I’m not going to praise the fascist Ba’ath Party, either in its Syrian or Iraqi manifestations. But, prior to the invasion of Iraq, those two societies were the most ecumenical, tolerant places in the Arabian peninsula. People intermarried freely and Christians enjoyed a fairly decent life, with some even being given positions of immense responsibility. When you compared Iraq and Syria to Saudi Arabia, the differences were striking. And this was in spite of the fact that both Syria and Iraq were upside down countries where the majority sect (Sunnis in Syria, Shiites in Iraq) was not in control of the levers of government.
The war destroyed both societies along with all that religious tolerance and caused a region-wide sectarian conflict. It empowered two groups: the Iranians and their Shi’a proxies, and the radicalized and intolerant Sunni Arabs of the Saudi-type.
Most of this was predicted in broad details if not fine detail. It was predicted not only in academic circles, but also in congressional testimony. It was completely foreseeable.
So, now that we have a problem with radicalized Sunni Arabs, we know exactly who caused this. First and foremost, this is the Saudis’ fault for incubating this form of Islam. Then it is American policy-makers’ fault for encouraging the Saudis in this over the last thirty-five years. But the main driver was the invasion of Iraq, and the people responsible for that decision are all over my television complaining that the president doesn’t have an adequate plan to address the problem that they created.
They don’t know what they are talking about and they never have known what they are talking about. The only important thing is that they stay on television and out of policy-making positions.
