Cafeoutdoors.com: McClellan on Syria, Isis

Pretty much nails it:

Bill McClellan - St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept 24.

I pay little attention to quantum physics, religion or international affairs, and consequently, I hardly ever write about them. But let me make an exception today. I’ll make a prediction.
We will someday regret our latest adventure in the Middle East.

That’s an easy one. We always regret our adventures in the Middle East. Regret is the natural result of bumbling into something without understanding what it is we’re bumbling into. That pretty much describes our long history in that part of the world.

Our latest adventure involves bombing two entities — ISIS and the Khorasan Group, which is described as an al-Qaida-affiliated militant group fighting in Syria. (Yes, it seems that this al-Qaida group named itself after the same legendary figure we know and love from the Veiled Prophet Ball. Small world, huh?)

Like the Khorasan Group, ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) is fighting the Syrian regime, which we oppose. ISIS is also competing with al-Qaida for supremacy in the realm of Islamic militancy.

So we are against both of them, as well as the regime they are both trying to oust.

Who does that leave for us to support? That’s easy. The “moderate” rebels. Of course, the last time we supported rebels, one of them was named Osama bin Laden. He founded al-Qaida.

For that matter, ISIS started out as al-Qaida in Iraq. It did not exist until we invaded and occupied Iraq.

So our previous adventures created both groups we are now attacking.

You might remember our original reason for arming the rebels in Afghanistan. We wanted to push the Russians out of that country. Why? Imagine if the Russians had been bogged down in that country for decades, pouring blood and money into a dark hole. And for what? What does anybody gain by holding Afghanistan?

Once we helped the rebels push the Russians out, the Taliban took over, and then the Taliban gave refuge to bin Laden’s creation, al-Qaida. Al-Qaida attacked us, and we ended up replacing the Russians in Afghanistan. We’ve been there for 13 years.

Then there’s Iraq. Or was. It seems to be splintering. That’s not surprising. It is not a natural country. It was part of the Ottoman Empire until the Ottomans were on the losing side of World War I. Then the state of Iraq was created.

Think of it as the Yugoslavia of the Middle East. Yugoslavia was also created at the end of World War I. Like Iraq, it was a mishmash of peoples. Only the names of the tribes were different.Both countries needed a strongman to hold the factions together. When Marshal Tito died, the end of Yugoslavia was in sight. Now the former Yugoslavia is Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Of course, there was much bloodshed during the breakup.

We didn’t pay any attention to that history when we invaded Iraq. We got rid of its strongman, and it began to disintegrate. What a shock. Soon the Shiite tribes, the Sunni tribes, the Turkmen and the Kurds were ready to go at each other’s throats.

Taking advantage of this mess we created, ISIS, which we created, began to carve out its own state.

Maybe we should let them have it. Maybe we ought to tell what’s left of Iraq, “You’re on your own. Split up if you want. If any of you want to fight ISIS, go to it. We’ve trained your army and given you weapons. We’re done. Sorry about all the damage.”

I’d let ISIS know that we’re still open to bombing them. That’s a nice thing about ISIS having a state — targets. We could tell them, “Look, you do what you want. If you want to pretend it’s the 13th century, fine. Live in it. But leave us alone. If you mess with us, we’ll bomb the heck out of you and we’ll kill all of your leaders.”

That might impress the leaders.

We could give a similar message to Saudi Arabia. “We’ll buy your oil, but that’s it. Strictly business. No more feigned friendship. If we find out that you’re funding terrorism against us, we’ll kill your royal family.”

That might impress the royal family.

We’d keep a relationship with Israel.

But otherwise, we ought to consider getting out of that part of the world.

That’s one reason Barack Obama was elected. A war-weary country was tired. Two long wars and nothing to show for either of them. Nothing but regrets.

Sadly, there seems to be something in the air in Washington. Whatever it is, it robs people of memory. It gets them excited about new adventures. Just about everybody is on board with this new one. Let’s do something!

We’ll regret it.