Understanding the Middle EastUnderstanding the Middle East

The links between WWI, Hitler, Saddam Hussein and ISIL.

The Cradle of Civilization: The Fertile Crescent is rich farmland that extends from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as Mesopotamia, east to the Jordan and upper Nile River valleys. Historians call this land as the Cradle of Civilization because early humans farmed there as long ago as 9000 BC. By 2500 BC the Sumerians, whose origins remain a mystery, had developed the first complex civilization with written laws, a political system and major innovations like writing, glass, the wheel, irrigation and the domestication of animals and plants.

The Prophet Abraham, who is known as the father of three great religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam, was born there, along the southern Euphrates River in the city of Ur. Intense conflicts in the region have shaped much of human history and continue to influence global military, political, social and economic events today.

Ur

Ancient Map Current Map

Levant, also known as the Eastern Mediterranean, is a geographic and cultural region consisting of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt”. The Levant today consists of the Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and part of southern Turkey.

Islam and the Great Sunni-Shia Divide: Mohammed was born around 570 AD in Mecca. He founded Islam and Muslims believe he is God’s last prophet.

At 40 he received revelations from the Archangel Gabriel that became the 6200+ verses of the Quran. Mohammed assembled an army of 10,000+ and united the Saudi Peninsula under Islam. he died in 632 but by 652 his followers had taken lands (in green) in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.

Islam is divided into two major denominations, Sunni and Shia. Approximately 85%+ of Muslims are Sunni and 10%+ Shia. The main issue is Sunnis believe Abu Bakr, the father of Mohammed’s wife, is Mohammed’s successor while Shias believe his cousin and son-in-law, Ali, was divinely ordained as his successor. The debate caused a regional civil war that continues today!

The West cares deeply about this part of the world because of the oilfields, the Suez Canal and the Jewish people and Israel. Those economic interests and close relationships are part of our history and culture. They are not easy to untangle but as the US becomes more energy independent, our economic interests in the area are declining. Israel, an old friend and outpost of Democracy, remains an issue.

Source: Mohammad Adil

Source: The Shia Revival by Vali Nasr

Mecca

The Ottoman Empire began in the early 1300s and lasted for over 500 years, longer than the Roman Empire. Starting in Turkey, it grew until 1683 when, under Suleiman the Magnificent, it covered over 2 million square miles (in green).

The empire was officially an Islamic state but was tolerant of other religious groups. It lasted until the end of WWI when it was carved up between the British, French, Italians, Russians and Spanish.

The Sykes-Picot Treaty of 1916 set arbitrary borders between Iraq, Jordan and Syria designed to secure valuable coastal areas for the allies. It ignored promised made to the Arabs, history and local cultures. The treaty is cited as the root cause of war and extremism in the region (see slide 7).

Iraq and Syria, both of which were part of the Ottoman Empire, are two good examples of made up countries where traditional and religious borders were ignored (see map lower right).

Various dictators have kept a lid on their people for decades. But with Gaddafi, Hussein, and Mubarak gone, and a weakened Assad, artificial borders are being tested and old grievances refought by the most violent actors, Radical Muslims.

Syria

Iraq

Middle East EthnicityGeographically the Middle East spans from Turkey to Afghanistan, down to Yemen, and includes at least part of northern Africa, an area larger than most people realize. Culturally and religiously it’s a mish-mash of 14+ nations and 66+ ethnic groups with identities tied to religion, language, lifestyle and history. Simply put, there is no monolithic Middle East but when attacked or oppressed Muslims tend to stand with Muslims and Arabs with Arabs.

Ethnicity, as Izady explains, refers to group identity andthat is a product of history.

Language alone is not a group. Americans and Australians, for example, speak English butare different ethnic groups.

Both Sunni and Shia in Iraq speak Arabic but are dividedon almost every other ethnicattribute, including aspects of their Muslim beliefs. However, they fight side-by-side when threatened by non-Muslims, non-Arabs or those they view as Imperialists – the US, Britain and French.

Source: Michael Izady, Columbia University

Israel: Jews (non-Muslims) have been migrating to Palestine since 1700 and by 1948 were 31% of the total population, most living on land purchased legally from Arabs. Today Israel is home to over 8 million people and 75% of them are Jewish.

Britain ruled Palestine from 1920-1948. WWII displaced 250,000 Jews so in 1947 the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine sectioned off distinct territories for Jews and Arabs. On May 14, 1948, the Jewish Agency for Palestine declared statehood and the next day Arabs from Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, and Iraq attacked. The war lasted a year and resulted in 700,000 Palestinian refugees. Several similar wars have followed.

Israel continues to build settlement homes inside the Palestinian West Bank and the ruling political party of the Palestinians, HAMAS, continues to launch missiles into Israel and refusing to recognize Israel’s right to exist. HAMAS has been deemed a terrorist organization but continues to enjoy Arab support.

The Israeli economy is ranked 16th in the world with an average GDP per person of $31,400, more than 10 times that of the Palestinian populations in Gaza and the West Bank. Poverty and illiteracy are the real problems, they are what fuels Palestinian and all Radicalism. (see slide 8)

Religion and politics play a huge roles as well: The ancient city of Jerusalem is considered holy by the Jews, Christians and Muslims and is the capital of both Israel and Palestine.

