Let's not follow 'Syria model' in Iraq
The United States should have backed the Free Syrian Army against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in Syria; we need to learn from the recent past.
The recent attacks against government institutions and the army in Iraq is increasingly calling the West's attention to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), now calling itself simply the Islamic State, and its fight against the Iraqi regime. Speculation varies from direct, if limited, US intervention in Iraq and remote support for government institutions and their security services to confront terrorism, maintain security and stability in the country and avert regional war.
Strangely enough, these options didn't come up following the ISIS attacks in Syria. No one offered to support the Free Syrian Army (FSA) against ISIS even when the FSA battled and pursued ISIS, which was expelled from vast regions in northern Syria only to make up for it by occupying other Syrian regions. All these events occurred in plain view of the West, and the United States in particular. Even more strangely, this terrorist organization is not regarded as dangerous in our country even though its circumstances in Syria and Iraq are similar, perhaps even more favorable to it in Syria than in Iraq. Instead of mobilizing against ISIS in Iraq, the world included under the terror label anyone who has taken up arms against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s gangs and assassins, such as:
