Some people look at the conflicts in the Middle East as isolated issues to that region. Others expect America to be the world’s police force, given the humanitarian crimes that so pains us morally. However, should we put aside our moral obligations to protect our own troops? Would we lose position as a super country? What was the benefit of getting involved in the Iraq war? Lebanese? Vietnam? Americans sit on a pendulum, where the highs are intervention and the lows are isolation and as America’s history goes on and our sons and daughters are involved in wars that don’t affect our country the least bit, we find ourselves wanting to ignore their issues. Yet, we watch, biting our fingers, staring at images of children marching the streets with …show more content…
There, he was educated at the French-Arab al-Hurriyet school and continued on to medical school, specializing in ophthalmology ("Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria"). After graduated the Tishrin Military Hospital in 1992, he moved to the United Kingdom to further his medical education, he was there when his elder brother, Bassel, died. On returning to Syria, he was placed in the military and quickly rose through its ranks. When his father died, the Constitution was amended to change the minimum age of presidency from 40 to 34, the age Bashar was at the time. “The Assembly nominated him for the presidency within days of his father's death. . .Bashar [al-]Assad received, according to Syrian press reports, 97% of the vote” ("Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria"). He changed many reforms, reeling back on the laws on that restricted free speech and press, he had freed hundreds of political prisoners, and encouraged people to speak to him about new changes they seek in government. He made changes in liberalizing the economy and had vowed US $1 billion to the job unemployment sector, that had reached a high of 20% in Syria. He even had aims to resolving Syria’s relations with other countries like Israel and the rest of the Arab world, even applying for the membership of the World Trade Organization (“Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria"). For a few years, the future of Syria seemed optimistic, the …show more content…
The Islamic State, also referred as ISIS or ISIL, where its roots can be followed to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, with the financial support of Osama bin Laden and his Islamist terrorist organization, al-Qaeda, Zarqawi in 1999 formed a jihadist group, Jama’at al- Tawhid wal-Jihad (“Islamic State”). Zarqawi ruthlessly attacked civilians and destroyed religious sites in an effort to ignite a war between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims (“Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)”). Zarqawi and his successor, who started a militant group called Islamic state in Iraq (ISI), were killed. After the death of both al-Qaeda leaders, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took control over ISI, he preyed upon the religious divide between Sunnis and Shi’as to stir up mistrust and recruit more fighters to his group (“Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)”). “[Baghdadi] staged a series of suicide bombings and high-profile attacks in Iraq...he also formed another militant group, the al-Nusra Front, to battle the government forces of President Bashar al-Assad”(“Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)”). Towards the end of 2013, ISIS and ISIL began to get involved in the Syrian Civil war, and even though they are against the government, they also continue their policy of violence towards civilians and in many cases considered worse than the tyrannies inflicted by Assad’s regime and his
Saddam Hussein was the former president of Iraq for over twenty years. Born on April 28, 1937, in Tikrit, Iraq, Saddam Hussein was a secularist who rose through the Baath political party to assume a dictatorial presidency. Under his rule, segments of the populace enjoyed the benefits of oil wealth, while those in opposition faced torture and execution. After military conflicts with U.S.-led armed forces, Hussein was captured in 2003. He was later executed.
Bashar is the multidimensional being who is channeled through the human channel Darryl Anka. For over 34 years, Darryl has been channeling Bashar and claims to have brought crucial information that describes how the universe functions. Darryl, by being a channel, is divining the wisdom of the wiser and more intellectual Bashar. As divination reveals secret information not by known worldly methods, Darryl by channeling an alien, has been honing his divination skills for over 34 years (The Official).
