PBS reports on the situation in Iraq. The Iraq army shelled the city of Fallujah on Saturday in attempts to take back control from the Al-Qaida affiliated group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has also overrun the town of Ramadi. Liz Sly of the Washington Post joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss what is unfolding in Iraq and the larger implications for the Middle East.
After spending close to a Trillion dollars fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, and then pulling out because the war on terrorism was won with overwhelming force and killing supposedly all but a few of the terrorists, Fallujah, Mosul and now Kirkuk, Samarra, Tikrit, as well as many other cities are rapidly falling into the hands of terrorists that were supposedly all gone and killed.
fsrn.org
Armed militants have taken over the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Tikrit since Monday, expanding their territorial hold from Fallujah. The violence now sweeping part of Iraq has triggered the largest wave of displacements since the 2007 height of bloodshed there.
What happened? Is the whole country going to be lost to what the US army said were just a few Al Queda terrorists left? Are terrorists any better than militants? Who are these militants? Why didn't anyone see this coming? Where is the Iraqi army and police force, supposedly trained and equipped at great cost by US taxpayers so that they can effectively deal with these so called terrorist groups? Why are they just running away and leaving all of these high tech, US weapons, tanks and armored vehicles behind?
ISIS on the move towards Baghdad.
ISIS got 425 million US dollars in Mosel, out of just one bank. They are now the richest 'terrorist' group existing, estimated to be worth 2 Billion dollars. They recently took over the richest oil fields in the northern part of Iraq, where the Kurds had formerly 'ruled'. Even the Kurds are being kicked to the curb by ISIS.
WHO IS ISIS?
Who is ISIS? It is a radical fundamentalist Sunni sect that believes in the purity of Sharia laws, to be enforced strictly and with no exceptions, immediately after occupation and the take over of any town. This group believes in Wahabbism, which is dominating the politic landspace in places like Saudi Arabia, Quatar, and several other countries in the Middle East.
What are the causes of this collapse of whole cities into chaos? Maybe this is much bigger than a problem of a few terrorists or 'militants'? Maybe this is a huge organized Sunni Army that has a large financial backing and is very organized, with roots that stretch all the way back to other countries that financed them?
Maybe this collapse has roots in and includes issues such as US foreign policy of favoring and supporting one extremist religious group, while excluding all others and then relying on superior military force, firepower, DU weapons and pallets full of money shoved out of helicopters for bribes, to maintain that artificial reality and seeming peace?
Remember when the US assassinated the democratically elected leader of Iraq and installed a Sunni minority via CIA, with Saddam as dictator but US friendly leader?
CIA Used To Assassinate Foreign Democratically Elected Leaders And Install US Friendly Dictators
Then when Saddam got uppity, remember when the US killed Saddam, and kicked out all of the Sunnis from government and military, back when Bush invaded Iraq? Sunnis did not like that... and the anger slowly built up.
Now the Sunnis are rising up and taking taking back their country, as 'freedom fighters'. Revenge is the rule of the day, via ISIS. Of course, it is easy to all these freedom fighters terrorists or 'militants', but bottom line, they are blowback from US foreign policy decisions made many years ago, in the Bush era.
There is always blowback when you pick losers and winners and after you install dictators, as part of a global empire.
The US 'claims' it is for democracy and freedom, but so far, the US has mostly done the opposite in the Middle East especially.
Maybe ISIS has grown so rapidly and has conquered so much territory as a result of the US installing a dictator in Iraq, (Saddam) after assassinating a democratically elected leader in Iraq. The US has a long history of supporting the Sunnis, such as in Saudi Arabia, in order to gain and keep control of the oil reserves there. But the US then turned on the Sunnis and threw them out of government and the military.
"A Central Intelligence Agency-supported coup in 1963 ousted the Qasim government, which was believed to be leaning toward communism. There are U.S. court records indicating theCIA militarily and monetarily assisted Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War.[1] The CIA was also involved in the failed 1996 coup against Saddam Hussein.[2]"
Remember the war in Afghanistan against Russia, through a proxy Osama bin Laden? Bin Laden and and his forces were allies with the US, and those were extremist Sunnis that the US was backing against the Russians. The US trained, equipped and gave CIA intelligence plus weapons and money to help the Sunni extremists beat the vast Russian armed forces and kick them out of the country. But then when the Russians were kicked out, the Sunnis became 'terrorists' and US soldiers had to go in and clean them out.. Isn't it interesting how the war machine and the banks financing all of this violence profit no matter what side the US war machine ends up cozying up with? Could it be that war is nothing but a racket?
War is a Racket, by Major General Smedley Butler - Warned That Military Industrial Complex Taking Over Levers Of Power; via @AGreenRoad
This blowback also has something to do with the US being a colonial global power, which started an illegal war in Iraq, based on deceptive reasons portrayed via a controlled mass media, with the goal of getting back the oil that Saddam (a CIA installed dictator) stole from US oil companies. Saddam was installed by the CIA, but when he starting getting uppity, he was kicked out, and a friendly CIA backed faux leader was installed.
