One of the facets that surrounds us is the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the guise of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. These movements have captured the imagination of the youth all over the world and are now a very potent threat. I have been wondering how this could have happened as for decades the Middle East was the backyard of the USA and the West. In fact a look at history shows us that right from the turn of the 20th century after the collapse of the Ottoman empire, the UK and the West called all the shots and even divided the entire area into nations as per their will and fantasy. I am referring to the Simon Pycroft agreement that divided the Middle East. The question is how then could a anti west fervor sweep this area in a short period of time ?
The answer lies in the approach of the USA and the presidents who seized power or shall I say voted to power after the exit of Roosevelt. This man was in my view the last great American president, as after him the men who came were mediocre men with no vision of history. Most American presidents made it a one point plan to contain the Russians and this became the axis of US policy. The Americans were prepared to shake hands with the Devil to contain the Russians, even if it meant shaking hands with extremist Islamists and the so called Mujahideen. It started with Afghanistan when the USA backed the Pakistan president General Zia Ul Haq to foment an armed revolt against the Russians in Afghanistan. The entire episode now looks silly and I recollec watching a film of Sylvester Stallone on Afghanistan which started with the words " dedicated to our brave friends the Mujahedeen."
This was the beginning and after that American committed one blunder after another. The Afghan experiment backfired on the USA itself and the so called Mujahideen turned on their mentor the USA itself. Flush with millions of American dollars and sophisticated weaponry ,( meant for use against Russia), the Afghan organizations like Al Qaeda and Taliban turned on the USA itself. Even now the situation is Afghanistan is precarious and the Al Qaeda and their ilk are teh ones calling the shots. What a short sighted policy this man Reagan had as he just saw the danger of Russia and never realised he was nurturing a Frankenstein.
Next the USA committed blunders of the greatest magnitude and destabilised the entire Middle East. I am talking of the removal of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. One is aghast at this aspect of US policy as these 2 men were the bulwarks against Al Qaeda. One cannot forget that Gaddafi was the first man to issue a arrest warrant against Osama bin Laden in 1998 and hanged scores of them. So did Saddam, under who a secular regime survived and he saw to it that Islamic terrorists were hanged at the first opportunity. removing these two dictators opened the Pandora box of terrorism and ultimately led to the rise of the ISIS.
America has thus nurtured Islamic terrorism. i wonder if someone in the Pentagon had planned this. It does look preposterous but there is a real possibility . The only flaw was the ISIS and its ilk turning on the USA itself. The USA is now facing its own creation. One has just to see the arc from Libya to Iraq and Syria to realise that the danger is real. The Americans committed a cardinal blunder or shall I say a calculated devilish plan that turned sour. America has still not learn't its lesson and an example is the support of Pakistan to nurture and foment terrorism in Kashmir.
The USA will have to pay heavily for the sin of just turning a blind eye to Islamic extremism hoping that it will destroy Russia. Things however don't happen that way and now teh USA is faced with a threat that is having it's repercussions with a paranoid fear emanating at home with restrictions of liberty and arming the police like the army . The citizens are feeling the pinch and poverty is rampant there . The costs of fighting unproductive wars and thr rise of ISIL is coming home.
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