ISIS stands for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. It is referred as a terrorist group by the United States, whereas ISIS considers themselves to be an army instead. ISIS has been responsible for many gruesome attacks all over the world one of them being the execution of Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh. They originated from Al-Qaeda in Iraq but they had big ambitions by kicking America out and setting up an Islamic state. To this date hold their land there unlike other groups like Al-Qaeda and Taliban. They have a huge support from people as their count being over 30,000 soldiers and followers. They are heavily armed, can fund themselves, have an organized infrastructure, and can cause a lot of damage. Later in 2006, their brutality lost them the support of Iraqi Sunnis who partnered with US forces to help push them out of the country. And for this incident, America takes a lot of credit for this and call it the Surge in which they helped Sunnis rise up against Al-Qaeda in Iraq’s rule. This led to Al-Qaeda in Iraq being defeated but not destroyed by only being driven out of the land they used to control and later they began rebuilding themselves by being involved in the fighting in Syria as they were trying to throw the Shiite Assad regime. Due to their brutal and severe tactics, Al-Qaeda disavowed Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Later in February 2014, the group Al-Qaeda in Iraq
america’s involvement in syria raises complex ethical arguments. what are the challenges surrounding the moral, ethical, societal and sovereign decisions of this involvement?
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which controls territory mainly in Iraq and Syria, was formed in April 2013, it was grown out of al Qaeda. The main ideology behind the organisation is based on Islamism, Salafism and Salafi Jihadism. ISIS was originally founded by Abu Musab al Zarqawi in Iraq. Before ISIL was established, Zarqawi has set up an al Qaeda franchise in Iraq during the occupation of country by the Americans. Later, however, Zarqawi became so extreme, his brutal actions in Iraq offended the jihadists, and led to al Qaeda disavowing him.
and coalition forces. A Jordanian militant by the name of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, aligned his organization, Jama’at al-Tawhidw’al-Jihad with al Qaeda, ultimately taking on the name al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). With the death of Zarqawi in 2006 from a U.S. airstrike and the reconciling of some Sunni led tribes with the Shia lead government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, AQI changed its focus to establishing a caliphate and took on the name ISIS (Laub 2015). Due to multiple ideological and strategic goals, mainly the indiscriminate targeting of civilians by ISIS militants, AQI and ISIS parted ways. Al Qaeda’s main focus was its main interest on attacking the United States and our Western allies, whereas ISIS was mainly driven by the idea of establishing the caliphate within the Middle
As years pass, Americans are becoming increasingly critical of the American invasion of Iraq following the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. As a result, many Americans are apprehensive in supporting another American intervention in a Middle Eastern country during the middle of an uprising. For years, politicians have echoed the same sentiment: “I will not create another ‘Iraq’ in the Middle East,” however, when faced with the opportunity to do exactly that, it seems the decision is not so simple. On one hand, a direct intervention would be extremely costly and very might well be unsuccessful entirely. On the other hand, taking a hands-off approach and instead opting to employ diplomacy and encourage American allies to
The beginnings of ISIS,a Sunni jihadist group,can be traced back to 1999, when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian jihadist, started the group . In 2010, after ISIS’s second leader was assassinated, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,a former scholar of Islamic studies and a US war prisoner back in 2004,took over and got the group back on track. He replenished their partially-killed-off leadership with dozens of Saddam’s old Ba’athist military personnel, who brought key experience to the group. Then in 2011, when the Syrian Civil War broke out, ISIS joined in as a rebel force,which helped to train and battle-harden the group. ISIS’s behavior in Syria was so brutal and severe that they even started creeping out the other groups, including al-Qaeda, who finally had a tantrum in early 2014 and cut all ties with ISIS. The ISIS, like all terrorist organizations, arose out of systems of discontent that made extremist ideology appealing. The extremist ideology of ISIS is an aberration of Islam marked by radical apocalyptic thought. The ISIS’s position is antithetical to Shia Islam, which believes that just as a prophet is appointed by God alone, only God has the prerogative to appoint the successor to his prophet (the caliphate).
