Rather than a Sunni-Shiite war we are seeing a civil war in Sunni Islam. We must remember that there are many Sunnis who are willingly fighting in Assad's army, and that there are many Sunni tribes in Western Iraq who hate the foreign jihadists' guts because they have invaded their land. Their puritanical idea of Islam has not been welcomed by Sunnis in Iraq. These tribes have fought them before with American military support and will again in the near future, with or without American support. But defeating ISIL, or groups with similar persuasions, won't solve the intellectual, political, and spiritual crisis in the Sunni world.
The crisis in the Sunni world will exist as long as the regimes in Saudi Arabia and Qatar pose as the leaders of Sunnis in the region. These pathetic petrodollar Persian Gulf states are funding the most cruel terrorists and spreading the most barbaric ideology on the planet. They are holding the region back. So as long as their regimes survive and are flush with cash, the problem of Jihadist terrorism in Iraq, Syria, the Middle East, and the West will continue for decades.
Shiites in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Iran can try all they can to defeat ISIL in Iraq, but they won't succeed, because the historic mission of defeating these terrorists falls upon the Sunnis in the region. The most they can do is protect their sacred shrines and holy cities, but that will be the limit of their power.
Of course, Hezbollah and other Shiite militias can take on ISIL militarily and win, as they have shown in Syria on numerous occasions, but this is not a military battle, so they could win all the battles and still lose. The Sunnis are the only ones with the credibility to defeat these merciless Jihadist terrorist groups.
But even Sunnis will not be able to truly win against ISIL as long as the CIA, MI6, Mossad, as well as Turkish and Saudi intelligence agencies covertly arm, train, and fund ISIL and similar terrorist groups. The funding, arming, and training of Jihadist terrorists must stop. And to accomplish this task the governments of America, England, Israel, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia must be reformed.
Specifically, the CIA, MI6, and Mossad must be reformed. That will lead to a lasting solution to the problem of terrorism. It is an easy problem to solve if the political will is there. Fighting a long war on terrorism is a recipe for endless war. The people in America, Israel, and the West will slowly come to understand that the solutions to terrorism are closer to home.
1. An excerpt from, "Iraq’s Sunni could defeat Isis if Maliki steps down, says ex-minister" by Simeon Kerr, Financial Times, June 24, 2014:
2. An excerpt from, "An Army Lieutenant Colonel Explains Why The Iraq "Surge" Wasn't The Strategic Triumph It's Remembered As Being" by Michael B Kelley, Business Insider, June 19, 2014:Rafi al-Issawi, the popular former finance minister who was pushed out of office by Mr Maliki, has been holding talks with US officials as well as Kurdish and Shia politicians on a political solution to the crisis that threatens the disintegration of the country.
“Only the Sunnis can defeat Isis,” Mr Issawi told the Financial Times.
In Iraq, radical jihadists have captured key cities and infrastructure and the country appears to be spiraling into full-on sectarian war. So it's worth remembering that the U.S.'s apparently-successful effort to stabilize the country — the troop "surge" that began in 2007 — might not have been the triumph it's widely remembered as being.
In April of 2012, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis authored a blistering report on the deteriorating mission in Afghanistan and the lies told to the American public by some of its highest military officials.
The 84-page report is full of cogent arguments and vivid anecdotes that describe "the truth in regards to the genuine conditions on the ground in Afghanistan."
By mid-2006 AQI had alienated the locals so much that, despite their hatred for “the invading Americans," the Sunni population "would have worked with the devil to get rid of [AQI]," according to Former Iraqi General Najim al-Jibouri.
From the report:
The Bottom Iraqi Line: ... it was only the nearly two years of overt brutality and mindless slaughter inflicted on the Sunni community by its ostensible Sunni ally AQI that the Iraqi Sunnis were willing to revolt and instead partner with the US.Two U.S. officers who fought during the surge told Davis that had this sectarian split not happened, there would have been no Anbar Awakening.
In fact, the two U.S. commanders who were most instrumental in getting Iraq's Sunnis to switch sides — Col. Sean MacFarland, who led of the Anbar Awakening, and Lt. Col. Dale Kuel with the Baghdad-centric Sons of Iraq program — confirmed to Davis that the U.S.'s change in tactics played only a supporting role in the American military campaign's seemingly successful outcome.
