The US and the Rise of ISIS Stephen Zunes - National Catholic Reporter
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/us-and-rise-isis <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=00131AK-xWWxVwvLuWMEq7cGPiKw85dyEIsmExBVjin1FBf2ne7KSEVTxUS5oXquRpkWFKwjfx_7_a91ZivoSDI3U4fh7Saq9hG2vdC02ATEdDQWJcxCcu4QFD2kEJ6Y-ohMgA9AQPCSbMN1TiN8wH29Nub-waHP7rTJ2Ai1bSUCRw-ZWFLmCe19adlxebk9oymcdKn63OlcFEJCscGgSfkcA==&c=AlaTL0C99gZ5O6f77fRcdiueRBRp1Dpik1MQIR6uQXlN4E4LVyl1BQ==&ch=ToyLNd9z_WpY7SAFiOYldt3wL4hsrer2mWzJ7QjYuKXsAMRzniFmXg==> The rise of ISIS (also known as Daesh, ISIL, or the "Islamic State") is a direct consequence of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. While there are a number of other contributing factors as well, that fateful decision is paramount. Had Congress not authorized President George W. Bush the authority to illegally invade a country on the far side of the world that was no threat to us, and to fund the occupation and bloody counter-insurgency war that followed, the reign of terror ISIS has imposed upon large swathes of Syria and Iraq and the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut, the Sinai, and elsewhere would never have happened.