From Hitler to Saddam Hussein to ISILHaj Amin el-Husseini was the Grand Mufti (religious leader) of Jerusalem in 1921. He fought for a vast united Arab state and may be the first Radical. He served the Nazis (see photos), helped build a 30,000 Muslim SS unit (Handschar) and led a failed coup against the British in Iraq in 1941 with Nazi financial and military support.

Joining el-Husseni in the coup attempt was an Army officer named Khairallah Talfah. Talfah was a bitter man who raised his impoverished nephew, Saddam Hussein. Talfah authored Three Whom God Should Not Have Created: Persians, Jews, and Flies, which has been called “a weak Iraqi attempt at imitating Mein Kampf.”

Hussein was the muscle of the Baath Party. Talfah gave Hussien his first murder order. Michel Aflaq founded the Baath party, mentored Hussein and aided his rise to power. Baath means “rebirth” in Arabic, as in a great Arab state or Caliphate. ISIL’s head, al-Baghdadi, top aides are ex-Hussein generals, Al Turkmani and al-Anbari.

The desire for a far-reaching Arab State and hatred of Jews and the West links el-Hussein, Saddam Hussein, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda in Iraq and now ISIL lineage can be traced to WWI and the Sykes-Picot pact.

In mid-2014 ISIL released a video entitled “The End of Sykes-Picot.” (see slide 4)

Hal Amin el-HusseniHal Amin el-Husseini with Hitler, 1941

Saddan and Michel Aflaq, 1988

Muslim Brotherhood

Al Qaeda

ISIL

Baath Party flag

The Root Cause of Radicalism: The past clearly set the stage for unrest and Radicalism. However, it’s the present that fans the flames. To see the connection between Middle Eastern Radicalism and terrorism examine the country’s illiteracy rate, per capita (person) income, the population under 25 years old and unemployment. There are lots of young people, especially young men, that are poor and unemployed. With time and testosterone in abundance, crime, drugs, radical-gang-membership, increases dramatically. The numbers and results mirror American inner-cities..

The United Nations published these numbers in 2012. The data shows why Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen are hotbeds of Radicalism. They’re poor, unemployed, illiterate and young. Conversely Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar (and Israel) are rather stable, because they’re richer, employed, literate and a bit older. Jordan, with a 1 million plus Syrian refugees is at risk and the good numbers from Iraq are negative following the US exit and the economic impact of ISIL.

The “No Strategy” Comment: My beef with President Obama is his words are too divisive, he believes in big-government solutions and seems to know next to nothing about how business really works. I prefer a President working to unify the nation, reduce the size of government and expand personal freedoms and jobs. That said, the criticism over the “No strategy” comment is wrong. There are strategies for engaging ISIL militarily but an exit strategy is far more difficult: It’s easy to get into the fight but hard to get out.

In addition, the Arab nations can stop a 10,000 or 40,000 man ISIL army with the firepower they have and minimal US and NATO support. The Arabs have a combined Active Military that is 81% larger than the US with 5,214 aircraft, 21,532 tanks, and 60,224 Armed Vehicles. (Source: http://www.globalfirepower.com). The US is set to reduce the Army to levels last seen in 1940, the Air Force to be smaller than 1947 and the Navy to its 1917-size and this President is not going to reverse those trends. The US will engage on a limited basis until there’s a new President or an attack on the homeland. Obama will take that risk instead of going down in history as the 4th US President to launch a war in Iraq.

General Comments:

Heaven: Western cultures are built on Judeo-Christian traditions and teach their children Heaven comes through the Grace of God (faith, charity, and love). Radical Muslims, estimated 5%-15% of all Muslims, teach Heaven can be earned by fighting Infidels and even committing homicide through suicide. Note, the Muslims I know consider Radicalism to be ugly and dangerous, nothing scares them more.

Government: The First Amendment separates religion and government. Many Muslims, not just Radicals, find the complete separation of church and state a strange concept, as did our Founding Fathers. Muslims reason it’s impossible (actually it’s a sin) to exclude God from decisions affecting society. There’s a reason politicians, including President Obama, still end speeches with, “God bless the United States of America.”

Violence as a Weapon: Normal people hate violence. The bad guys know that and use it. They commit terrible acts to scare us and promote themselves, they’re sick. But what do you do when there’s a shark in the water and your child is swimming nearby. Two things, get the child out of the water and kill the shark. What you don’t do is study the shark, try to bribe it or reason with it. It’s a shark! The same is true of terrorist; no matter their beef. You kill them too! You don’t play, reason, or delay your actions with killers (see why below). Bush was right.

• In Britain a soldier is beheaded in the street.• American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff beheaded.

Immigration: In Europe the French want to remain French and the Italians want to stay Italian and both want to celebrate their histories. Americans are no different. The EU has weakened traditional borders and the US seems to be following. In response some European politicians use culture-anxiety to stir-up anti-Semitism and Islamophobia to divide voters for personal gain – vote for me and I’ll get the bastards. It’s dangerous and needs to stop before extreme views become more common in the US - two examples:

• In Greece the Neo-Nazi party gives Muslims “one month to leave the country or be slaughtered.” • In France conservative politician Marine Le Pen wants to ban “Muslim headscarves and Jewish kipahs.”