Monday, November 23, 2015

The Fall of Saddam and Rise of ISIS - I

The rise of DAESH (The Arabic Acronym for ISIS) began mostly after the Bush misadventure in Iraq starting in 2003. But let me take you back in time travel, to trace it roots and how by taking out Saddam Hussain was arguably the biggest blunder America made in recent years.
 
Saddam Hussain hated Iran to the core. He once said that the Persians are the worst thing to happen to mankind, itching for an opportunity to attack its eastern neighbor. In 1980, soon after Iran was in turmoil after an Islamic Revolution, Saddam attacked this Shia majority nation on the pretext of border dispute. The Sunni Arab world loved him for that and the Americans who are very good at making money, sensed some business opportunities. They made a good fortune, selling weapons to Iraq during its decade long war with Iran.
 
It's believed, there was a common saying in US State Department, "Saddam Hussain was a bastard, but he is our bastard". There are pictures of Rumsfeld shaking hands with him. (It's another matter US vetoed the UN condemnation, when Israel in broad daylight bombed the nuclear facilities in Baghdad, ironically by the Novel Peace Prize winner Begin, forever  ending Saddam's nuclear dream). America's relations with Iraq was solely based on weapon sales, not robust enough to override their relationship with Israel.
 
Contrary to the expectation of the Arab world, after suffering some initial reverses, Iran fought back spectacularly. They pushed back the Iraqis, recapturing the areas they lost during the initial days of fight. Saddam unilaterally declared victory, ending his Persian misadventure in 1989. But he didn't stay quite for long, soon attacked Kuwait a year later on the pretext of oil field disputes.
 
That was when American and Saudi honeymoon with Saddam ended. US led forces defeated Saddam. America again made a good business of this war, testing its latest weapons and making the Saudis reimburse the cost. The elder Bush was prudent enough to take American boots off ground, after Kuwait was liberated, leaving Saddam to rot in sanctions. This was the year 1991. A year later in 1992, an overconfident Bush was ousted by a Southern Greenhorn named Bill Clinton, yet proving the adage "All Politics are local". The war hero Bush could not convince the Americans who were more convinced by Clinton's Campaign slogan "It's Economy Stupid".

(TO BE CONTINUED...How the Son Bush Contributed in creating ISIS)

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