The urge to meddle.

Doctors have long been aware of the dangers of polypharmacy wherein sympathy for a patient's suffering leads to prescription of many types of medication, resulting in toxicity and even death of the patient. Trying to do good without understanding the finer nuances of a problem often results in more harm. The same applies to nations. Saddam Hussein is a vicious dictator so his removal should bring peace and stability to Iraq.That simplistic theory was behind the attack on Iraq based on lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction but in practice Iraq is now on the verge of civil war as Sunni extremists have taken over parts of Anbar province in western Iraq, including Fallujah, where the US used chemical weapons in the form of phosphorus to win in 2004.  Sectarian violence led to the deaths of 9,000 people with 25,000 injured in 2013.The same has been the result in Lybia where NATO bombing, fraudulently using a UN Security Council resolution permitting use of force only to protect civilians, led to Gaddafi being ousted and killed along with 30,000 civilians. Libya is now divided along tribal lines and the national government is confined to Tripoli. Now it is Syria's turn. Here the situation is complicated by Russian and Iranian support for the Assad regime. Russia has a base at Tartus and Iran is sending in fighters from the Republican Guards as well as the Hezbollah. While the western media has portrayed Assad as a vile dictator, which he is, they are quiet about the equally odious friends of the US, such as Saudi Arabia, which is the financier of global jihad, and Pakistan which is the epicenter of terrorism in the world. They were predicting Assad's removal within weeks but 2 years on it seems that Assad's forces, with Hezbollah reinforcement, are pushing back the rebels on many fronts. To make matters worse for the west various rebel groups are fighting among each other. So now they they have arranged a conference in Geneva but can they really understand that the middle east survives on hatred. The Shias and the Sunnis hate each other. Tribes hate each other even if of the same religion. The sheikhs hate each other. Sometimes they just hate. When the protests in Tahrir Square in Egypt brought down Musharraf they were predicting a democracy like Turkey. Today Egypt is more like Pakistan, with the Muslim Brotherhood playing the role of the Taliban, and Erdogan is becoming a dictator everyday. Physicians have learnt the value of masterly inactivity. Perhaps politicians should take lessons.