Ron Paul described the US policy regarding ISIS as a “policy of schizophrenia”.
Former allies are now enemies and former enemies like Iran and Muqtada al-Sadr are now allies.
The US is using air strikes to bomb it’s own American weapons – that were given to Syrian rebels and Iraqi militia – which are now being used by ISIS.
Instead of learning a lesson from the consequences of the US giving away weapons to rebel groups, intervionists like John McCain want to give even more weapons to fighters in the region.
How long will it be until the people that the US has armed to fight against ISIS decide to instead use those weapons to expand their own territory?
What happens if after defeating ISIS, the Kurds decide to use their new American weapons to continue expanding their borders? The Kurds in Iraq have already expanded the area they control by 40% since the conflict with ISIS began.
If the Kurds end up using the power vacuum created by a weakened Iraqi government and the defeat of ISIS to move closer to their goal of a greater independent Kurdistan will the US then be forced to return once again to fight another former ally?
Should the US give weapons to former Iraq War enemy turned ally Moqtada al-Sadr and his Shi’ite militia?
US needs plan to defeat ISIS — but also for what follows:
If extremist Shiite militias are allowed to take charge of Anbar, a predominantly Sunni province of Iraq controlled in part by ISIS, serious human rights abuses against Sunnis will follow. And if the various members of the factions that are fighting ISIS end up turning their guns on one another, turmoil will continue for years to come. “Once the fighting is over, the political infighting will begin right away,” predicted Bill Roggio, of the Long War Journal, which closely tracks conflicts.
Nearly all of the members of the coalition against ISIS have been at odds with one another in the past. Iraqi forces under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki once crushed Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, but now Iraq needs Sadr’s men to help fight ISIS. The Iranian-backed Shiite militias once killed American soldiers with improvised explosive devices. Now the United States quietly supports them by bombing ISIS, their mortal enemy.
This schizophrenic policy has the US now working with the very same people that directly fought with and killed US troops in Iraq. What happens if after fighting ISIS the Shi’ite militias decide to use American weapons against the Sunnis?
These different factions which have come together to fight ISIS have long been fighting with each other. It will surprise no one if after this coalition falls apart they return to their previous civil wars.
There isn’t really anything that the US can do to undo these historic fueds and cause them to live together in peace. But what the US can do is not supply the weapons that will be used by the next group that decides to expand their control and slaughter innocent people.
And when John McCain starts calling for the US to get involved yet again to stop them, remember that it could have been prevented.