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I've heard interviews of the creator of this documentary and think this will give excellent background to how ISIS grew to power from its al Qaeda roots as well as how and why Syria went to ****.

Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS - National Geographic Channel

Quote:From award-winning filmmakers Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested, ‘Hell on Earth’ chronicles Syria’s descent into the unbridled chaos that allowed the rise of ISIS.

I won't be watching it probably.

Assad created Isis? Really?

As if this Cold War of sorts between authoritarian governments and radical Islamists hasn't been an undercurrent throughout the Arab world for 50 years?

Maybe it's unfair but that line of reasoning makes me question the rest of it.

(06-08-2017 09:41 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  I won't be watching it probably.
Assad created Isis? Really?
As if this Cold War of sorts between authoritarian governments and radical Islamists hasn't been an undercurrent throughout the Arab world for 50 years?
Maybe it's unfair but that line of reasoning makes me question the rest of it.

Yes, Assad probably has bears more responsibility than any other single person except perhaps al-Baghdadi. What the Syrians feared most is that the US would get behind moderate Sunni opposition. The Assad administration released the radical Islamists that it had in jail in order to fragment and radicalize the opposition, and then it focused on attacking the moderates to make sure that they were weak. A strong group like ISIS played into the Assad regime's hands by assuring that Syria's backers that it had a strategy that would restore it to power.

There are a lot of other causes of the conflict and the rise of ISIS, but everything the Syrian regime has done is consistent with the above narrative.

So, did anyone watch? After watching the USA v. Mexico, I got about half way through and then crashed.

(06-09-2017 02:39 PM)I45owl Wrote:  

(06-08-2017 09:41 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  I won't be watching it probably.
Assad created Isis? Really?
As if this Cold War of sorts between authoritarian governments and radical Islamists hasn't been an undercurrent throughout the Arab world for 50 years?
Maybe it's unfair but that line of reasoning makes me question the rest of it.

Yes, Assad probably has bears more responsibility than any other single person except perhaps al-Baghdadi. What the Syrians feared most is that the US would get behind moderate Sunni opposition. The Assad administration released the radical Islamists that it had in jail in order to fragment and radicalize the opposition, and then it focused on attacking the moderates to make sure that they were weak. A strong group like ISIS played into the Assad regime's hands by assuring that Syria's backers that it had a strategy that would restore it to power.

There are a lot of other causes of the conflict and the rise of ISIS, but everything the Syrian regime has done is consistent with the above narrative.

That's quite a spin on the record.

The "moderate opposition" is a figment of the American imagination.

(06-12-2017 01:37 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(06-09-2017 02:39 PM)I45owl Wrote:  

(06-08-2017 09:41 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  I won't be watching it probably.
Assad created Isis? Really?
As if this Cold War of sorts between authoritarian governments and radical Islamists hasn't been an undercurrent throughout the Arab world for 50 years?
Maybe it's unfair but that line of reasoning makes me question the rest of it.

Yes, Assad probably has bears more responsibility than any other single person except perhaps al-Baghdadi. What the Syrians feared most is that the US would get behind moderate Sunni opposition. The Assad administration released the radical Islamists that it had in jail in order to fragment and radicalize the opposition, and then it focused on attacking the moderates to make sure that they were weak. A strong group like ISIS played into the Assad regime's hands by assuring that Syria's backers that it had a strategy that would restore it to power.
There are a lot of other causes of the conflict and the rise of ISIS, but everything the Syrian regime has done is consistent with the above narrative.

That's quite a spin on the record.

Nevertheless, there are numerous sources to back up that narrative. Why else would Assad have released Islamists from prison? Why else would he attack FSA at every opportunity and leave ISIS alone to fester for years? He didn't set them up with an office and flags, but he knew what would happen and how it would paralyze the West.

(06-12-2017 01:37 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  The "moderate opposition" is a figment of the American imagination.

Yes, it is. But, the Free Syrian Army was at one stage an umbrella group that the US and other countries were close to backing until Obama backed out at the last minute. I think it was always a stretch to assume that they were the secular opposition - it's always been a Sunni/Alawite schism with undertones of the Muslim Brotherhood - but, it was as close to palatable as the West could have hoped. Assad manipulated Obama and other western leaders nine ways to Sunday throughout this conflict.

(06-12-2017 01:31 PM)I45owl Wrote:  So, did anyone watch? After watching the USA v. Mexico, I got about half way through and then crashed.

It was excellent... but it is hard to watch children literally getting bombed to death.. tragic.

(06-12-2017 02:14 PM)No Bull Wrote:  

(06-12-2017 01:31 PM)I45owl Wrote:  So, did anyone watch? After watching the USA v. Mexico, I got about half way through and then crashed.

It was excellent... but it is hard to watch children literally getting bombed to death.. tragic.

Yes. I was a bit surprised at the turnaround of attitudes here when they saw the image of one child that had been killed by chemical weapons. That is the tragedy that has be ongoing for several years with the Assad regime causing most of the deaths.