Michael Scheuer writes: One has to be amazed at the number of chances to save itself that America keeps encountering and refusing to grasp and exploit in the Arab world. We were safely out of Iraq when Obama and the Republicans returned us to that hell hole created by Mr. Bush, Mr. Blair, and Israel First. We were safely and serenely sitting on the sidelines and happily watching the descent of the Muslim world into a massive sectarian war when Obama signed us up to fight on the side of both Saudi Arabia and Iran, thereby knowingly and deservedly earning the hatred of Sunnis and Shias. We were completely out of harm’s way from the migrant mess the effeminate Europeans are either too stupid or too cowardly to halt, and Obama, his party, and the Republicans have sent a half billion dollars of our taxes for the EU to waste while it commits suicide-by-migrant, and now want to bring 100,000 migrants into an already migrant-drowning and internally insecure America.
Now, miraculously, another and perhaps last chance to save ourselves has fallen into our increasingly unworthy laps. As our enemies would say, “God is great!” Russian President Putin is moving military forces into Syria, and seems to have concluded a deal with Iran which will see Tehran occupy the Shia areas of Iraq once the nuclear deal cannot be undone. In addition, the media report that our European “allies” are moving in Putin’s direction, with chancellors, prime ministers, pundits, and politicians in Italy, France, Germany, Britain, and elsewhere claiming that the West needs to be more “realistic” and ally itself with Russia, Syria, and — implicitly — Iran to defeat the Islamic State. And, finally, Thursday’s FOX news brought word that Israel has signed up with Putin and his Arab and Persian sidekicks by setting up “a joint mechanism with the Russian military to coordinate their operations in Syria and avoid any accidental confrontations.”
In the space of the foregoing paragraph readers can see that, under Mr. Putin’s auspices, all of the following enemies of the United States will soon be killing each other in the Syria-Iraq theater: Russia, Syria, Lebanese Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, other Syrian Islamist groups, the Islamic State, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. The killing will be applauded and temporarily supported by the EU’s taxpayer monies, aircraft, and an accommodation with Assad, while it simultaneously and desperately tries to stave off the need send any of Europe’s tiny — except for Turkey — and antiquated armies to the war. Israel’s deal with Russia — which implicitly approves Moscow’s military plans for Syria, as well as Iran’s in Iraq — is surprising because no matter how the approaching disaster ends, it will render terrible news for Israel’s security.
The Russian, Iranian, and EU intervention on Assad’s behalf will, of course, damage their already bankrupt economies, raise Shia-vs-Sunni tensions in Europe, and unite Russia’s Sunni mujahedin in the North Caucasus and motivate them to step up attacks. The intervention will also be another case of a Western — or, in Moscow’s case, perhaps semi-Western — led invasion of Muslim territory, and it will be seen by the Sunni world as an action meant to provide victory and territorial expansion to the hated Shia and Alawite heretics. Needless to say — save for those who govern Western states — this intervention will again validate all the Islamic State has said about the Crusaders’ hatred for and threat to the existence of Sunni Islam.
As is the case in each Western intervention in the Islamic world, a Russian-led intervention also will fast become the Islamic State’s most capable recruiter, and new fighters will flow in from across the Islamic world and/or they will stage attacks in their home countries. Because of Moscow’s clear intention to help Iran achieve primacy in the region, moreover, the Saudis, Emiratis, Kuwaitis, and other Arab tyrannies will continue publicly damning IS, while at the same time beginning to clandestinely send money and arms to IS, al-Qaeda, and any other organization willing to kill Shias and the Russians and Europeans who back them.
