I think a good question is -- if Saddam were still in power, would there be an ISIS and would we be better off? I think it's a difficult question to answer. We can't know for certain.
Quote:I think a good question is -- if Saddam were still in power, would there be an ISIS and would we be better off? I think it's a difficult question to answer. We can't know for certain.
ISIS existed, first independently then as a splinter group of Al Qaeda, before Hussein was tossed. Even before 9/11.
Now, if we hadn't been creating (and arming) our own enemies in the Middle East for decades by that point, ISIS might not care so much about America.
Quote:ISIS existed, first independently then as a splinter group of Al Qaeda, before Hussein was tossed. Even before 9/11.
Now, if we hadn't been creating (and arming) our own enemies in the Middle East for decades by that point, ISIS might not care so much about America.
I mean would they be nearly what they are today. A lot of their weapons come from Saddam's stockpiles. Not to mention all the funding they get from Oil (Electric Cars: The answer to ISIS?) and many members are former Hussein-lackies.
Saddam was a scumbag but he was a scumbag who kept a lid on things within Iraq's borders. In hindsight, he was a necessary evil.
This is hollywoods fault. I do not blame the above posters one bit.
Quote:This is hollywoods fault. I do not blame the above posters one bit.
What a hot take. Big, steaming pike of hot take.
Quote:You can say that again?
I've always said that the political forum tends to be a bit of an echo chamber, but that's taking it too far.
Of course we created ISIS. It grew out of the idiotic "surge" strategy of paying our enemies to let our supply trucks through. Then we decided to "train and equip" our enemies in western Iraq. Then we decided to give them heavy weapons and point them at Assad to create a fake "civil war". "Just because you give them a Lakers uniform doesn't make them Kobe Bryant" our leader famously said.
Quote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/postevery...age%2Fcard
This explanation dovetails with everything I have read and heard.
It's about how the US helped create ISIS.
The U.S. helped create ISIS, and al-Qaeda, and the Taliban, and so many others. In the modern era, it was mainly the civil war in Afghanistan that bread, or actually multiplied these terrorists.
It's not a popular thing to say, but the fact of the matter is President Bush was right after the 9/11 attack to go into the region and start raising hell.
The biggest fight in the region is between the radical "conservative" people that want to impose Sharia Law and make Islamic states in the region, against the "progressive" people that want to be more like the U.S. and/or Europe.
That's really what the fight is about and really is the root of radical Islamic terrorism.
Quote:I think a good question is -- if Saddam were still in power, would there be an ISIS and would we be better off? I think it's a difficult question to answer. We can't know for certain.
Still trying to blame Bush I see. What a good little sheep you are.
Quote:Still trying to blame Bush I see. What a good little sheep you are.
You're the sheep here, jumping to Bush's defense over a "What If". GMAB.
Quote:Still trying to blame Bush I see. What a good little sheep you are.
Quote:You're the sheep here, jumping to Bush's defense over a "What If". GMAB.
Where did he blame Bush?
Especially since it was Cheneys fault.
Anyone actually read the article in the original post?
I did. I can read the seams on a fastball. The author criticizes the free market and intimates that before sadaam was deposed the baathists shia and kurds were all sitting in a sewing circle bemoaning colonialism while knitting prints of karl marx.
It makes little if any refference to the actions of the baathist party under saddam that precipitated the gulf war, international sanctions, the invasion that ousted sadaam or their unilateraL hatred inside the country.
Quote:Saddam was a scumbag but he was a scumbag who kept a lid on things within Iraq's borders. In hindsight, he was a necessary evil.
This is also my opinion.