The British used this same strategy for turning Middle Eastern states into protectorates just as soon as British geologists discovered oil in the region during the early 1900s. For many years the British had a bad reputation for sucking all vitality out of their colonies and protectorates, thereby leaving them economically and socially devastated.
They built the Suez Canal so they could have access to India and the Spice Islands. British banks funded the development of the Suez Canal, but when in 1882 Egypt was unable to repay the high interest rates, the Brits stepped in and took over the country as a colony. In turn, money allocated for the development of Egyptian schools and infrastructure was 'appropriated'(taken) by British banks.
Our mainstream media denies Americans the contextual understanding that drives the roots of Muslim rage
Example: Recently the US killed the leader of al-Shabaab in Somalia. But al Shabaab's rise didn't occur in a vacuum. Nor did the rise of ISIS. And so it is that covering up the US role in this history (and keeping it out of any media coverage) allows our government to create a completely false picture of what's happening.
The 2001 film Black Hawk Down dramatized the 1993 US mission to capture Somali militia leaders who had been responsible for the deaths of 18 Americans and more than 1,000 Somalis. The film glorifies the killing of faceless black Muslim terrorists, while at the same time keeping hidden important historical facts, . . like the hand of the US in that country's collapse: In the 1980s, Somalia was a US proxy state. The US funded the country with development aid and the sale of arms. It did so as part of our Cold War effort to defeat the Soviet Union, since neighboring Ethiopia had sided with the Communists. US-backed IMF loans had led to the collapse of Somalia's pastoralist economy, and ultimately to high levels of urban unemployment. However, when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, the US quickly abandoned the Somalis, withdrew these IMF funds. As a result the economy collapsed. Somalis then broke up into clans, and the country descended into all-out civil war, as a decade of US arms sales unleashed bloodshed and ever deeper divisions. To exacerbate matters, the US began arming and funding Ethiopian militias, which then inflicted indiscriminate brutality against Somali civilians, ultimately giving rise to al-Shabaab.
So, by almost every impartial measure, members of al-Shabaab qualify as freedom fighters, and yet the US labeled them 'terrorists,' even though al-Shabaab had never made threats against the US. So, is it really difficult to understand why a trickle of young men in the diaspora would be attracted to the idea of answering al-Shabaab's call for volunteers to defend their country from US-backed Ethiopian invaders? No it is not.
The brutal and sadistic beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff have rightfully outraged the US public. But because of our dependence on Mideast oil, and the tactics we use to ensure our supply, and because these tactics result in the social and economic oppression of millions of Muslims, we need to understand and accept a terrible truth: Vengeful hatred of the US and the executions of Americans on Middle Eastern soil is simply the cost of US oil companies doing a very lucrative business in the region.
Even if We Defeat ISIS, Will We Be Able to Defeat Each and Every One of Its Successors?
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