Islamic State militants have continued their scorched earth campaign to wipe out anything considered non-Islamic. After destroying art and artifacts in the Mosul Museum and then the priceless ruins at Nimrud, ISIS is now destroying the ruins of the large fortified city at Hatra, one the capital of the first Arab kingdom. The site has withstood attacks since 116 with the Romans, but ISIS is using modern explosives and bulldozes to eradicate the 2000-year-old site.
Hatra is located 68 miles southwest of the city of Mosul, was a large fortified city the flourished during the Parthian Empire and was capital of the first Arab kingdom. Hatra was probably built in the 3rd or 2nd century BC. ISIS views such sites as promoting idolatry and departing from the true Islamic faith.
ISIS continues to destroy the very culture and history of the Arab people. It is also the history of civilization — an area that is properly called the cradle of civilization as humanity began to take great strides in medicine, mathematics, and other areas. ISIS however demands blind obedience and seeks to destroy any other values or viewpoints other than its form of Islamic orthodoxy.
Isaac…
I think your disdain for the former Administration is possibly clouding your view.
Hindsight is always 20/20 isn’t it? Many will look back at the current Administration’s withdrawal as a mistake. Many already look back at the previous Administration’s invasion as a mistake.
Having served in the US Navy for over 20-years, I can tell you ALL politicians make BIG mistakes. Routinely.
The overall goal of the Bush Administration was to establish a functioning democracy in Iraq. It was not to colonize the country, , take their oil, or to get Halliburton a huge contract… it was to turn Iraq into a democracy. Had this been successful, it could have been a stabilizing influence in all of the middle east and provided an example for numerous other countries in the region.
Unfortunately, despite our efforts (possibly misguided), Iraq has proven they are not ready or willing to do the work necessary to make democracy work. Like most of the Islamic world, they simply cannot move beyond the sectarian violence and ideological squabbles.
It may have indeed been folly on our part to attempt such a thing, but the cause was a noble one.
duane h:
“Iraq … did not have WMD” is inaccurate in terms of the operative enforcement procedure for the Gulf War ceasefire.
* For the record, explanation (link) of the law and policy, fact basis for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The “governing standard of Iraqi compliance” (UNSCR 1441) for disarmament was mandated by UNSCR 687, which means the operative definition of “WMD” proscribed for Iraq was set by UNSCR 687.
With UNSCR 1441, the UN Security Council “decide[d] that Iraq has been and remains in material breach of its obligations under relevant resolutions, including resolution 687”.
At the decision point for Operation Iraqi Freedom, UNMOVIC confirmed Iraq’s material breach of the “governing standard of Iraqi compliance” with the finding of about “about 100 unresolved disarmament issues” (Cluster Document). The UNMOVIC findings were the principal trigger for OIF.
In the post-war investigation, while not relevant to the decision for OIF, the Iraq Survey Group corroborated UNMOVIC’s confirmation that Iraq was in material breach of the “governing standard of Iraqi compliance”: “ISG judges that Iraq failed to comply with UNSCRs” (Duelfer Report).
The condition overlooked in the discourse on OIF is the intelligence could be off the mark and Saddam could be guilty of material breach at the same time because the “governing standard of Iraqi compliance” (UNSCR 1441) was set by the UNSC resolutions, not the intelligence. The pre-war intelligence did not and could not trigger enforcement. By procedure, OIF was triggered by Iraq’s material breach of its obligations under the UNSC resolutions.
duane h:
Deposing Saddam’s regime was not considered to be transformative in and of itself. The regime change was only the preliminary step of the US-led, UN-mandated process to bring Iraqi into compliance with the UN mandates. Liberal reform was intrinsic to achieving the humanitarian mandates of UNSCR 688, which was a cornerstone of the Gulf War ceasefire along with UNSCR 687.
Under Presidents Clinton and Bush and legally mandated by Congress, it was understood that liberal reform in post-Saddam Iraq would involve dedicated US assistance.
Congress made peace operations with Iraq a legal mandate for President Clinton in section 7 of the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998:
On December 19, 1998, President Clinton affirmed the American commitment to “help a new leadership in Baghdad that abides by its international commitments”:
On October 7, 2002, President Bush reaffirmed the American commitment to help Iraq after Saddam:
The US regime change policy for Iraq and, of course, championing liberal reform generally were standing US policies that pre-dated the Bush administration, but they did inform the post-9/11 Freedom Agenda.
