On the path to mayhem!

With some of the same idiots who urged restraint in Syria now urging strikes against in Iraq on behalf of Maliki and Iran, against a Sunni insurgency that is far from being dominated by ISIS, as all and sundry is willing to argue, it is important for some of the remaining rational voices out there to push for the adoption of a clear policy objective and a clear endgame vis-à-vis current developments in Syria and Iraq, and throughout the region. Inaction premised on fear of potential consequences that soon become self-fulfilling prophecies on account of said inaction, drone attacks and air strikes without political follow through, and kneejerk reactions continue to be the main ingredients for disaster. The U.S. cannot afford any more of this. The peoples of the region cannot afford any more of this.

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Evidence of ‘industrial-scale killing’ by Syria spurs call for war crimes charges

Evidence of ‘industrial-scale killing’ by Syria spurs call for war crimes charges | World news | The Guardian.

Yes, it’s genocide. Yes, there are concentration camps. Indeed, war tribunals are needed, and Assad and his top officials should end up there. You can blame the opposition for their bungling and fear the extremists, those who were borne out of the ashes and those exported to and imported into our land, as much as you want, but the methodical genocidal venture unleashed by the Assad using the vestiges and institutions of the State, and with Iranian and Russian backing, is unparalleled. The two main sides of this conflict are not on the same moral plane. As for Al-Qaeda, it’s a third party that has inserted itself into the situation by manipulating the two main parties in pursuit of her own agenda. She is neither an ally of the rebels nor of the regime. She is in it for herself. And if she is maintaining its own detention camps and carrying out executions, the main victims in this case are often the rebels, the pro-democracy activists and their families as well. Assad is a carrying out a large-scale genocide in his turf, Al-Qaeda is attempting to do the same on a much smaller scale in theirs, and rebels and activists are fighting for their survival in both the regime-held areas and in the so-called “liberated” territories.

Power Vacuum in Middle East Lifts Militants

Power Vacuum in Middle East Lifts Militants – NYTimes.com.

“It’s not in America’s interests to have troops in the middle of every conflict in the Middle East, or to be permanently involved in open-ended wars in the Middle East,” Benjamin J. Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser, said in an email on Saturday……

Comment: Tell Obama, not to worry too much, Ben, the holy warriors will soon bring their battle to your living-rooms, and not via TV. These things just have a nasty habit of festering, and you’re already knee-deep in this, no matter what you say or think. It’s all part of the open-endedness of our political geography these days.

US and Iran’s First Joint Military Venture: Fighting al Qaeda in Iraq

US and Iran’s First Joint Military Venture: Fighting al Qaeda in Iraq.

While Western coverage portrays the Maliki-led operations against the inhabitants of the Anbar Province as a battle against Al-Qaeda, and as the U.S. supplies Maliki with advanced weapons and intelligence information to carry out these operations, the story is far more complex and involves a legitimate grievance by Iraq’s Sunni minority regarding their representation in government and the lack of any serious effort to develop their areas. The Sunnis of Iraq are being punished en masse for the crimes of the Saddam regime. But the West, the U.S. in particular, seems oblivious to that, as a result it has created a void that Al-Qaeda was all too happy to fill, just as it was happy to fill the void in Syria generated by the U.S.’ unwillingness to invest in moderate rebel. In short, and in pure sectarian terms, the U.S. intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan brought misery to the Sunnis, and the U.S. lack of intervention in Syria achieved the same on an even larger scale. Sunnis are beginning to see a pattern, and Islamists are exploiting that. For all its pretension to noninvolvement, the policies of the Obama Administration put it squarely in the camp of Iran in an ongoing identity conflict that is quickly spanning the region. A backlash is bound to happen, and it’s bound to be violent and bloody.