October 29, 2014- By Steven E. Greer, MD
I saw the most recent episode of the PBS show Frontline that explained how ISIS rose to power. I was alarmed to learn that this is a very real and local threat, more so than I had thought.
To summarize the Frontline story, the horribly corrupt and incompetent Iraqi leader, Nouri al-Maliki (chosen by George W. Bush), was paranoid of the Sunnis and oppressed them from 2006 to 2014. The Sunnis set up permanent protest camps near Baghdad (much like the Occupy Wall Street camps), when Maliki finally shot them up, massacring hundreds. This was the final straw for the Sunnis.
Meanwhile, Al Qaeda rebels in Syria, mostly Sunni, were allowed to prosper by taking over oil fields and accruing cash (because President Obama refused to intervene, which he now blames on “bad intelligence”). This group took advantage of the American withdrawal from Iraq and weak Maliki army, successfully capturing one city after the other with little fight back from the drunk and lazy Maliki army.
Ironically, the United States toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, and he was a Sunni. Now, ISIS is made of Sunnis who were oppressed after the fall of Saddam, and are a far bigger threat than Saddam Hussein ever was. Adding to the perverted state of affairs, the ISIS army is managed by former Saddam Hussein generals.
Regular civilians going about their business in new York City should care about ISIS because its mission is to form a global state that has no borders. It brainwashes young, broke, disaffected Muslims all over the world convincing them that they are now part of ISIS. Some of those recruits have already attacked in North America; last week in the Canadian parliament in Ottawa, and in New York seriously injuring NPYD officers.
Aside, one thing that amazes me is how history repeats itself in almost identical patterns. When large groups of unemployed males sit idle, they become angry, and want to kill.
The anger against Jews stoked by Hitler is very similar to the mass murders perpetrated by ISIS psychopaths. The ISIS followers even use the same straight-arm-out-palms-down salute that was used by the Nazis as the “Heil Hitler” solute. The “Islamic State”, with ambitions of global dominance is copying the “Third Reich”.
The leaders who rise to manipulate these mobs use unspeakable violence to scare opponents. It is usually a sign of insecurity, knowing that their armies are not as powerful as they want people to believe. The violence is also the main enticement for recruits. These young men who have no power in their current homes do not care about religion or an Islamic state, just as most people in Germany really did not care about a Third Reich. They really just love euphoria of power created by brutal bloodshed.