The key piece for the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 and the Freedom Agenda was surehanded US leadership to shepherd liberal reform, like our longstanding post-WW2 peace-building missions.
For example, President Obama assessed Iraq’s progress with US peace operations in May 2011:
However – incredibly – President Obama fundamentally deviated from the Iraqi Liberation Act of 1998 and the Freedom Agenda by replacing the core element of surehanded US leadership with a ‘lead from behind’ approach that helped weaken standing regimes, including Iraq and most notably Libya, while neglecting to secure the peace. Obama’s decisions have helped open wide fertile gaps for the terrorists.
Saddam was a brutal dictator who for many years used violence, intimidation, and fear to keep the disagreeing factions (Sunni / Shiite / Kurds) from causing internal uprisings within Iraq. He simply erased them from existence and basically kept an uneasy “peace” in Iraq through sheer dominance.
I was in Iraq in the early 2000’s and personally saw many of the mass graves our military and State Department personnel were unearthing. All were courtesy of Saddam Hussein’s henchmen. And there were many.
In my opinion, there are three things currently happening in the middle east that may or may not have direct consequences for our country… All are happening concurrently, and some have overlapping consequences:
1.) There IS a religious war happening between Muslims in numerous countries throughout the middle east and beyond. (Sunni vs Shiite) ISIS adds their own unique view of Islam to the mix.
2.) Iran is working to re-establish the Persian Empire. Their means of doing so could have dire consequences for other peoples in the Middle East and possibly throughout the world. They are just as fanatical as ISIS, just not as directly barbaric.
3.) ISIS is taking the religious war meme to a new extreme. They could be pretty easily destroyed, but no one has the political will to make it happen.
With the exception of Iran’s ambitions, the rest of it has been going on for over 1,500 years and nothing the United States could do is going to change things. It should be left to the Arab population at large to deal with.
Soon though… you will see alliances begin to form as the Arab’s come to realize their biggest threat comes from the Persian’s. Israel sees this already. We are a little slower on the uptake.
For many of the “doves” here… make no mistake. ISIS could be defeated in very short order. The United States military could eliminate them by lunch time next Tuesday (figuratively) if that was the mission. We could have done the same to the Taliban in Afghanistan… IF that were the mission.
Instead, our political leaders place extremely limited “rules of engagement” on our troops that result in nothing more than our service members walking around with targets on their backs in some foreign land with no mission, no goals, and no strategic plan to define victory.
All that being said… All the Arab countries have military forces to some degree… It is up to them to protect these historic sites from the ISIS barbarians.
This is probably a ploy for money in exchange for not demolishing world history.
Isaac….
You repeated your statement that Saddam Hussein “could have been easily taken out a coup”.
That would news to the plotters of the numerous coup attempts he survived…..if they were still alive to hear it.
A Time Magazine reporter stated that Saddam’s hangman was working overtime after (an apparently CIA-backed) coup failed in 1996.
The Iraqi leaders promoted a Status Of Forces which bush agreed to, which would end the presence of American ground troops on December 31,2011, which Obama adhered to.
It is hard for me to believe that with all the sophisticated satellite technology we supposedly have in place that these creepy criminals cannot be located and killed. Wouldn’t this be the time to pull out all the stops with this stuff and extensive use of drones? There is no time to dilly dally as long as these sociopaths are breathing. Oh, I forgot, the congress is majority sociopath these days. And there is no money in it.
I wonder if Hillary is going to send ISIS a Reset Button.
David – thanks for the link. It is my understanding that, rather than having a current WMD development program, he had simply hidden his previously existing WMD. What is disappointing is that the military did not take precautions when sending in personnel to deal with munitions from a despot who was known to have made WMD before. This wasn’t an inconceivable risk. And then to be denied medical treatment when it was all hushed up is a disservice to those brave men and women who served.
And it is also true that when we aided Iraq to fight Iran, we were arming our future enemies. The same is true when we helped Afghanistan repel the Russian, thus training Bin Laden. Anytime we help an ally that is less than rock solid, we must assume that among the group of those trained will one day arise an enemy. There is so much anti-American sentiment in the Middle East that is situation is virtually guaranteed.
Shining the light of public scrutiny has a disinfecting effect. The military needs to clean up their act and put accurate exposure information in their medical files, follow up, and give them the care they need. And we also need to ensure that they are properly prepared to deal with chemical and biological weapons, because ISIS might have found some.
