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by ilstormcloud 2054 days ago
> but on the whole America has been uncommonly benevolent.

I bet you'd feel a little different if you were born in Iraq or Afghanistan or Syria for that matter. Conflicts the US triggered have cost close to a million human lives since 2003. And honestly, a lot more can be said of the "Benevolent" superpower of yours.
1 comments
ardy42 2053 days ago
> ...or Syria for that matter. Conflicts the US triggered...

Wasn't the Syria conflict actually triggered by the Assad regime's behavior?

https://www.history.com/news/syria-civil-war-assad-rebels:

> However, in March of that year, 15 Syrian schoolchildren were arrested and tortured for writing graffiti that was inspired by the Arab Spring. One of the boys was killed.

> The arrests sparked outrage and demonstrations throughout Syria. Citizens demanded the release of the remaining children, along with greater freedoms for all people in the country.

> But the government, headed by President Bashar al-Assad, responded by killing and arresting hundreds of protestors. Shock and anger began to spread throughout Syria, and many demanded that Assad resign. When he refused, war broke out between his supporters and his opponents.

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ilstormcloud 2052 days ago
What do you think brought on the scourge of ISIS? US policies.
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ardy42 2052 days ago
> What do you think brought on the scourge of ISIS? US policies.

What US policies, exactly?

TIL ISIS was founded in 1999: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_...:

> ISIL was founded by the Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi under the name Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999 and gained global prominence in early 2014 when it drove Iraqi government forces out of key cities in its Western Iraq offensive,[103] followed by its capture of Mosul[104] and the Sinjar massacre.

Apparently its founding purpose was actually to overthrow the Jordanian government for being insufficiently Islamic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jama%27at_al-Tawhid_wal-Jihad#...:

> Al-Zarqawi started JTJ with the intention of overthrowing the 'apostate' Kingdom of Jordan,[1] which he considered to be un-Islamic. After toppling Jordan's monarchy, presumably he would turn to the rest of the Levant.[1]

> For these purposes he developed numerous contacts and affiliates in several countries. His network may have been involved in the late 1999 plot to bomb the Millennium celebrations in the United States and Jordan.[12]

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