Who Really Made ISIS?- Part Two

The first mistake? They banned the work of all members of the Baath Party, who were mostly Sunnis. They have become a major catalyst for the uprising, which by end of 2003 was in full swing and pushing the country into civil war, drawing America into a quagmire from which was no way out.

Shiites, led by radical cleric Moqtada al-like Sadr, have also opposed the occupation, and their militias were fighting against the Sunnis, attacked coalition forces and fought against each other. Tensions between the Arab south and Kurdish north have also started to grow. Al-Qaeda, which had a minimal presence in the country during Saddam, suddenly appeared and brought chaos.

Meanwhile, the additional problem was behavior of Americans whose individual soldiers mistreated and humiliated prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison; this among other things included the beating, sexual humiliation, forcing the sodomy and rape, with one death.

The horrors just continue growing. First Iraqis posed with the burned bodies of American construction workers hanging from a bridge on the Euphrates in Fallujah, after which take place two battles in this city, the first in April (when the Americans failed to take the city) and then in November. During these battles, we could see how the Marines liquidate unarmed Iraqis in the mosque. It is assumed that the Iraqis found in mass graves in Fallujah were killed the same way.

Fighting in Iraq, however, were largely unconventional. Mainly these were bombing attacks, mostly by Sunni militants linked to al-Qaeda, directed against Shiites, and Shiite death squads that also attacked Sunnis.

For example, on September 14, 2005, there was multiple simultaneous bombings that left behind 150 dead and over 500 wounded. The attacks were usually carried out by homemade bombs. What we know today as that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was created precisely in this period.

Two-thirds of Americans supported the war in 2003. Three years later, the situation was just opposite. The war looked like a conflict in which America couldn’t win, which is why Bush decided to increase the number of troops at 169,000. By the summer of 2008, the situation calmed down, but it is debatable whether this had an effect or change of tactics and the introduction of Sunni tribal leaders in the political life, as well as breaking the Shiite militia of the government in Baghdad.

Barack Obama eventually withdrew troops from Iraq, as promised, in late 2011, but the Americans failed to secure a stable political system in which Sunnis continue to feel marginalized, Shiites want all the power, and the Kurds want independence.

The war in Syria has brought a new threat, and until then marginalized ISIS has become an important player. Now it is back again in Iraq and holds large parts of the country.