Only solution which may work is to RE-INSTALL non-radical dictators in Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Afghanistan and Yemen. Unfortunately Saddam, Mubarak & Qaddafi are dead. All were very effective in controlling radical jihadi’s.
Other than that, the Genie is out of the bottle. Get used to more brave & young American soldiers getting killed such as in Niger last week. All began with unnecessary invasion of Iraq by Bush-43. We are very lucky to have president Trump who understand the geo-political realities much better than Bushes, Obama & Clinton. Reagan was smart. When 100’s Marines were killed by bombing their barracks, he did not invade.
Kobar Towers was Clinton
http://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB318/
And IRGC had a roll in it then.
“Saddam, Mubarak & Qaddafi are dead. All were very effective in controlling radical jihadi’s.”
Correction: Mubarak is not dead. He was released from prison when the military restored the Egyptian constitution by overthrowing the Muslim Brotherhood.
And it is a popular misconception that Saddam was opposed to jihadis - he was in fact one of the world’s biggest sponsors when he ruled.
The Iran/Iraq War (1980-88) fundamentally changed the religious policy of the Iraqi Ba’ath Party. They adopted a deliberate policy of promoting Salafi/Wahabbi-style Sunni islam to counter the the Shi’ite radicalism that Iran promoted.
The head of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, received his Ph.D. in islamic religious studies (Quaranic Studies) from the Saddam University in Baghdad - which had been established in 1987 explicitly to promote the extreme Wahabbi interpretation of islam that ISIS and al Queda (and Saudi Arabia) preach.
“In the aftermath of the 1991 war, Saddam launched his hamla imaniyya, a faith campaign that sought to entrench Islam across the Baath party and Iraqi society. Religious instruction became mandatory, and the ostensibly secular society he took over in 1979 morphed into a society with religion – or at least the outward signs of devotion – at the heart of it.” (https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/how-saddam-s-iraq-laid-the-foundations-for-isil-1.15505)
Saddam also began an extensive program to train and finance islamic terrorist groups, which (especially after their Gulf War defeat) they sought to target at the United States and Israel. He famously provided $25,000 payments to the families of terrorists who were killed attacking Israel (then a retirement fund in the West Bank), and established several Government-run training camps for terrorist groups from around the the world - including Salman Pak, which had fuselages of the common commercial aircraft of the day, and specialized storage facilities for handling Chemical and Biological Warfare agents, as well as Radioactive materials.
Saddam added the phrase “Allah is Greater” (Allahu Akhbar) to the Iraqi flag in 1991. He went on a mosque building campaign across Iraq, and incorporated truly brutal repression against Shi’ites and the Shia sect.
Saddam was a major promoter, funder, trainer and director of jihadi groups - he just sought to co-opt them for his own political and military purposes.
It is definitely true that installing a strongman leader can be effective in suppressing anti-American elements in a society. But Saddam was the opposite. He was a major factor in the rise of extremist Sunni terrorist capability worldwide.
“Saddam, Mubarak & Qaddafi are dead. All were very effective in controlling radical jihadi’s.”
Correction: Mubarak is not dead. He was released from prison when the military restored the Egyptian constitution by overthrowing the Muslim Brotherhood.
And it is a popular misconception that Saddam was opposed to jihadis - he was in fact one of the world’s biggest sponsors when he ruled.
The Iran/Iraq War (1980-88) fundamentally changed the religious policy of the Iraqi Ba’ath Party. They adopted a deliberate policy of promoting Salafi/Wahabbi-style Sunni islam to counter the the Shi’ite radicalism that Iran promoted.
The head of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, received his Ph.D. in islamic religious studies (Quaranic Studies) from the Saddam University in Baghdad - which had been established in 1987 explicitly to promote the extreme Wahabbi interpretation of islam that ISIS and al Queda (and Saudi Arabia) preach.
“In the aftermath of the 1991 war, Saddam launched his hamla imaniyya, a faith campaign that sought to entrench Islam across the Baath party and Iraqi society. Religious instruction became mandatory, and the ostensibly secular society he took over in 1979 morphed into a society with religion – or at least the outward signs of devotion – at the heart of it.” (https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/how-saddam-s-iraq-laid-the-foundations-for-isil-1.15505)
Saddam also began an extensive program to train and finance islamic terrorist groups, which (especially after their Gulf War defeat) they sought to target at the United States and Israel. He famously provided $25,000 payments to the families of terrorists who were killed attacking Israel (then a retirement fund in the West Bank), and established several Government-run training camps for terrorist groups from around the the world - including Salman Pak, which had fuselages of the common commercial aircraft of the day, and specialized storage facilities for handling Chemical and Biological Warfare agents, as well as Radioactive materials.
Saddam added the phrase “Allah is Greater” (Allahu Akhbar) to the Iraqi flag in 1991. He went on a mosque building campaign across Iraq, and incorporated truly brutal repression against Shi’ites and the Shia sect.
Saddam was a major promoter, funder, trainer and director of jihadi groups - he just sought to co-opt them for his own political and military purposes.
It is definitely true that installing a strongman leader can be effective in suppressing anti-American elements in a society. But Saddam was the opposite. He was a major factor in the rise of extremist Sunni terrorist capability worldwide.