The Iranians are Shiites, who are arch enemies of the Sunnis, so they were against the US going into Iraq and building up the Sunnis, who are actually a very small minority in Iraq, or they were before the US got in there and took over. But now that the Sunnis are taking over Iraq, the US is cozying up to Iran, in order to build an alliance against the Sunnis. Watch in the future, as the former 'terrorist' state of Iran becomes the best friend of the US, along with Communist China...
With the US acting as an imperial conquering occupier of many nations, including Iraq and Afghanistan, using financial and military reigns of power, it either conspires or directly overthrows governments via secret and not so secret methods. In Iraq, once the Sunnis had won their country back from the invading Russians, they turned on the US and tried to kick them out too.. The US took this personally, and went after them, calling them terrorists, when the year before, they had been best friends and allies.
The Iranians are Shiites, who are arch enemies of the Sunnis, so they were against the US going into Iraq and building up the Sunnis, who are actually a very small minority in Iraq, or they were before the US got in there and took over. But now that the Sunnis are taking over Iraq, the US is cozying up to Iran, in order to build an alliance against the Sunnis. Watch in the future, as the former 'terrorist' state of Iran becomes the best friend of the US, along with Communist China...
1,000 US Foreign Military Bases In Foreign Countries - 2 Trillion Dollars And Rising Cost; via@AGreenRoad
With the US acting as an imperial conquering occupier of many nations, including Iraq and Afghanistan, using financial and military reigns of power, it either conspires or directly overthrows governments via secret and not so secret methods. In Iraq, once the Sunnis had won their country back from the invading Russians, they turned on the US and tried to kick them out too.. The US took this personally, and went after them, calling them terrorists, when the year before, they had been best friends and allies.
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-corporations-control-governments.html
The US media went along with the illegal invasion of Iraq, just like all other illegal invasions before this one, asking no questions, doing no investigations and rushing the US into another imperial invasion on behalf of the 1%. The press was literally 'embedded' with the military. The deception and propaganda pattern that was used in Iraq and Afghanistan was the same one used in Panama, and for the same reasons.
The Panama Deception - 1992 Academy Award for Best Documentary Movie
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-panama-deception-1992-academy-award.html
PRESIDENT BUSH ADMITS WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH INVASION OF IRAQ
In the video above, President Bush admits that the weapons of mass destruction reason had nothing to do with the invasion of Iraq.
Even this famous televangelist says that the reasons for Iraq war were made up 100%.
In this video Rand Paul says that Cheney had profit reasons in mind for invading Iraq, and nothing more. He stood to gain personally if the company he was involved with got contracts as a result of that invasion, which they did, and he did.
PAT ROBERTSON SAYS REASONS FOR INVADING IRAQ WERE BOGUS LIES
Even this famous televangelist says that the reasons for Iraq war were made up 100%.
RON PAUL SAYS CHENEY INVADED IRAQ FOR PROFIT AND OIL
In this video Rand Paul says that Cheney had profit reasons in mind for invading Iraq, and nothing more. He stood to gain personally if the company he was involved with got contracts as a result of that invasion, which they did, and he did.
BUILDING UP SUNNIS IN IRAQ AND ELSEWHERE CREATED CONSEQUENCES
But building up the extremist Sunni sect that used to only be 1% of Iraq had consequences. Now they had to be taken out, after the US had built them up. So drones and special forces plus a super saturation bombing and DU weapons campaign was put into full force against what used to be ally Sunnis, who were now labeled 'terrorists', to be hunted down and blown up by any means required, including drones and assassination bombings, or special forces executions. Bin Laden was taken out by a Special Forces squad, just to show that the US could reach deep into enemy Sunni territory and pull off an assassination even there.
DRONE ASSASSINATIONS CREATE EVEN MORE BLOWBACK
The non stop drone bombings, despite countries that are victims of this asking the US to stop also had the consequence of building up the army of Sunnis calling for the overthrow of the US. They Sunnis got more and more extreme, as the US brought all of it's weight and power to bear on 'wiping them out'. The only answer was to become even more radical in response, so ever more extreme versions of Sunni extremist 'terrorist' leaders emerged, each one promising to kick this Satanic devil out of the Middle East. As the US assassinated each leader, the next one became even more extreme and violent, plus more radical.
UNMANNED: America's Drone Wars (full movie, synopsis and movie review); via @AGreenRoad
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2014/06/unmanned-americas-drone-wars-full-film.html
But Iraq had to be held onto at any cost. Since Sunnis could not be put in control in Iraq, the US backed the Shia sect, and that sect made up the majority of Iraq, so they easily won the elections. However, the Shia now had to deal with extremely radical Sunnis left over after the US had wiped out all of the others, and they did not want to do that, so they excluded them from government, which then generated even more backlash from the Sunnis in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and many other countries.
