhammad was a genocidal pedophile and his Koran reads like a hybred of a Stephen King horror novel and Hitler's Mein Kampf.
Keep pushing the west and WE will bury you all.
The EU is an inch away collapsing and taking severe action against the Muslim invaders that have destroyed once great cities like Berlin/Paris and London.
Turks have surely worn out their welcome in Germany, bet the Finnish aren't thrilled with you either.

Are you one those real jews or one the fake European/caucasian Khazar jews?

[Massagetae]

Also real Jews have nothing to do with the West except robbing it blind. Very similar to a parasite attaching itself to a host.

[AK-47]

Are you one those real jews or one the fake European/caucasian Khazar jews?
Got me.
Don't care one way or another.
Tell you one thing though, we will never give Israel up.
All of you can die trying to destroy us.
I wish you all the best of luck.
Are you a central Asian Turk that lays claim to Anatolia as your homeland?
Anatolia is land that YOU have no ancient ancestral ties to...:wink

[Sean-Jobst]

The EU is an inch away collapsing and taking severe action against the Muslim invaders that have destroyed once great cities like Berlin/Paris and London. Turks have surely worn out their welcome in Germany, bet the Finnish aren't thrilled with you either.

That may be and is true, but its YOUR people who guilt/shamed against our German people with your alleged holocaust, and using your influence in Allied countries to get those countries to destroy our Deutschland, milking our people out of countless "reparations" every year and always bringing up the holocaust to shame/guilt Germans into accepting the demographic destruction of our own ancestral homeland. It is subversive pro-Israel loyalist Zionist Jews within Germany like Gregor Gysi, Anetta Kahane and Josef Schuster who are at the forefront of these pro-immigration policies forced upon Germany! They are very open about their motives and it is because they have vengeance against Germans and want to see any traces of self-respecting German pride and heritage be erased.

What these mostly-Muslim migrants are now doing to Germany are little different from what your kinsmen such as Henry Morgenthau, Theodor Kaufman and those who call us "Amalekites" have already desired for a long time. They are pawns and you all are cut from the same anti-German cloth!

[StonyArabia]

Also real Jews have nothing to do with the West except robbing it blind. Very similar to a parasite attaching itself to a host.

Actually they used their European slaves very well in the Iraq war I must say. Yet when the refugee problem occurred because of the Iraq war which lead to this situation, they are whining about it.

[Anthony PV]

Actually they used their European slaves very well in the Iraq war I must say. Yet when the refugee problem occurred because of the Iraq war which lead to this situation, they are whining about it.
You would have preferred to see euros use military force against refugees instead? :)

[StonyArabia]

You would have preferred to see euros use military force against refugees instead? :)

No, what I am saying I don't feel sympathetic for the refugee crisis after they have done the Iraq war. So it's part of you reap what you sow

[Anthony PV]

No, what I am saying I don't feel sympathetic for the refugee crisis after they have done the Iraq war. So it's part of you reap what you sow
So, all euros are responsible for the Iraq war... while your people are innocent little angels... :rolleyes:

[Sean-Jobst]

Actually they used their European slaves very well in the Iraq war I must say. Yet when the refugee problem occurred because of the Iraq war which lead to this situation, they are whining about it.

I agree with you and I was an active opponent of the Iraq War and the entire Neocon agenda at the time, despite only being a teen at the time. Yet I will add that the number of Iraqi and Syrian refugees among the migrants into Europe are very small. So I see it as a different problem, although the advocates of the mass-immigration want us to think its mostly refugees and not economic migrants - to polarize one side of the dialectic into feeling sorry for them and thus embracing their cultural/demographic invasion; and to polarize the other side of the dialectic into identifying the traditional enemies of Israel - Palestinians, Syrians and Iraqis - as their enemies and thus be continuous cash cows and cannon fodder for wars for Israel. But certainly the vacuum created by the Iraq War was later used both to create Daesh and fuel the destabilization of Syria. Phase Two of the Oded Yinon Plan and the Neocons' "Clean Break" memo to Netanyahu.

Yet, how can you justify the fact that the countries primarily being inundated with this migrant crisis - Germany, France, Sweden, Belgium - or otherwise suffering the consequences of it, so happen to be the ones who opposed and had nothing to do with the Iraq War? You seem to lump them in with others simply because they're also white Europeans.

[StonyArabia]

So, all euros are responsible for the Iraq war... while your people are innocent little angels... :rolleyes:

A significant portion of them are. The British, Australian, Poles, Dutch and some Eastern Euro nations participated in the destructive war. My people were living relatively in peace and minding their own business, until the Anglo-American invasion happened. My people put strong resistance to it, and they could not subdue us, in fact we inflicted several defeats on them, until they did cowardly tactics. Not to mention we might have lost but we lost in honor. They also indirectly caused my people to be displaced, and even get attacked by their proxies, hence why many of us left to Oman, UAE, Qatar, and Saudi, well others went to North America and Britian ironically. They also bullied unwilling Arab nations to due their bidding and not to mention Iran also played a very large and helped the Anglo-American effort, so no it's not only the Euros, but they are the ones who waged the war and the none the less called it a Crusade

[Anthony PV]

A significant portion of them are. The British, Australian, Poles, Dutch and some Eastern Euro nations participated in the destructive war. My people were living relatively in peace and minding their own business, until the Anglo-American invasion happened. My people put strong resistance to it, and they could not subdue us, in fact we inflicted several defeats on them, until they did cowardly tactics. Not to mention we might have lost but we lost like honor. They also indirectly caused my people to be displaced, and even get attacked. They also bullied unwilling Arab nations to due their bidding and not to mention Iran also played a very large and helped the Anglo-American effort, so no it's not only the Euros, but they are the ones who waged the war and the none the less called it a Crusade
:bored: Yada, yada, yada... :bored: Your people also committed crimes and atrocities... just like every human 'tribe' that has existed on this planet, so stop spamming us with your hypocritical 'we-are-holier-than-thou' bullshit... :coffee:

[Dragoon]

Groups behind the Iraq War

1. PNAC/American Enterprise Institute
Neocons linked with Israel. Most of them were Jewish "intellectuals". Oded Yinon Plan. etc.

William Kristol, Co-founder and Chairman[6]
Robert Kagan, Co-founder[6]
Bruce P. Jackson[6]
Mark Gerson[6]
Randy Scheunemann[6]
Elliott Abrams[5]
Gary Bauer[5]
William J. Bennett[5]
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush[5]
Dick Cheney[5]
Eliot A. Cohen[5]
Midge Decter[5]
Paula Dobriansky[5]
Steve Forbes[5]
Aaron Friedberg[5]
Francis Fukuyama[5]
Frank Gaffney[5]
Fred C. Ikle[5]
Donald Kagan[5]
Zalmay Khalilzad[5]
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby[5]
Norman Podhoretz[5]
J. Danforth Quayle[5]
Peter W. Rodman[5]
Stephen P. Rosen[5]
Henry S. Rowen[5]
Donald Rumsfeld[5]
Vin Weber[5]
George Weigel[5]
Paul Wolfowitz[5]


2. CSIS

Most of the names youve never heard of.
Former members: Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, William Cohen, George Argyros and Brent Scowcroft.


3. CFR

Colin Powell
Dick Cheney (also AEI)
Elliot Abrams

Many presidents, candidates and others were part of this group:


Bill Clinton (42nd President); Hillary Clinton was also a member
George H.W. Bush (41st President)
Jimmy Carter (39th President)
Gerald Ford (38th President)
Richard Nixon (37th President)
Herbert Hoover (31st President)

Kerry, Mccain, Gingrich, Joe Lieberman, Albright and many more.