Serious Complexity of the Middle East
by Errington C. Thompson, MD
Have you taken some time and just simply looked at a map of the Middle East?
It looks like some ridiculously complex jigsaw puzzle. Smack-dab in the middle of this puzzle are Syria and Iraq. To the north is Turkey. Syria does have some Mediterranean coastline on its eastern border, but it also has Lebanon on its southwestern border. Israel, Jordan and Iraq make up Syria’s southern and eastern borders.
Saudi Arabia borders Israel, Jordan and Iraq. Just to make matters just a little bit interesting, to the west and south of the Middle East are the Suez Canal and Egypt.
I have arbitrarily cut off the Middle East at Saudi Arabia. Most maps would include Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait. These countries ring the southern and eastern borders of Saudi Arabia.
Once upon a time, the Middle East was all part of the Ottoman Empire, which was broken up after World War I. More partitioning was done by the British and the French to make room for Israel and Palestine after World War II. I do not have enough time or space in this article, or the historical knowledge, to adequately and quickly discuss why Palestine was supposed to have a state and why none truly exists today.
But by now, everybody knows that the United States is at war with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS or ISIL. I understand the progressives are disappointed that we are in another war in the Middle East. Unfortunately, I don’t think that Barack Obama had any alternatives. If you videotape the beheading of an American, expect some sort of retaliation. Politically, Barack Obama had to act.
Over the past 18 months, a lot of stuff has been going on in Iraq. The old Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is out. Haider al-Abadi is in—after elections, a threatened military coup, and a constitutional crisis. This might be good, because al-Maliki didn’t really believe in democracy. Corruption was bad and the military was worse as friends of al-Maliki got promoted. I have no idea if this new prime minister can figure out a way for the Kurds, the Shia and the Sunnis to work together.
At the same time, there has been a huge and bloody Civil War in Syria. The president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, has been a brutal dictator. Some on the right and even on the left have cried for us to arm the rebels to fight al-Assad.
It seems to me that the one thing we should have learned from our experience in Iraq was that a policy of the enemy of my enemy is my friend may be great for the playground but it makes for awful foreign-policy. The fact that Barack Obama resisted those calls for arming rebels was the right move.
While the chaos in Iraq and Syria was going on, this group called ISIS decided to take advantage of the situation. They decided that Al Qaeda was too warm and fuzzy for them and that they needed to be more extreme. They quickly and decisively took large swaths of Syria and Iraq.
Like the Borg from Star Trek, as they conquered a city or village, all men were required to pledge allegiance to ISIS, convert to their form of Islam, and fight for the cause. Those who decided that they were conscientious objectors were publicly tortured and shot. The families of objectors—including women and children—were dragged into town squares and executed.
President Obama has put together a coalition which includes France and Great Britain as well as several Middle Eastern countries. Conspicuously absent from our coalition are Russia, Iran, and Turkey. It would be truly remarkable sight for the United States and Russia, the two greatest military powers in the world today, to come together to help fix the problem in the Middle East. Of course, this is a pipe dream.
It would also make a huge statement if Iran would support our efforts against ISIS, but the Iranian government has been a huge supporter of, and is actually propping up, the Syrian government—which we tried to topple a year ago. So, Iran is hindering and not helping our efforts.
Because of ISIS, hundreds of thousands of refugees have poured into Turkey. Turkey is a democratic country. It’s one of our biggest partners in the region. It’s long been a strategic ally. But the Kurds in northern Iraq also claim territory in southeastern Turkey, and defeating ISIS may make the Kurds stronger—so Turkey will have no part of that.
Our goals of intervention in the Middle East have to be clear. I don’t think that there’s any American who believes that spending another $1-$2 trillion in the Middle East is the best use of our hard-earned taxpayer money. I do think that we need to defeat ISIS. We also need to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. Finally, we need to do what we can to help shore up the Iraqi government.
It is important for you to know that I’m writing this with a heavy heart. It is my personal belief that violence is almost never the right answer. Since the end of the Cold War, I believe we’ve been far too quick to use our military to solve the world’s problems. But my biggest fear is that fighting ISIS seems to be an open-ended commitment. (Psst, don’t tell anybody, but we’re still fighting Al Qaeda in its various forms all over the world.) When will we know that we have defeated ISIS?
It is times like these that I pray for wisdom. I hope Obama prays for wisdom of Solomon also. He is going to need it.
