Letter: Who are the real founders of ISIS?
Who are the real founders of ISIS?
Who are the real founders of ISIS? Let’s look at the facts, not the hyperbole of a bloviating billionaire.
Osama bin Laden surely gets some credit. He managed to push the idea that the West, especially the U.S., was at war with Islam. That’s ISIS’ doctrine to this day, and a powerful philosophical tool when used with young Islamists stuck in the backward, feudal Middle East.
Next comes WMD-hunting George W. Bush and his neocon cronies — even Trump blames him. Saddam is out. Then comes Paul Bremer, who disbanded the Iraqi Army, creating thousands of heavily armed unemployed men — just brilliant!
Fast forward a few years and it all lands in President Obama’s lap after President Bush signed a withdrawal agreement with Nouri Al-Maliki — a very ill-advised agreement, as it turned out, since Al-Maliki was fanning the flames of a civil war. Obama had to choose between telling Al-Maliki that he wasn’t really in charge or honoring the will of Iraqi voters. There was no good option. In choosing to let a “democratically elected” leader stay in power (and who knows what would have happened if he had chosen to overrule Al-Maliki), the fuse was lit.
Ken Ames, Pasco
This story was originally published August 30, 2016 at 4:21 AM with the headline "Letter: Who are the real founders of ISIS?."