ISIS on the offensive in Iraq

[ICantSpellDawg]

Because it didn't work out that way. The Shia never worked with us in a way that was conducive to government building. The de-Baathification was something a lot of highly qualified people thought was a great freaking idea, and that also really didn't work out at all. About the only thing that worked was the Surge, and that was really an all-out assault on the terrorist networks around Baghdad that secured a temporary lull in the fighting for us to do a little politics and withdraw.

My point is that are you willing to bet American lives and plenty of non-American lives on your academic understanding of a people? You shouldn't be. Nobody should be. Its arrogant, and we should go back to being more isolationist--at least militarily.

I think that the breakdown is something like 65% Shi'a Arab, 15% Sunni Arab. Working with Shi'ites was greatly successful, although it opened Iraq up to excessive Iranian influence. It is arguable that a similarly weak-kneed "war is never the answer" mentality caused them to believe that this threat was not existential. It allowed people who realize that war is a very powerful answer to gain an upper hand.

Either way, I operate off of a basic understanding that anyone arguing over foreign policy in the Middle-East has a functional understanding of Middle-Eastern issues and history until proven otherwise by more than incorrect opinions.