Reflection 4

I found Dr. Boukhars lecture about radical Islam and the political turmoil of the Middle East very informative and engaging. He spoke about the rise and fall of terrorist groups and the US’s response to them. America tends to deal with organizations like Al-Queda and ISIS with purely military means, which can be effective for eliminating the Islamist organizations but doesn’t treat their root causes, which tend to do with governmental instability, civil unrest, and groups with social grievances who feel marginalized or oppressed. This leads to a new organization cropping up right after the previous one is destroyed. After Al-Queda was destroyed, ISIS took its place. There were many factors that lead to its rise to power. The group took advantage of the US occupation of Iraq to foster anti-US sentiment and recruit people to their cause. They also exploited the Sunni feeling of marginalization, even though they are in fact, a majority as compared to the Shia Muslims. This comes from their many failed reforms, such as attempts to bring capitalism or socialism to their countries, Pan-Arabism, and the Arab Spring. After Saddam Hussein was assassinated, all of his followers and members of his party were ousted from government and the military was disbanded. This led to a weak government which couldn’t provide basic social programs like welfare, and created a power vacuum. It also resulted in many disgruntled soldiers, with their grievances against the government, military experience and need for employment led many of them to join ISIS. In fact, about 1/3 of ISIS consisted of these former soldiers. That chaos was the perfect situation for such a radical group to form. Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, America and Russia are the major players in this conflict today. The Western countries support different sides of the conflict, and many private investors in Saudi Arabia provide financial support to ISIS. Current day, Tunisia provides some hope for democratic reform. If it works there, it may very well set an example for the rest of the Middle East and inspire countries to shake off oppressive and corrupt authoritarian governments.