[a_j_b]

What caused ISIS? The war in Afghanistan, and especially Iraq. The dictator was toppled, and not effectively replaced. Saddam may have not been the nicest guy, but he lead a fairly stable country. He was firmly in charge.

By not effectively replacing the leader of a country, it leads to a power vacuum, looking for someone to take that power. ISIS grew to fill that void. If you displace them, someone else will come along and take that power, potentially even worse than ISIS

[Shivetya]

I would go much further back than those two wars, simply put this is a situation that had been brewing for many years and simply got to where it was through better organization abilities of the groups and the withdrawing of forces to keep the peace. Our actions in Libya, Syria, and elsewhere, certainly have dug the hole deeper.

But lets be honest, go back to the Treaty of Sèvres and subsequent assigning of territory to European countries and how it was done without regard to the religious and ethnic traits of those living there. As in, European Colonialism started this mess as it did in Africa. This did not happen in the last twenty years, this is generation after generation finally reaching a point to where they could act.

If you keep arming all sides and leave it is to be expected.

[pmyjavec]

I remember when the US captured and murdered Saddam, the violence and hypocrisy of it was something people are still trying to comprehend.

They sold it to the U.N., the world bought it and now look what the US has to show for it, smoking holes in the ground...

[branchless]

Yeah but he's not selling oil in non-USD is he?

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998512,...

Anyhow if we sort ISIS who will they blame for restricting freedoms at a time when rampant inequality is causing domestic unrest?