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(This is the book I'd brought to last Sunday's AWARE meeting.)<br>
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<td>[ufpj-activist] ISIS Crisis Exegesis</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Tue, 14 Jul 2015 10:26:05 -0400</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">From: </th>
<td>David Swanson <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:davidcnswanson@gmail.com"><davidcnswanson@gmail.com></a></td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">To: </th>
<td>ufpj-activist <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org"><ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org></a></td>
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<h1 class="">ISIS Crisis Exegesis</h1>
By David Swanson<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__davidswanson.org_node_4828&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=bG9Q5nse3LsSljAu6oYSbSjqxGbNs94xU-n5BhTUBiM&e=">http://davidswanson.org/node/4828</a><br>
<div class="">
<p><img moz-do-not-send="true"
src="http://www.davidswanson.org/sites/davidswanson.org/files/middle-east-physical-map.jpg"
align="right" height="300" hspace="10" vspace="10"
width="331">Talking with Iran has made the war profiteers
and their servants sad and the rest of the world happy.
Perhaps the novel idea of negotiating rather than killing
will be carried over to several other parts of the world.
Mainstream corporate voices are even <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__grahamefuller.com_defeating-2Disis-2Dby-2Dtalking-2Dto-2Dit_&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=5wKzfXdhPCKzd4V6WfMkEW4ixFIUAjO5G9FbI_YjXJY&e=">raising</a>
the idea of talking with ISIS, or at least talking with the
nations of the region ISIS is in about ISIS, or at least
ceasing to make the ISIS Crisis worse by ignorantly doing
everything wrong -- which just might include making friends
with Iran in order to fight ISIS together.</p>
<p>"But what about ISIS?" That has been the endless zombie
question encountered by all peace activists ever since the
propaganda coup of the videos of two U.S. journalist
beheadings. And part of the answer has always been: learn
where it came from. Phyllis Bennis's new book can help with
that job wonderfully. The book is called <em><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.amazon.com_Understanding-2DISIS-2DNew-2DGlobal-2DTerror_dp_1566560942&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=rI3hX1A_x4X3HymJMZLkg-l9TZIfbeUiusHBbIsUUc8&e=">Understanding
ISIS and the New Global War on Terror: A Primer</a></em>.
Whether you think you understand ISIS or not, I urge you to
pick up a copy, or better a box of copies. This is a small
book that should be passed out like a vaccine to residents
of the enormous camp of refugees from sanity and historicity
that we call the United States of America.</p>
<p>Bennis's book is excellent on what to do, although that
topic is found in a handful of pages near the end. The
focus, however, is on understanding origins and context. If
anything, this is overdone, though it's hard to see what the
harm could be in people learning a little too much. The book
covers Syria, the Arab Spring, Libya, Iran, the United
Nations, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and many other tangentially
related topics (I wish she's added a section on the phony
reports of ISIS actions in the United States). The book is
excellent on the 2013 Syria Missile Crisis and the role that
popular resistance played in preventing a massive U.S.
bombing campaign in Syria. That, even more so than the
successful negotiation with Iran this week, should be our
model for future activism.</p>
<p>Bennis relates an excellent history of the Mountain Rescue
Excuse and places it in the context of the
Imminent-Genocide-in-Benghazi Scam and other past
justifications to launch wars that have predictably and
immediately veered off into unrelated murderous operations.</p>
<p>But I think the most interesting point in this wide-ranging
book may be one that Bennis makes about the Sunni Awakening.
You might recall that when the United States began the
2003-2011 destruction of Iraq it quickly dissolved the Iraqi
military, dismantled the civil service, and got rid of the
Baath Party. Angry, trained, and armed fighters joined the
popular resistance to the U.S. occupation. Among the new
fighting groups that formed was Al Qaeda in Iraq. In 2006,
the Bush administration gave up on the hopeless
mission-never-to-be-accomplished of trying to fight these
groups, and started buying them off. This was a key part of
the success of the "surge" that was itself no success at
all. But some of the groups, including AQI refused to be
bought off or to cease fighting.</p>
<p>In 2008, the United States turned over to the Iraqi
government the job of buying off Sunni groups. The Iraqi
government ceased making the payments. And the growth of
ISIS, the renamed AQI, was underway. And it was exacerbated
by an Iraqi government that shut out Sunnis and attacked
Sunnis, while being funded and armed by the U.S. government.
