First Step- Recognize HOW WE GOT HERE

1) The history of unrest goes back to WWI and the way the US, England and France reorganized a crumbled Ottoman Empire...all with an eye on the oil of the region. They created Kingdoms and Kings and "mandates"--areas directly ruled by them. Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, for example, became Kingdoms while Syria was a French mandate and England had a mandate over Palestine.

The problem was that this is not what had been promised the region for helping defeat the Ottoman Empire, which was a losing participant in the war, and truth be told, tottering anyway. Internal divisions also arose, and the King of Iraq was soon overthrown.

Persia (Iran) though officially neutral in WW1, was also rich in oil, so lots of attention paid by the west to it as well...not all of it good.

2) Over the years, England began to support the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine which ultimately resulted in the creation of the State of Israel. In the late 1940's Jewish terrorist groups actually fought against the British to agitate for a formal country which was recognized by the UN in 1948.

As Britain was leaving, and as the Jewish faction became stronger and expansionist (The British had tried to divided Palestine formally among the Palestinians and the Jews) incidents by extremist factions caused an exodus of Palestinian refugees into Jordan and elsewhere.

In stepped the US to guarantee the State of Israel and it has done so since. Over the years this has caused lots of problems in the area, and there is lots of blame for this to go around. I have learned and verified enough of this conflict that I actually find it appalling that my government is myopically supportive of Israel.

3)Into this muddle pot, the most recent cause has been Islamic radicalism that we label as Islamist radicalism...a severely conservative movement that seeks to impose Islam and Islamic law, Sharia Law, over people's social, political and personal lives.

It stems from the Wahabi, aka Salafi movement that seeks to return Islam to its roots. It is an ultra orthodox, conservative, fundamentalist etc movement. What gives it so much power is that its scholars and leaders have an agreement with the Saudi Royal Family that keeps them both in power...and is the reason why this movement gets so much funding

4) The we come to the crystalizing factor...9-11. Bin Laden came from a wealthy, powerful Saudi family and he despised what he saw as foreigners on Saudi soil...non believers desecrating the Islamic "Holy Land". This is why the 9-11 terrorist team was predominantly Saudi

This led to the US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Both wars have had lasting an unresolved repercussions.

5) Now we come to Syria, and internal dissension that was emboldened by "the Arab Spring". After the French mandate, Syria became a republic, and it has been ruled by the Ba'ath Party for many years. The current president, Assad, is the son of Syria's former ruler, and their family is a member of the Alawite sect of Shia Islam.

As you can imagine, a hereditary dictatorship and a ruler of a minority Islamic sect is not a good recipe for rule, especially when emboldened by western support of the Arab Spring. Internal dissent became civil war, and many factions fought each other and the government.

ISIS was one of these groups...by all accounts one of the most fundamentalist factions of all.

The real problem though lay in Iraq. There many Sunni (the major branch of Islam) tribes felt disenfranchised by what became a predominantly Shiite Iraqi government that was supported by the US. Now they did try to temper the situation by encouraging voting and after the votes to ensure the predominantly Shiite government considered the Sunni situation, but there is a long long standing animosity between Sunnis and Shias, so not much luck there.

What happened is that when ISIS started its push to establish a Caliphate (a political entity ruled by the religious leader) they found a ready ally in the Iraq Sunnis, leading to their rapid expansion and easy victories over a poorly trained, equipped and motivated Iraqi army.

IN SHORT...we have a region that is unstable because of a long history of western meddling and natural internal divisions...all vying for power for their own reasons and the advancement of their own interests. |

This includes an Israel that is seeking security, but is hampered by its own internal divisions whereby its own right wing is expansionist and seeking a greater Israel at the expense of Palestine (so no, not all Israelis are on board here but the right wing has a strong political voice that is being catered to).

The West wants oil and political stability (the reasons they support Saudi Arabia)

Internally, various sects of Islam are trying to gain power over the others.


SO WHAT NOW?

There is no question ISIS must be stopped.

I would love to see them engage in dialogue with others, to come to an understanding we are really, at our cores, the same all over the world. But this message is lost on these radical elements. They see their own path as the ONLY way and all other paths are wrong.

The fact too is they are killing more Muslims than any others (and this is true in many areas affected by terrorism) because they consider any Muslim not bowing to their ideology as apostates who deserve death. Yes, I am sure other people of faith are being killed by ISIS, but if they submit to Islamic rule, oddly enough they are protected and must pay a special tax. And their gruesome killings are, as the article points out, a means to challenge the west to "come and get them" and to sow fear.

So their violent natures driven by their radical beliefs have created a situation that has to be dealt with militarily. I trust we will get there collectively but it will take time and effort and smart decisions.

But that too takes time. And we are in "this time" now. It will unfold over the next two to three years.

In the meantime what we can do is elect smart people to government, and stand united as a people for all people who share our values (and this transcends religion--I'm talking values such as mutual respect, a desire for peace FOR others as well as ourselves, of generosity to others, of fostering aspects of our common humanity)

By that I mean is that whatever our differences in terms of nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, language, experience, history, aspirations etc,…..what we have in common is our status as sentient human beings: …..living, breathing, feeling human beings who experience emotions, have aspirations, whose quality of life is eroded by pain and suffering and humiliation, ……and who deserve to have their dignity as human beings equally respected

If we can do that, and adhere to that, we can do the right things right in this fight. It allows us to value people of all faiths and traditions who want a lasting and fair peace in that region, and more importantly, we will work to make that happen.




If writing ever becomes work I think I'm going to have to stop