During the invasion, corporations that make up and control most of the US government acted in their own selfish for profit interest, and not in the interest of either the Iraqis or US citizens or any global citizens for that matter. They looted and raided whatever wealth was available, and the military set up their bases all over Iraq. The military set up Abu Graib, and a torture prison network globally, to try and expose, discover and then squash Sunnis and kill all of them. This was not possible, and the torture prisons and Guantanamo Bay prison had the side effect of building even more support for the Sunnis. For every one that the US killed, 10 more replaced them, and the Sunnis kept on growing in power and influence in the Middle East generally.
The CIA was directly involved in and supporting the puppet government in Iraq (and other nations). Iran was taken over by the CIA as well at one point, and a US friendly dictator was installed, just the same way as was done in Afghanistan and many other third world nations.
http://www.infowars.com/cia-assassination-program-revealed-nothing-new-under-the-sun/CIA involvement in Iraq With Challabi
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0609-02.htm
America Helped Saddam As He Gassed Kurds
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/08/25/secret_cia_files_prove_america_helped_saddam_as_he_gassed_iran
The method that the 1% use to gain control of countries using the US military is to use overwhelming force and a Blitz Krieg (learned from the Nazis) style of warfare, relying mostly on air power to defeat any opposition. In the process of winning using this overwhelming technology, DU weapons, and superior air power, the US ended up spreading radioactive poison all over the Middle East, in the form of DU dust. This also did not make the US any friends, either on the Sunni or the Shia side, since this has the effect of killing people for the next million years, where ever this weaponry is used.
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/03/depleted-uranium-effects-in-human-body.html
Along the way, the US military utilized a well known and still open US torture prison, called Guantanamo. And the CIA renditioned suspected 'terrorist' Sunnis to secret torture prisons all over the globe. People in the Middle East did not forget these things and many other atrocities suffered.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition
SUNNI UPRISING A 'SURPRISE'?
Maybe the news is not as black and white and easy to understand as it seems to be portrayed on the mass media. According to them, the 'terrorists' appeared out of nowhere. They were a complete surprise and no one saw it coming. Right, and the 18 spy plus intelligence agencies knew nothing about this 'Sunni' uprising in the Middle East that was caused DIRECTLY by US takeovers and occupations, plus installation of dictators or 'fake elected leaders' of many countries in the Middle East, plus drone assassinations, torturing them all around the world in secret CIA torture prisons, and much more?
Maybe the terrorists and 'militants' are not just evil terrorists who deserve to be killed by unmanned drone strikes. Maybe the militants are more like extreme freedom fighters, part of a much larger group of citizens who are working to free their country from the occupying force that is the US, as well as the dictatorial government that is excluding anyone but their chosen group from the government by force and threats.
Maybe the only way that these repressed Sunnis think that they can do this is to get really extreme, because being normal like everyone else, does not change this situation. After all, no occupying power has ever held onto Afghanistan, and all of those that tried actually collapsed after they made the attempt. Certainly the US seems to be on track for a huge internal collapse, despite pouring a 1 to 2 TRILLION dollars into the battles to 'install' democracy in the Middle East.
Maybe the only way that these repressed Sunnis think that they can do this is to get really extreme, because being normal like everyone else, does not change this situation. After all, no occupying power has ever held onto Afghanistan, and all of those that tried actually collapsed after they made the attempt. Certainly the US seems to be on track for a huge internal collapse, despite pouring a 1 to 2 TRILLION dollars into the battles to 'install' democracy in the Middle East.
Maybe some of this violence has seeds in the religious differences between the Sunnis and the Shia which were aggravated and magnified by years of propping up US installed dictators and despots all over the world. If the present government does not share power and form a coalition government that represents the interests of both Shia and Sunnis, this may very well be the start of a vicious civil war, pitting one religion against another, just as it happened after Bush Jr invaded Iraq on false pretenses. Instead of being welcomed as heroes and installing a peaceful democracy, Iraq broke down into a chaotic tangle of looting, terrorism, shisms and competing sects, each one killing the others.
The seeds of past violence, hatred, fear, greed and revenge are growing fruits of more violence, greed, hatred, fear and revenge, without end. Until people choose love, peace, harmony and non violent ways of communicating and working together as equals, this will continue.
Now that the horrors of constant never ending war on 'terrorists' has unleashed a wave of Sunni extremists, the 1% and the military industrial complex is figuring out how to 'spin' this into the mass media and then profit from this new development, which they are directly responsible for. And to be sure, they will figure out a way, because death and war is very profitable to the 1%, even though they fund both sides of it and are equally happy backing whichever side they feel will make them the most money. Are you getting the picture yet? War is a racket set up to make the 1% rich. The political Dualopoly game in Washington and the press goes along with this game, because that is where THEY get their money and profit from.
End
ISIS 'Terrorists' Take Over Fallujah, Mosul, Tikrit And Other Iraqi Cities In Surprise Attacks; via @AGreenRoad
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2014/06/terrorists-take-over-fallujah-mosul.html
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