The rise of ISIS in Iraq has been squarely laid at the feet of Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki in the US-European press. They say he has disenfranchised the Sunni minority, criminalized its political representatives, and as a result they have been forced to join the arms of the genocidal madmen in the Islamic State.
Much of this criticism is true. Maliki is nowhere near a perfect politician. He has a big head. His overconfidence is blinding his judgment. He has been described as an idiot. Recent research studies have proven that power makes people stupid, so it is only natural that Maliki's mental faculties have deteriorated in the eight years he has been Prime Minister. The time for him to leave was months ago. If he loves his country he would step down tonight and make way for another man who is more deserving.
But those who solely blame Maliki for the massive crisis in Iraq have an agenda of their own. They seek to erase recent history and shield international public attention from the irresponsible and criminal actions of the governments of the US, Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France, and England, whose policies in Syria in the last three and a half years have directly led to the creation of the Islamic State.
It is easy to paint Maliki as a Shiite ruler, and the crisis in Iraq as another chapter in the growing Sunni-Shiite Armageddon war. But that's not the truth. What is going on in Iraq and Syria is not a Sunni-Shiite war. The Sunni tribal leaders in Iraq who have resisted the Islamic State's sectarian and racist killers have been executed on the spot. There are Sunnis in the Syrian army who have fought and died in battles against IS.
The sad fact is that there is no such thing as a Sunni Muslim world. There are no responsible political leaders anywhere in Iraq or around the region who represent the legitimate interests of Sunnis. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt proved they were too incompetent to run a country, but Sisi has managed to make them look good in retrospect. Saudi Arabia and Turkey have backed the mass murderers of the Islamic State with covert state means, and with their public silence. They have let the terrorist madmen of ISIS speak for Sunnis, and that is the greatest tragedy in this crisis.
In this vacuum racist, and genocidal extremists have taken over. They have no religion. Those in the Sunni provinces of Iraq who are going along with the Islamic State's campaigns of mass murder and public executions for their own selfish and short-sighted political interests have already signed their own death warrant. Removing Maliki from power won't change that.
