Cause and Effect

by Richard Trotsky

Yesterday, the world was shocked and saddened by the attacks that took place in Paris, France, a tragedy indeed. My sincere condolences any sympathies go out to the French citizenry, as they have unfortunately become the victim of an organization that originated as, albeit unintentionally, our actions in Iraq. You know what organization I’m referring to, and yesterday’s events prompted me to do a bit of research into it’s origin. It goes back to the early days of our involvement in Iraq during Operation Iraqi "Freedom." The American and coalition militaries spent a great deal of time capturing thousands of insurgent fighters, and alleged insurgent fighters (many were actually innocent, yet detained under suspicion). There is no actual way of knowing how many of those detainees who were simply detained under suspicion and not yet radicalised ( I highly dislike the term radical, because it’s connotation has become synonymous with violent attacks, so I’ll be searching for a more appropriate term in the future) actually became radicalised after their detention, but I’m sure the number is significant.

These detainees were housed at Camp Bucca, many don’t know that 9 of top leaders of this organization spent time there. The more radical internees provided emotional support to the more easily influenced others, this made it easier to convince them that their solution and methods were appropriate. It’s a relatively common tactic, when you have a group of angry young men (or for that matter people in general), many of whom were detained for no justifiable reason, it’s relatively easy to channel that anger and direct it toward the target of your choice.

Another core building block of this organization is the employment of militia groups in Iraq by the US military. This was done to prevent Al Qaeda in Iraq’s activities, however, in the long run it proved completely disastrous. A prime example is that of the Sons of Iraq, this group was actually fighting against US and coalition forces just weeks before they came into the employ of the US government. They were supplied with weapons and paid $400 per month for their support.

Because of the non-military nature of these groups, they did not have to adhere to the standard rules that applied to the members of the military while not being engaged (although some troops didn’t anyway). There are actually first-hand accounts of events that occurred while US troops went on joint patrols with the Sons of Iraq. One US soldier gives his account of how things transpired "We were in the triangle of death. So, we would go on patrols with these Sons Of Iraq in broad daylight, [and] start rounding up terrorists or suspected terrorists. Usually, the women would cry when we would kick down the door because they know Americans don't like that ... But, when we did this mission, it wasn't the women crying. It was the men crying."

The men were crying because they knew that they were not going to be detained by American forces, they would be handed to the Sons of Iraq, and that meant their deaths. The quoted soldier continues on "They [the Sons Of Iraq] were almost given carte blanche ... we would tell them, 'Here are your prisoners. We're going to look over here now.' They would go to a ditch somewhere, there'd be a burst of AK fire, and the problem was solved." A truly horrible, and totalitarian tactic, but during the “surge” it resulted in a significant drop in violence.

This comes to a head in the latter years of the Iraq war, when the US handed control of all the detainees and prisoners, including Camp Bucca, over to the Iraqi government, who actually released Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in 2010. Later that same year he became the head of the organization. In 2011, US troops pulled out of Iraq, and everything was left in the hands of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. He immediately had his vice president arrested and ceased payments from the Iraqi government to the Sons of Iraq (Maliki was Shia, and his vice president and Sons of Iraq Sunni). Some members of the Sons of Iraq actually joined the organization as a source of income, and to some degree the want to oppose the government that cutoff their only source of income. However, many did not, and some were actually killed by them.

By this point the 100,000 man strong Sons of Iraq had been disbanded, which was the main roadblock in the organization’s activity in Iraq. Suddenly, the group that had time to coordinate during their time detained had approximately 30,000 fighters at their disposal, a significant and sizeable force. Now we have a organization that essentially is a by-product of our involvement in Iraq, and growing to be a very serious threat to citizenry in many nations. This serves as yet another example of why our foreign policies are in drastic need of change, repeatedly they have had unintended long term results, and in this latest tragedy displays, are an increasing danger to the global community. 

editor's note:  Socialist Action extends its deepest sympathy to the people of Paris and all that lost loved ones in this tragedy.