How many of the Sunnis in ISIS are former Saddam Hussein supporters?

[kentuck]

Last edited Tue Sep 2, 2014, 08:57 PM - Edit history (1)

And many of them left the country of Iraq when Saddam Hussein was hanged? Many went to Syria and other neighboring countries?

And once Maliki took control in Baghdad, he did not recognize the "Sunnis" as part of his government. This is when the Sunnis organized themselves in Syria and decided to take their country back.

This has left the US in a Catch-22 situation. They must align themselves with the Baghdad government and Iran or they must align themselves with the dictator Assad in Syria? Neither is preferable.

The leaders of the group are now personally challenging President Obama by name as they behead American journalists. The reports are that the President is pissed.

He should remain calm and determined. He should not act out of anger, as Israel appeared to do with the Gaza strip? It is somewhat re-assuring that we now have a President Obama, rather than a President Bush. He will not fire until there is a target.

It is not re-assuring that we are being drawn back into another war with Iraq. It is not disconnected from the last Iraqi War. This is a continuation of the war between the Shia and the Sunnis, which has been going on for over a thousand years. With the killing of Saddam Hussein, the Shia - backed by Iran - took over the Baghdad government. Now the Sunnis want to take it back.

http://www.cfr.org/peace-conflict-and-human-rights/sunni-shia-divide/p33176#!/?cid=nlc-news_release-news_release-the_sunni_shia_divide-link2-20140715&sp_mid=46474712&sp_rid=Z3Njb2JsZXRlQHJlYWxjbGVhcndvcmxkLmNvbQS2

[Vogon_Glory]

1. Probably a lot of them

Probably a lot of them.

The SOB who heads ISIS isn't stupid and has the smarts to acquire competent people to staff his armed forces, run his government, and lead his troops.

Just because Team Shrub operated an utterly incompetent post-invasion occupation doesn't mean that ISIS is obliged to be even more stupid.

[Mika]

2. Sunnis and Shiite: "going on for over a thousand years"

Do you have any accurate retrospective on this phenomenon? I hear/see it all the time and see rebuttals denying the accuracy of this statement.

Thanks in advance.

[kentuck]

6. I must admit...

..that is something I have read in different credible sources, but I do not have the specific validation.

I did find this:

http://www.cfr.org/peace-conflict-and-human-rights/sunni-shia-divide/p33176#!/?cid=nlc-news_release-news_release-the_sunni_shia_divide-link2-20140715&sp_mid=46474712&sp_rid=Z3Njb2JsZXRlQHJlYWxjbGVhcndvcmxkLmNvbQS2

[TwilightGardener]

3. We don't have to align with either Assad or Iran.

We don't need to coordinate, we don't need to ask permission, and if Assad in particular does something we don't like (anti-aircraft), we can respond accordingly in ways he won't like.

[loyalsister]

4. I wonder how many are old enough that they were fully aware of him

It's been over 20 yrs. since the gulf war, and 11 since he was killed. Does anyone know the age demographics? I would think a lot of them would have been children when he was killed.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

5. I know this has been discussed extensively on Democracy Now

I can't remember the names of the specific guests, and I'm going to paraphrase this badly.

What I've read is that the initial, spectacular success of ISIS in Iraq was due in large part to ex-Baathists (read: Saddam Hussein's Generals) wanting an opportunity to return to power and in part due to tribal leaders who hate Malaki (sp?). Malaki is out, and the Kurds and (more recently) the Iraqi Security Forces have scored a series of battlefield victories against ISIS.

[Capt. Obvious]

7. That would tie in nicely with rationale for Iraq invasion

At least that's what I expect Fox News to declare.

[jaysunb]

8. The writer needs to do a more thorough research n/t