Ramadi

[nihilistcat]

It is true that the only effective fighters on the same side of this conflict are the Kurds and Shiite militias. Obviously, the Kurds remain our most reliable ally in the region, and the only group consistently committed to liberal & secular democracy. The Shiite militias are basically a lesser of two evils (but they certainly carry a lot of theocratic baggage). Of course this is complicated by the fact that the most powerful Shiite country, Iran, is a longtime enemy of Israel, an ally to whom we lend unquestioning support (no matter how obscene their treatment of indigenous Palestinian populations). 

So the situation is becoming exceedingly complex and unmanageable. My major concern is how terrorism has been used as a pretext to erode our freedoms here at home. Although, if we were to stop treating Israel so deferentially, stop lending unconditional support and demand the same adherence to human rights principles as we demand of everyone else, it would go a long way towards restoring some of our credibility. IMO we should also begin to ratchet up pressure on Saudi Arabia, who has one of the worse human rights records on earth. I do still think it's important to continue negotiating with the Iranians so they don't acquire nuclear weapons, and I'm not at all suggesting that we should break ties with Israel (just more aggressively demand that they do the right thing, like withdraw some of their settlements and stop building more settlements, and show more military restraint). But if we weren't perceived to be so one sided, I think we could build a winning coalition of Shiites and moderate Sunni's against extremist groups like ISIS.