Every other day, we come across this news. ISIS beheads yet another journalist. These atrocities have been going on for days now without most of us having the real knowledge of what is about. We all had our share of laugh when Khamba from AIB made fun of Alia Bhatt about the meaning of ISIS. The irony is that most of us don’t know about it either. So let’s find out about how it all started.
For starters, ISIS is a term we have been hearing for quite some time now. ISIS stands for Islamic state of Iraq and Syria. We have been listening to news about their extremely immoral acts but do we know the complete story. The deep background of every story is hidden from us and hence we cannot perceive the complete picture.
The story started back in 2000 when Saddam Hussein began to trade oil in Euros rather than in U.S dollars. This was set to create an up stir in American community and it did. Since the 1970s, all oil has been exchanged using the American currency. America was able to gain total control over the oil trade by supporting dictators in Saudi Arabia and Iron for various decades.
In 1979, things suddenly started to take a U-turn. The dictator of Iran was overthrown and replaced by a regime with strong anti U.S policies. As the 1980s approached, Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan, Iran went to war with Iraq and as a result Hamas, a terrorist organization was created. The U.S. funded the Mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union. Only a few years after the Soviet Union left Afghanistan, the extremist Mujahideen under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden became Al Qaeda. Then U.S grabbed popcorns and funded both Iran and Iraq to fight with each other. The result of that we can imagine easily- loss of many human lives.
Now coming back to 2000 again when Saddam wanted to trade the oil in Euros, America realized it would leave their economy shattered. Before that, U.S personnel Dick Cheney had given statement about how Iraq mattered to them and the support America will provide them. Just after Saddam took that step, U.S wanted to take down the Iraqi government. Did anyone else smell hypocrisy here??
After 8 years of dominating war against Iraq, U.S finally left Iraq. Just three years after this, ISIS emerged as a major threat. This extremist group was once a part of Al Qaeda and soon it dominated its prevalence in Syria. The U.S now wanted to topple the Assad regime in Syria. After being denied access to air strikes, the government just decided to send moderate opposition in Syria money and arms. Now you know ISIS has a good amount of U.S manufactured arms in their possession or maybe not just good.
And hence again, we are on the brink of War. It’s high time U.S takes a look at their foreign policy and think “Did terrorism actually decrease after 9/11?” The answer definitely is No. This is most likely due to the fact that their air strikes and drones has killed more civilians than terrorists and create more uproar in the Middle East, probably because America has funded oppressive and extremist group all through history. It’s time U.S leaves the Middle East to decide their own fate and not intervene in each of their acts. The more they run their nose in that, the hatred against them increases exponentially causing more terrorism and never ending wars and loss. Intervention is inevitable and even necessary but they should admit their foreign policy has been a failure. President Bush and Obama’s careless conduct in the Middle East has left the world in turmoil facing the risk of wars.
By any means, It does not defend the cruel acts put together by I.S.I.S neither does it term that apt. I.S.I.S. But this situation could have been avoided if there was some selflessness showed by U.S.
