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Of ISIS, Mitfords and Brain Chemistry
Sep. 26th, 2014 10:09 amHeard Dexter Filkins talk about the ISIS War on Terry Gross last night. Pretty amazing stuff. Nothing too surprising to us Winston P. Smith fans, though.
When the U.S. pulled its ground forces out of Iraq – can’t remember the exact year -- the Iraqi army was some one million strong. Instantly, things began falling apart. Corruption proceeded from the top down as officers began deserting and decamping with all that top-grade military equipment – the guns, the Humvees, the tactical apparel. The rank and file followed suit. Essentially, there was no Iraqi army left when ISIS marched into town.
And, too, after nearly a decade of American occupation, Iraq wasn’t left with much of an infrastructure. Maliki, the current Iraqi prime minister, is a militant Shiite with strong ties to Iran (which is why Iran is so eager to join in the fight against ISIS.) ISIS is essentially the latest morph in the ongoing civil war between between the Shiite majority and the Sunni minority in those parts.
I can’t even begin to understand why anybody outside the mystic circle of the Islam faith really needs to care about Ali the Caliph’s pedigree or whether or not the Twelfth Imam has been living in Occultation (think of it as suspended animation) since 872 AD, but apparently we do because this is the root of all Shiite/Sunni hostilities.
As doctrines go, I suppose, it’s no wackier than the Latter Day Saints. Or the Catholic Church for that matter.
The Let’s Pretend! aspects of the hostilities would be pretty funny if it weren’t for all that gore and all those decapitations. For example, Bashar al-Assad a militant Shiite, buys all his oil from his sworn enemies, the ISIS militants, at a friends-and-family discount. Economics trumps religion every day of the week. Or, in other words, terrorism is a fictitious pandemic.
Which won’t stop you from being beheaded if you happen to be caught blogging on the Tigris River, of course.
###
In other news, I’ve checked out every available Mitford-related book from the Adriance Library and am simultaneously reading biographies of the hapless Unity and the imperious Diana. I’ve also been Exercising Regularly and scribbling my little head off – not sure if anything is good, but then I very seldom like anything I’ve written until two months after I’ve written it.
Seasonal Affective Disorder symptoms in full force. When it was dreary and grey yesterday, I wanted to borrow Unity Mitford’s little pearl-handled revolver. Today, it is sunny and bright, the autumn-tinged oak outside my window rustling in the wind, and I am just a grinning fool, ready for my 15 minutes on Oprah.
It’s all just brain chemistry.
When the U.S. pulled its ground forces out of Iraq – can’t remember the exact year -- the Iraqi army was some one million strong. Instantly, things began falling apart. Corruption proceeded from the top down as officers began deserting and decamping with all that top-grade military equipment – the guns, the Humvees, the tactical apparel. The rank and file followed suit. Essentially, there was no Iraqi army left when ISIS marched into town.
And, too, after nearly a decade of American occupation, Iraq wasn’t left with much of an infrastructure. Maliki, the current Iraqi prime minister, is a militant Shiite with strong ties to Iran (which is why Iran is so eager to join in the fight against ISIS.) ISIS is essentially the latest morph in the ongoing civil war between between the Shiite majority and the Sunni minority in those parts.
I can’t even begin to understand why anybody outside the mystic circle of the Islam faith really needs to care about Ali the Caliph’s pedigree or whether or not the Twelfth Imam has been living in Occultation (think of it as suspended animation) since 872 AD, but apparently we do because this is the root of all Shiite/Sunni hostilities.
As doctrines go, I suppose, it’s no wackier than the Latter Day Saints. Or the Catholic Church for that matter.
The Let’s Pretend! aspects of the hostilities would be pretty funny if it weren’t for all that gore and all those decapitations. For example, Bashar al-Assad a militant Shiite, buys all his oil from his sworn enemies, the ISIS militants, at a friends-and-family discount. Economics trumps religion every day of the week. Or, in other words, terrorism is a fictitious pandemic.
Which won’t stop you from being beheaded if you happen to be caught blogging on the Tigris River, of course.
###
In other news, I’ve checked out every available Mitford-related book from the Adriance Library and am simultaneously reading biographies of the hapless Unity and the imperious Diana. I’ve also been Exercising Regularly and scribbling my little head off – not sure if anything is good, but then I very seldom like anything I’ve written until two months after I’ve written it.
Seasonal Affective Disorder symptoms in full force. When it was dreary and grey yesterday, I wanted to borrow Unity Mitford’s little pearl-handled revolver. Today, it is sunny and bright, the autumn-tinged oak outside my window rustling in the wind, and I am just a grinning fool, ready for my 15 minutes on Oprah.
It’s all just brain chemistry.
