An attempt to bring clarity for the disarray in the Middle East today

I received a link to a two hour video. It was made by Frontline called Confronting ISIS. I took the time to watch. It does not refer to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Libya or Israel. It only covers the area from Turkey to Saudi Arabia. After finishing I came away convinced that our government under Bush and Obama has to a very great extent caused the chaos. We continue to pour billions in armament to almost every country over there thinking they will do our bidding, how sad, as it not true. Whenever I decide to write something like this I am quick to exclude Israel. We can never do enough to provide support to these courageous people who have carved out a special enclave surrounded by Muslim countries who collectively hope to destroy them. Our mistake is that we continue to think of each place as countries that should be made whole. Most historians will agree that when the West after WWI carved up the Ottoman Empire, that they made a tragic mistake by not understanding the hatred between the three factions; Kurds, Sunni, Shia. There was no attempt to reconcile one to the other. Take Iraq as an example, Saddam as a Sunni was in control of his mostly Shia citizens. He fought a long war with Iran which is Shia, somehow getting his soldiers to fight. Bush conquered Iraq eliminating any concern by the Iranian Ayatollah clerics. We invested $25 billion over the last eight years in training and arming the Iraqi Army. Mosel, a city with over a million people was conquered by 1,500 ISIS fighters. Two Iraqi divisions dropped their weapons and fled leaving billions of brand new military hardware which became the tools by which ISIS could expand. When ISIS moved toward Bagdad they could have been wiped out on the road. They weren’t as Obama would not act until Maliki was removed. When they finally tried to take back Fallujah, it was Shia militia who led the way. Finally Obama was able to get the government involved. Once the city was in their hands they rooted out Sunni citizens for revenge including beatings, killing and destroying their homes. What it amounts to is that the arms and training we continue to provide are actually beneficial to IRAN since both countries are now aligned as believers in Shia. Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Yemen are Shia while ISIS, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are Sunni. I learned that Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia is very much like ISIS. In fact ISIS uses their educational system to teach young boys. They both are Sharia. Saudi still has their women wearing full length burkas, cut off hands, flog and stone women for various offences. We still provide them with weapons. Their spokesmen state clearly they no longer feel they need to accede to our wishes. They kill Shia in Yemen not Sunni ISIS. For a long period of time Turkey would not allow us to use our air base in Turkey to attack ISIS. When they finally got into the fight it was to kill Kurds, the only ones who had proved able to stand and fight. When Russia got involved it was to destroy the Syrian Sunni rebels not ISIS. By the way Obama spent $500,000,000 to train locals to fight ISIS. Only four remained when it was all over. Obama has supposedly been supporting Syrian rebels in their fight against Assad. Now he does nothing while Russia destroys those who we were supporting in Aleppo. I am confused about Jordan, a Sunni nation that did send bombers against ISIS. When their downed pilot was burned alive they did retaliate for a short period of time but then stopped. What this all amounts to is that Americans are being played for the fools are leaders are. We are all alone trying to eradicate ISIS while the other countries promote their religious beliefs with Sunnis and Shia trying for dominance. ISIS is a natural ally of any Sunni Nation. I believe that continuing to give military equipment and place our Americans in harm’s way accomplishes nothing except weaken us as we drown in debt. Until and unless our government finally figures out the problem we will continue to pour our soldiers and wealth into a lost cause. The video ends with pictures of the thousands of Syrians fleeing their country for Europe and the devastation that is and will continue to bring to those countries which have opened their doors for millions. If you care and are willing to spend two hours I believe you will conclude as I do. Jack B. Walters October 17, 2016