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The Big Picture – What caused the crisis in WestAsia?

The Big Picture – What caused the crisis in West Asia?

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Summary:

Recently, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted that the US – UK ledcoalition might have led to the creation of Islamic State. West Asia is extremely unstablenow. There is a historic migration crisis. In March 2003 the American invasion on Iraqtook place. America tried to address the root cause of terrorism through regime change.In 2011 America decided to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Following the withdrawal, theShias came to power and tried to take revenge against Sunnis. ISIS is said to be theresult of radicalization. It is also being said that Shia –division was created by the GulfWar.

Tony Blair’s recent apology in making war on Iraq in 2003 has been declared a non-apology by most commentators and media, including those who supported the war driveand peddled with enthusiasm the myth of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. This isbecause Blair has only re-stated what he’s been saying for over a decade – that the waron Iraq resulted from a failure of the intelligence services to deliver accurate informationon WMD. The war against Iraq was initiated based on assertion that Iraq possessedweapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and that Saddam’s government posed animmediate threat to the United States and its coalition allies. This misrepresentation ofpre-war intelligence is being criticized worldwide now. The invasion led to sectarianviolence which caused widespread displacement among Iraqi civilians. The invasion ledalso to a constitution which supported democracy as long as laws did not violatetraditional Islamic principles.

US led invasion regime toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. During thisdecade long lone war lakhs of Iraqis were killed. The invasion also led to the collapse ofthe Saddam government. Saddam was captured and later executed by a military court.Following this widespread sectarian violence between Shias and Sunnis began.Insurgency against U.S. and coalition forces also began aftermath the war.

Iraqi insurgency surged in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal. The terror campaignshave since been engaged by Iraqi, primarily radical Sunni, insurgent groups against the

central government. By 2014 Iraq was once again in chaos with the insurgencyreaching new heights. In June 2014 the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) tookover the major cities of Iraq. In the summer of 2014 President Obama announced thereturn of U.S. Forces to Iraq, but only in the form of aerial support. This was mainlyaimed at halting the advance of ISIS forces, render humanitarian aid to strandedrefugees and stabilize the political situation.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are estimated to have been killed in the violenceunleashed in 2003, though the true number of deaths remains unknown. The continuingbloodshed in Iraq has contributed to the biggest refugee crisis since World War II, andthe ascent of ISIS has exacerbated the outflow of refugees from Syria as well.

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