Is it stupidity, is it hypocrisy or is it complete disregard for human death and misery that is the reason for the slaughter in the Middle East? The propaganda channel, BBC shows graphic pictures of children injured in alleged Russian bombing in Aleppo but there is not a peep on children being knee-capped with hammers and hit on the head with rifle butts, as the Iraqi army makes progress against ISIS in Mosul. Saddam Hussein was vanquished in 2003, following which the US was involved in the setting up the government in Baghdad with Nouri al-Maliki as Prime Minister. Instead of uniting the country he antagonized the Sunnis who might have seen the Al Qaeda and ISIS as liberators. He weakened the army in fear of being overthrown in a coup so that they ran in panic when ISIS thugs approached, leaving their arms and tanks behind. Not only did Obama withdraw all US troops from Iraq he made no effort to pressure al-Maliki to change. Instead the US helped his attacks on troops of Muqtada al-Sadr in Basra and in Baghdad, which made him more powerful. ISIS was the result of US ignorance of the Middle East, of the release of old hatreds following the sudden removal of Saddam Hussein and aerial assassinations of leaders of various groups. US stupidity was most evident in Syria where it backed a group of rebels, who were not affiliated with the Al Qaeda, to help them remove Bashar al-Assad but refrained from all out attack on the President. This was not because of any scruples about killing a human being, because at this time Nato forces were bombing Gaddafi to his death, in Libya. The stupidity of Obama's concept of 'good terrorists' and 'bad terrorists' was exposed when different groups started fighting against each other. Despite warning by the Iraq government Turkey has joined the battle in Mosul. Turkey's Erdogan would like to crown himself a Caliph of a modern Ottoman empire. In the confused landscape of the Middle East it would be no surprise if the Shia governments of Iraq and Syria join forces to fight Turkey, which is a member of Nato. Will the US and its allies join Turkey in an all out fight against Syria and Iraq, as Nato rules demand? Turkey is said to be supporting Peshmerga fighters, who are Kurds, in Mosul while it is bombing Kurdish YPG forces fighting in Syria. Does Turkey want to create a division between different Kurdish forces to prevent an independent Kurdistan in northern Iraq? Kurds have destroyed millions of Arab homes in revenge for crimes by ISIS. Yezidis, who were especially brutally treated by ISIS, have also been killing Sunni Arabs in revenge. Add the refugee crisis in Europe, the low intensity war in Ukraine and the constant abuse of Russia by western governments and it is an almighty mess. Obama will be gone in January. Will he be held responsible for the bloodshed that is coming?
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