Mission Accomplished: 14 Centuries Of Sectarian Blood-Letting Reignited In Iraq

Please read this excellent essay about how the US screwed up in the Middle East and reignited Shia-Sunni sectarian violence. Here is an excerpt, but the essay is worth reading in its entirety:

The call to arms was made by a statement issued by Iraq’s most revered Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and read on his behalf during a Friday prayer’s sermon in Kerbala. "People who are capable of carrying arms and fighting the terrorists in defense of their country (..) should volunteer to join the security forces to achieve this sacred goal," the statement in part read.

The terrorists of whom Sistani speaks are those of ISIL, whose numbers throughout the region is estimated to be at only 7,000 fighters. They are well organized, fairly well-equipped and absolutely ruthless in their conduct.

http://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2014/06/18/sectarian-monster-reawakened-redrawing-the-mapofiraqagain/

Something about this reminds me of what Col. Kurtz said in the movie Apocalypse Now:

The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than we. Because they could stand that these were not monsters. These were men... trained cadres. These men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love... but they had the strength... the strength... to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral... and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling... without passion... without judgment... without judgment. Because it's judgment that defeats us.

http://sainthoward.blogspot.com/2014/06/another-reason-we-will-lose-next-war.html

It is starting to appear that we helped create such men, and they are the warriors of ISIS/ISIL.

And not only have we failed to understand and take into consideration their history, we have forgotten ours as well. The US Revolutionary War was a holy war against what was perceived as a demonic tyrant (the British crown). That is exactly what we now represent to Muslims, and I would not be surprised to see them all rise up against us for reasons quite similar to those that motivated us in 1776.