Isis And The Recent Developments In Iraq And Syria

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Saturday June 14, 2014 16:18 by fred

Partially fuelled, no doubt, by US and Saudi money and weapons supplied for the fight in Syria, ISIS, a branch of Al Qaeda has routed the Iraqi military in a series of offences across the country, taking control of significant parts of the country. These are the exact same people fighting for freedom and democracy with US and Saudi backing just across the border in Syria. The staggering cynicism of US policy in the middle east and the blatant doublespeak of their media is laid bare by these recent events in Iraq in the last few days. In an article posted to WSWS, Bill van Auken picks through the wreckage

AFP photo

Here is a quote from the article:

An essential component of the American strategy in launching a war to topple Saddam Hussein was to exploit Shia resentments in order to win allies against the Sunni-based Baathist regime. Washington crassly manipulated sectarian tensions as part of a divide and conquer strategy that ultimately unleashed sectarian warfare that led to countless thousands of deaths and the displacement of entire populations.

Even as it encouraged Shia religious parties in Iraq, the US simultaneously pursued an aggressive policy against Shia-led Iran, where these same parties had sought refuge during the reign of Saddam. Until last year, it appeared that Iran would be the target of a US-Israeli attack.

These contradictions have only intensified as Washington has sought to exploit Sunni Islamist radicalism as a force to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad in neighboring Syria. The net result is that, while opposing Al Qaeda-linked forces in Iraq as “terrorists,” US imperialism is supporting them on the other side of the border in Syria as fighters for “democracy” and “freedom.”

The policies pursued in one country collide with those employed in another. The US is now sending arms and contemplating air raids to prosecute the “war on terrorism” against an offshoot of Al Qaeda in Iraq, even as it and its Arab Gulf allies continue to send arms and aid to promote and strengthen these very same tendencies in both Libya and Syria.

Everywhere, US foreign policy is based not on principles, but on crude pragmatic maneuvers in pursuit of immediate interests, with the “war on terrorism” or “human rights” invoked as increasingly discredited justifications.