Posts

The hidden hand behind the Islamic State militants? Saddam Hussein’s. - WP | The 'seeds of Iraq's unraveling' were sown in 2003, not 2010 (+video)

Image
The 'seeds of Iraq's unraveling' were sown in 2003, not 2010 (+video) Wednesday April 8 th , 2015  at  11:14 AM Christian Science Monitor | Backchannels 1 Share The dangerous fantasy that Iraq was on the brink of a new democratic era in 2010 – if only the Obama administration had leaned harder on Iraq's politicians – just won't die. And it's a matter of more than historical interest, with America announcing today further support for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, and amid ongoing efforts to find a military solution to the civil war in Syria.  The oft-told premise is that the US had enormous amounts of "leverage" over Iraqi politicians that Barack Obama simply refused to exercise and that had he done so, he would have left Iraq safe and prosperous, and prevented the rise of the Islamic State. And so you end far from the Obama-era notion that "getting neck deep in Middle Eastern wars can be a dangerous thin