David
The US took over Iraq with the full force of a quarter million US troops and 60,000 GB troops, including aircraft and missiles galore. The chaos that the three stooges left was at a low ebb when Obama came to power and no one will ever know if the Iraqi government could have made it or not before ISIS arrived. ISIS did not exist before Syria and Iraq would be muddling along with its own internal squabbles if they had not come along. ISIS is a result of a combination of the general Arab uprisings, which have nothing to do with the US or Obama, and the chaos the three stooges created. The overall problem in Iraq is the result of a midget gunslinger and two political vultures that hung around long enough to get their hands on the throttle.
Obama was told by the American people and the Iraqis that it was time for US soldiers to leave. He responded to the wishes of the US majority opinion and the Iraqi government. If their was an earthquake there tomorrow, you would find a way to blame it on Obama.
Hussein could have easily been taken out with a coup, just like he came to power. There was no reason to invade Iraq other than misguided incompetence by the three stooges. When they did take over the country they sat on their thumbs for eight months while the insurgents, that were never there before, festered and came into being as the problem that cost most American lives. The whole mess was unnecessary and bungled.
If Obama had delayed the pullout, ISIS would be consolidating in Syria and waiting for the US to leave. Right now the enemy is there, exposed, and the opportunity is there for the Iraqis, with the assistance of the West, to take them out, exactly as it should be.
One can criticize Obama at the level of fine tuning. It diverts attention away from the real cause of the mess, incompetence on a global scale by W and his two nursemaids.
This begs to ask a question. Obama may not want Hillary to hand over private emails and email server. Hillary might have ISIS strategy emails. Obama needs to be careful what he wished for when he said make it public.
How much do the existence and resulting actions of ISIL have to do with the fact that we got rid of a “lesser” evil in Iraq that did not have WMD? There is an old cliche about “Careful about what you hope for” when we proclaimed that taking out Sadam would cause democracy to flourish in the middle east.
duane h, Saddam Hussein was the greater evil. You are working from old news. Even the New York Times has admitted that there were WMD’s found in Iraq. Lots of them. More than 5,000.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/14/world/middleeast/us-casualties-of-iraq-chemical-weapons.html
David – Obama was handed a won war. Look what he made of it.
If a Republican president had made a similar mess of things, you bet the media would be howling about the failure. Why do people think Obama deserves no criticism in how he handles world affairs? That’s one of the most basic parts of the job, handling global threats.
I get the impression that America looks like it’s wringing its hands in impotence while a “JV” team destroys irreplaceable historical sites and murders innocent people with impunity.
Oh NOOOOOOOOO!
OK, I know exactly how we can defeat ISIS. We will station Seal teams at every historical archeological site and museum around the region and completely wipe them out when they show up with the bulldozers.
Jerry – some Islamic sects place no value on artifacts. In fact, during the remodeling of Mecca, they demolished the original structure. It’s been a hot topic, as there is disagreement among Muslims.
David, They were just “the JV.”
Nick wrote: ” They were just “the JV.” ”
LOL! Well, our current commander in chief sure is letting this JV team cause mass destruction.
I heard this guy on the news about a month ago claiming that the 320 marines stationed 50 miles from al-Baghdadi, which ISIL just took over at the time, could easily wipe out ISIL out of Iraq. All they needed was the command to go do it. He claimed ISIL was no match for these marines. Seeing how quickly we took over the whole country in Iraq when Hussein was in power, I believe him. If only the command were given, none of this destruction of museums would be going on.
“ISIS is now destroying the ruins of the large fortified city at Hatra, one the capital of the first Arab kingdom”
ISIS may have accidently destroyed artifacts linked to Hagar and Ishmael, the father of 12 Arab tribes. By ISIS’s ideology, wouldn’t that be punishable by death?
And Davidm wins the prize today for bringing Obama into it. Congratulations Davidm.
Why indeed. Maybe he is actually OK with…. Nah, you’d have to be CRAZY to even THINK such a thing….
This is so infuriating. Why did Obama feel so compelled to leave Iraq so soon? He has undone every step of progress achieved by President Bush in Iraq.
Strides in medicine were taken in Egypt by Imhotep. Same with mathematics. The area does have one of my favorite mythologies though. 🙂