ISIS is identified as a Salafi extremist group, which refers to a very conservative outlook on the Islamic religion. With these abhorrent views of non-Muslims, many of the members have resorted to domestic violence, including suicide bombings and other forms of provoking fear in the innocent. Countries such as Iraq and Syria have made multiple attempts to combat ISIS, but they are currently deemed too powerful to be seized from power. A number of factors contribute to the horrific actions that are executed by the Islamic State, such as the disarmament of Saddam Hussein’s military back in the early 2000’s. Once the former Iraqi soldiers realized that they could not fight for their country, they transitioned into ISIS fighters and began to advocate for a much different cause- one that would affect millions of lives all over the
Over 2,000 people have been killed by attacks carried out by ISIS. ISIS or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria are an islamic extremist group located throughout the middle eastern region but have influence world wide. Their attacks have affected countries including the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. Their attacks have been occurring for years but the reached a major tipping point after they killed over 150 people in one night in Pairs. The Syrian region where ISIS mainly resides has been involved in a Civil war since 2011 and has seemingly had no break. The war has also been a large political battle even outside of Syrian powers as Russia and the United States back key players.
Saddam Hussein did not comply with the UN Resolutions and in December 1998, he expelled the UN inspectors of weapons from Iraq. His actions and noncompliance with the UN Resolutions represented a threat to international peace (Shah, 2006). As a result, President Bill Clinton (president of the United Sates at the time) fired 450 missiles into Iraq. He also called for Saddam Hussein “removal from office” (Shah, 2006) and the U.S. congress approved the Iraqi Liberation Act (ILA) which authorized U.S. “military help to Iraqis trying to dethrone Saddam” (Shah, 2006). The U.S. bombarding to Iraq and pressures to Hussein did not intimidate him. Saddam Hussein continued to reject to allow UN inspectors of weapons of mass destructions to return to Iraq.
ISIS actually started out as Al-Qaida in Iraq in 2004 and was used to fight coalition forces in Iraq. The group transformed to the Islamic State of Iraq in 2006 when its leader, Abu Mus‘ab al-Zarqawi, was killed. In 2013, it professed itself as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Although both groups are similar and are both powerful terrorist groups, they have different targets and tactics. Some similarities and differences are listed below:
Syria is located in the Middle East and the capital of Syria is Damascus. Although this can be a diverse region, the official language of Syria is Arabic. Even though the official language is Arabic, there are many more languages spoke there such as, Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, and Circassian. The region’s population is about 22.5 million people. Syria’s largest mountain is Mount Hermon and the longest river is Euphrates. Syria is also home to Lake Assad, which is the largest lake in Syria (Operation World). Syria’s economy is based on its exports. Syria is known for their oil, petroleum, and cotton fiber (Operation World). The United States has tried to get ahold of the oil in the Middle East. During the Gulf War in the Middle East, between 1967 and 1973, the United States sided with Israel. This led to the oil embargo, where the Arabs refused to sell oil to the United States for a short time. This led to an energy crisis in the United States (Hobbs, 178). In Syria and much of the Middle East they also grow a lot of food. Some of their main agriculture is wheat, barley, and cotton (Syria Facts). Syria has a very fertile plain because it is along the Mediterranean coast which provides good soil for growing crops. However, over half of Syria
Syrian civil war started in 2011 was the outcome of the opposition against the President Bashar al-Assad regime. The uprising emerged as a response to the Arab spring movement that lead to regime change in Tunisia and subsequently turned into mass unrest rooted into the discontent with long-term dictatorship and poor economic situation in the country (Manfreda, n.d.). The number of Syrian citizens killed in the civil war reached 140000 since March 2011 (SBS 2014). The European Commission (2014, 2) reports approximately 9.3 million civilians “in need for humanitarian assistance”. The scale of armed rebellion between government and opposition that lead to an increasing number of casualties among civilians did not remain unnoticed by the
President Assad was given an outstanding western education, receiving a degree for ophthalmology from a London-based medical school. Naturally there was hope that since Assad had spent time in one of the most consolidated democracies, he might have been more willing to implement democratic measures in Syria than his father. Assad’s rise to power was actually through a series of rather lucky events for him. Originally his older brother was selected as his father’s heir but an unexpected car accident thrust Bashar into the spotlight. Upon the death of his father, Bashar then proceeded to be appointed leader of the major political party and the army after which he was elected president.