By Chris Shea, staff writer
It’s been three years since U.S. Troops officially left Iraq, marking the end of an eight-year war. But don’t celebrate too early, America, for violence in the Middle East is back in Iraq, and it’s not a pretty sight.
The situation all stems back from a little dispute about 1,400 years ago in the year 632 AD. There was a power struggle in the Islamic faith on who would succeed the prophet Muhammad. This dispute eventually split Islam into two sects, the Shiites and the Sunnis. They would eventually be- come political enemies and would hate each other for thousands of years.
Moreover, it goes back to the end of colonial- ism in Europe, prior to the end of World War I. In 1916, before the Great War even ended, the English and French governments secretly drew some lines on maps of the Middle East so both countries could divide their spheres of influence.
Turns out that wasn’t such a good idea. The colonial Europeans didn’t put the borders where it would make sense for the cultures in that area. In many cases, Sunni and Shiite Muslims were put together in the same countries. The only thing sup- pressing the tensions was that of colonial rule and dictatorship.
The years of long suppressed tension would finally explode after the U.S. Invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the Arab Spring revolts of 2011 (you know, that revolutionary wave of protest and dem- onstration across the Middle East where the masses were in favor of a more democratic government).
As violence in the region escalated, that’s where the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) came in. What is ISIS? ISIS is an extremist Sunni Muslim group who wants to reinstate a caliphate (an Islamic state led by a supreme religious leader), governed by strict Islamic law. They are basically the new Al-Qaeda.
Is ISIS (or ISIL, if that’s what they like to be called now), a threat to the United States? The answer is yes. ISIS is causing many Iraqis to flee to American allies in the region such as Israel, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.
Economically, this “regional problem” can result in a massive drop in Iraqi oil production. This means that prices for oil and gas in the US could soar.
The biggest threat in the eyes of the U.S. is that if the governments of the Middle East collapse, a vast lawless territory could exist. Terrorists could have a safe haven, just like what the Taliban in Af- ghanistan did for Al-Qaeda.
The U.S. should do something about the ongo- ing violence in the Middle East, but should we put boots on the ground? If we do send troops back to Iraq, let’s just hope we finally find those WMDs so we can justify going back.