People think ISIS came out of nowhere, but many of us were,
in the years before ISIS hit the news, struggling <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__act.rootsaction.org_p_dia_action3_common_public_-3Faction-5FKEY-3D9035&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=joV-a5-5DNbjJvZiG4ysz3iS55ZfuD-roC7H2wviB5k&e=">to
oppose</a> the U.S. provision of weapons to the Iraqi
government for use in attacking Iraqis. This is where ISIS
and broad support for ISIS among Sunnis came from.</p>
<p>Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia had told Sir
Richard Dearlove of MI6, "The time is not far off in the
Middle East, Richard, when it will be literally 'God help
the Shi'a.' More than a billion Sunnis have simply had
enough of them." ISIS funding flows from Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, the UAE, and Qatar, as well as from oil sales and
artifact sales and kidnappings and thefts.</p>
<p>When 1,300 ISIS fighters overwhelmed 350,000 Iraqi soldiers
and helped themselves to loads of U.S. weaponry, ISIS had
the support of Sunni leaders angered by the Iraqi
government, and of former Iraqi military leaders thrown out
of work by Paul Bremmer -- not to mention benefitting from
the chaos and flood of weaponry into Syria, and critically
from the lack of enthusiasm for their cause among members of
the Iraqi military.</p>
<p>So why do I say the Sunni Awakening is the most interesting
point? Because something was working. Making small payments
of cash to Sunnis -- sums far smaller than those spent on
the weapons and the training (<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.politico.com_story_2015_07_price-2Dfor-2Dsyrian-2Drebels-2D4-2Dmillion-2Deach-2D119858.html-3Fhp-3Drc1-5F4&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=pE5THoEHcPKElsC_2HBmYhkq-aPBVBDUnL33JYtHCy4&e=">at
$4 million per trainee now</a>) to fight them -- was
working. What if, instead of ending those payments, they had
been continued, or been transformed into a program of
nonviolent aid to everyone in the region, accompanied
perhaps by a note of apology for having destroyed the place?</p>
<p>Bennis' first recommendation for what to do is an arms
embargo. I think if Americans realized that their country
was arming the region that their country constantly laments
the violence in, the idea of an arms embargo would have
overwhelming appeal. Beyond that, Bennis recommends: an
inclusive Iraqi government, an end to airstrikes, a
withdrawal of U.S. troops, and the use of diplomacy,
including possibly talks with ISIS.</p>
<p>Bennis also suggests reversing the U.S. Supreme Court's
decision in <em>Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project</em>
which can make teaching non-violent activism to groups
abroad into the crime of "material support for terrorism."
And she proposes a massive increase in U.S. aid through U.N.
agencies.</p>
<p>Of course, aid has a tendency to make things better and a
proven record of working in Iraq. So I assume every other
possible approach will be tried first.</p>
<p><strong>NOTE TO THOSE IN WASHINGTON DC AREA:</strong><br>
Come to the book launch party for this book, with its
author, on July 27 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at Busboys &
Poets 5th and K, 1025 5th St NW, Washington, DC.</p>
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<p><b>David Swanson </b>is an author, activist,
journalist, and radio host. He is director of <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__WorldBeyondWar.org&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=vtG5LxqYn-Wacnr7NvvyDW2H_6Lm3BE8l4dz0w8juv0&e="
target="_blank">WorldBeyondWar.org</a> and campaign
coordinator for <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__RootsAction.org&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=KGmNeXhRyUwTqdseuKjOth-zjdq-280rapNHbE6gp1U&e="
target="_blank">RootsAction.org</a>. Swanson's books
include <i><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__warisalie.org_&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=nHJDmRk75Mx0tgh0LwW-h122o0SlDAjB7U-6cisw5MM&e="
target="_blank">War Is A Lie</a></i>. He blogs at
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__davidswanson.org_&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=m9h8PDNB9kX1YzxFWjOmZ9orwu9LrSOiIaKIjqO3esQ&e="
target="_blank">DavidSwanson.org</a> and <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__warisacrime.org_&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=vKe-K8CeFS2lsCjMo27TyiXY2RVnIRRHsu8_-ajFOBc&e="
target="_blank">WarIsACrime.org</a>. He hosts <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__davidswanson.org_taxonomy_term_41&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=5ySLDW9IwhQh9WB0TBWb_Lpl5K6N33Q7Zn_zGb1FK80&e="
target="_blank">Talk Nation Radio</a>.<b> </b>He is
a <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__davidswanson.org_node_4682&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=03mbCM9lo_Q7R6oNrnrByxrGY6vQ4MAEfs8L3v9bj3Q&e="
target="_blank">2015 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee</a>.<br>
</p>
<p>Follow him on Twitter: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__twitter.com_davidcnswanson&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=i9TMKaVu2f06i5oLDR6aBL1CtGIHMkNI_iRHmlTdr9Q&e="
target="_blank">@davidcnswanson</a> and <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.facebook.com_pages_David-2DSwanson_297768373319-23&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=QmOvFPKZpwZ2rBJx7ooRXO9w3HkwTDmOaHTxfIJTL6g&e="
target="_blank">FaceBook</a>. </p>
<p>Sign up for occasional important activist alerts here
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__davidswanson.org_signup&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=wf3dlkxOv5HeB0HGaIVwurhEkZrJQE9wj0Cj6-pEDAQ&e="
target="_blank">http://davidswanson.org/signup</a></p>
<p>Sign up for articles or press releases here <a
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href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__davidswanson.org_lists&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=k3wHPmNK6t9rNYRkln0xgWraNj29Y4g7AB_pa997WH4&s=T1Shy5snDrXWFIK34LsPIkdHxbYGuRrBawFHaN_xxf4&e="
target="_blank">http://davidswanson.org/lists</a></p>
<p>This email may be unlawfully collected, held, and
read by the NSA which violates our freedoms using the
justification of immoral, illegal wars absurdly
described as being somehow<i> for </i>freedom.<br>
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