Middle East Fantasies
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Another irony: if President Obama’s ponderous deliberations lead to a decision to support the Iraqi government, we will be allied with Iran, our enemy since their revolution of 1979. Iran has been the main beneficiary of our involvement in Iraq; former foe Saddam Hussein was replaced with a friendly Shi’a government. The Iranian government is loath to see any part of Iraq or Syria ceded to ISIS, although that may be a fait accompli (so too may be a Kurd state in northern Iraq). Current conflict could bloom into a full scale Sunni-Shi’a war that engulfs Syria, Iraq, and Iran, with Sunni Turkey and Saudi Arabia providing their coreligionists arms, funding, and troops. It is an open question how much farther this could spread and who else might be drawn in. World War III is not out of the question.
Another irony: if President Obama’s ponderous deliberations lead to a decision to support the Iraqi government, we will be allied with Iran, our enemy since their revolution of 1979. Iran has been the main beneficiary of our involvement in Iraq; former foe Saddam Hussein was replaced with a friendly Shi’a government. The Iranian government is loath to see any part of Iraq or Syria ceded to ISIS, although that may be a fait accompli (so too may be a Kurd state in northern Iraq). Current conflict could bloom into a full scale Sunni-Shi’a war that engulfs Syria, Iraq, and Iran, with Sunni Turkey and Saudi Arabia providing their coreligionists arms, funding, and troops. It is an open question how much farther this could spread and who else might be drawn in. World War III is not out of the question.
