Syria and Iraq : A Never Ending War Zone

US invasion of Iraq :

    US invaded Iraq in 2003 because of its alleged connections to terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. At that time, Saddam Hussein, a brutal dictator ruled the country. He was part of Sunni minority (20%) and suppressed the Shia majority(63%). Although US captured Iraq easily but it had no plan for it after the war. So until then, the Shia majority took over and began oppressing the Sunni minority. As a result, a Sunni rebel uprising began and terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, trickled into Iraq. Local forces, mostly former Sunni military began fighting the US troops and newly formed Iraqi state, resulting in a civil war in 2006.

Saddam Hussein

    To understand the conflict better, we need to understand the two major branches of Muslim faith : Shia and Sunni Islam. Sunnis make up around 80% of the Muslim world and Shia rest 20%. The hard truth is that both sides are not fond of each other. Saudi Arabia(Sunni) and Iran(Shia) are the two major game players in Middle East. They support groups and rebels that fight against the other religious orientation.

Iraq War:

    The US invasion led to the formation of the very terrorists that the US wanted to eliminate in the first place because Iraq was now the perfect training ground for terrorism.

 US had no strategy whatsoever for Iraq that resulted in a set of cyclic events :
 Start a War -> Win war -> Chaos -> Put the wrong people in charge -> Don't solve the problem that led to war -> Don't enforce equality -> Deny people security and living -> Violence -> More violence -> Even more violence ------> Another war

Nouri al-Maliki

   Since the US left Iraq, the Shia Prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, discriminated and oppressed the Sunni minority in Iraq. The government is considered as corrupt, incapable and hated by most. The Iraqi army of 3 lakh soldiers, which was formed by 25 billion dollars of US taxpayer money is not loyal to the government in Iraq , and they are withdrawing from city one by one in fear of ISIS. Currently ISIS captures a big chunk of Iraq including Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. They have stolen hundreds of millions from captured banks and are currently the richest terror organization on Earth.Their aim is to build Islamic State all over the world.

Syrian War:

    The Arab spring in 2010 changed the middle east entirely. In Syria, dictator Bashar al-Assad started a gruesome civil war against its own people. As the war went longer, number of foreign groups joined the war, mostly for religious purpose and with the goal of building a Islamic state in Syria. One of these was ISI (Islamic State in Iraq) which now became ISIS ( Islamic State in Iraq and Syria).

Bashar al-Assad

   ISIS had trained soldiers from Iraq, they were so determined for a Islamic State that they became unbelievably violent and radical and soon they were at war with every other faction of Syrian rebel armies. They attacked and killed members of every other Muslim terrorist groups.In their controlled territories, they tried to build an Islamic state with rules that were very harsh, so harsh that even      al-Qaida and Saudi arabia were shocked and withdrew their support.

 After more than four years of war, there is conflict between four sides , each side has its own foreign backing who don't even agree with each other who they are fighting for or who they are fighting against.

1.) Bashar al-Assad : Supported by Iran , Hezbollah and Russia

   Iran has supplied hundreds of soldiers through daily cargo flights to Syria. Russia has always backed Assad and in Sept 2015, it even intervened and bombed Anti Assad rebels.Hezbollah from lebanon has pitched in support of Assad time and again.

 2.) ISIS 

 3.) Syrian Rebels : Supported by US, Gulf States ,Turkey and Jordan
      US authorized CIA to train and equip Syrian rebels to fight Assad in 2013 and to fight ISIS later in  2014.Gulf States have supplied money and weapons to rebels through Turkey and  Jordan.

 4.) Kurds

   By mid 2013, Middle east was divided basically into Sunni powers supporting rebel groups and Shias supporting Assad.

   There are lots of different groups and outside countries involved for their own benefit and even among allies there is disagreement and that's the reason why for this war, there doesn't appear an end in sight.

Middle East

Arvind Kejriwal : A Date With Destiny

I don't know how should I start, I have so many thoughts but it's hard to organise them. This post has originated from a feeling inside that has compelled me to write.May be I like Arvind's concepts of humility and simplicity in politics. Let's GET to the point.

It seems as if the god is also smiling on kejriwal. In a week when Delhi was often blanketed by grey clouds,the sun shone brightly on 28th december. There couldn't have been a better day to attend a political gathering or play test cricket. Those who were there will always remember the sea of heads with white caps, tricolours fluttering in the winter wind and a hope on every AAP supporter's face  at the packed Ramlila Maidan.

I think its a beautiful moment for our precious democracy. No one would have imagined at the beginning of 2013, or even 5-6 months ago, that Arvind Kejriwal would take oath as CM before the year will end. 

Corruption has increased so much that it's hard to believe in democracy any more.  We have been called a flawed democracy and there are times when a sense of hopelessness takes over. There is no beauty on earth if will of the people are given voice without having resort to violence. The struggle which was started two and a half years ago has somehow been successful. It has helped in arousing patriotic feeling among people, increasing faith in democracy and motivating people to fight for their causes.

 But I feel that the real challenge begins now for kejriwal. He has to make sure that his party remains united, foccussed and stick to their cause.People have shown faith in him.Now its time to show that he has been rightly elected. AAP was formed to overthrow the arrogant parties .The struggle will go waste if it's ministers and MLA's become arrogant. I don't want another party to come up and put and end to AAP. I am quite optimistic that he can do this all rite. Whether his movement can go national will depend on how he runs Delhi.