In a recent interview in The Atlantic, Hillary Clinton blames the rise of ISIS on President Obama’s “failure” to arm the so-called moderate Syrian opposition. She also takes a tough line on nuclear negotiations with Iran, offers unqualified support to Israel in its recent war in Gaza, and takes the President to task for his maxim “Don’t do stupid stuff” expressing caution about military intervention.
Mr. Obama decided not to provide more arms to the moderate Syrian rebels precisely because he was rightly concerned that these weapons might well fall into the hands of ISIS.
The current chaos in Iraq, Syria, and beyond is a consequence of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, which Hillary Clinton supported and Barack Obama opposed.
In its first decree, the American occupation ordered that all public sector employees affiliated with the Ba’ath Party were to be removed from their positions and to be banned from any future employment in the public sector. This effectively disenfranchised huge numbers of Iraq’s Sunnis, who were the core of the old regime. The new government was Shiite and sectarian. Until these deeper political issues are addressed, ISIS will find support even among those who deplore its brutality.
It is not President Obama, but the Neoconservatives who planned the invasion of Iraq before the September 11th attacks, whom Hillary Clinton should be blaming. She might add a word of remorse for her own role.
