Who Is To Blame For The Rise Of The Islamic State?

Screenshot from Islamic State video

How The US, Its Allies, And Its Enemies All Made ISIS Possible -- Zack Beauchamp, VOX

Who is to blame for the rise of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)? The group's stunning military advances in Iraq and Syria have, together, built the most important safe haven for Islamic extremists since Taliban-held Afghanistan, and possibly ever. So it is important to understand where ISIS came from — and how it got so strong.

The truth, as usual, isn't simple. No one person or group can be blamed for ISIS's rise. The Iraqi and Syrian governments played a major role, but so did the United States, Iran, and Gulf monarchies like Saudi Arabia. This doesn't just shed light on ISIS's past and on the tangled web of responsibility for its rise. It also illuminates much larger problems: the unpredictability of proxy wars, the danger of unintended consequences, the ways in which conflict can favor extremists, and the scale of how difficult it will be to eliminate all of the factors that have led to ISIS.

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My Comment: This list covers it all. My only disagreement with Zack Beauchamp's post is that he primarily blames individuals and nation states for being responsible in the rise of the Islamic State .... I say that it is Islam (or the more radical version of it) that has played the biggest role in helping the Islamic State come into being. After-all .... if there was no Islam .... we will not even be having this discussion.