The everlasting legacy of George W Bush, John W Howard, and Tony Blair.

They were justified in going after bin Laden and al qaeda in Afghanistan, and probably the Taliban (they couldn't have operated in Afghanistan if they hadn't 'neutralised' the Taliban).

But going into Iraq (as a Crusade as Bush described it) was to the detriment of the operations and in Afghanistan; and it was highly likely that Muslim resentment and backlash was going to feature.

* to the detriment of the operations and *aims* in Afghanistan ...

Wherever the terrorists exist there's likely to be horrific humanitarian problems, with or without Daesh.

It sounds crazy, but think for a moment about the difference there would be in the world if we spent billions, even trillions of dollars on providing housing, jobs, healthcare and education for people around the world instead of bombing innocent civilians into the stone age?

The war on terror has only produced more terror. We need to look at our stated values and what our governments are actually doing and think about how mismatched they are.

How about if the US and its allies stopped funding fundamentalist muslims? There are plenty of sources including Hillary Clinton who have stated the CIA funded Al Qaeda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqn0bm4E9yw
Seymour Hersh (the journalist who exposed the My Lai massacre) has said the US and Saudis and others have funded ISIS
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line

More war will only help those whose interests are served by war. Corporations are the only winners. They make the money off armament sales, they get first dibs on liberated nations resources (many were previously in state hands)

Libya is a great example - before 2011 it was the richest country in Africa.
Its people had subsidized housing,
free health
free education (they even paid students to go OS to study at the tertiary level)
free electricity
free child care
Women were able to vote, work, study
It was debt free with billions in reserve

After the "liberation" by NATO it is now a failed state - militias are killing civilians - 3/4 or a million Libyans have fled the country. But never fear, the US and EU have taken billions of dollars from Libya to keep it in trust - they will now doubt give it back when things improve.

Yes, the devastating legacy of the coalition of the killing.
Meanwhile the situation in the Middle East, especially in regards to Israel and Palestine is far more complex than the usual zionist propaganda hacks and the powerful Jewish lobby would have us believe.
The new essay by Robert Parry via his Consortium News website provides an interesting perspective re the behinds the scenes villainy of two of the key players in the psychotic drama(s) being dramatized in that part of the world. It is titled Did Money Seal the Israeli Saudi Alliance.

"Growing support for - and pledges of allegiance to - Islamic State by diverse Islamic terrorist groups world-wide are now creating horrific humanitarian problems for Christian communities in many countries"

How about Growing support for - and pledges of allegiance to - Israel by diverse complicit Countries world-wide, particularly the U.S., UK, Australia, Saudi Arabia et al are now creating horrific humanitarian problems for Palestinians in their own traditional homelands.

You are such a hypocrite.

The entire ME disaster is a result of the Zionist designed and orchestrated plan being carried out by the foolhardy Americans and their lapdog allies.

Fortunately non-Zionists and normal people can see right through the lies and propaganda being espoused to justify genocide in the ME and spreading to other countries like Ukraine.

But Daffy Duck

Is not Mr Singer just a little better than a "zionist propaganda hack" of the "powerful Jewish lobby"?

Look at all the work he put into the article - with minimal cut and pastes. Must have taken him days if not weeks!

Geoff of Perth

u believe in fairytales!

Dear David Singer

Where you say at the end:

"Only an internationally-sanctioned force replacing Obama’s coalition can stem the tide. President Obama needs to get that Security Council Resolution rolling."

There are large "an internationally-sanctioned [UN] forces" in many of the radical Islamist trouble spots you have pointed out.

The UN has greatly appreciated much US Coalition assistance for decades:
---

See the most relevant parts of this UN Peacekeeping Fact Sheet http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/resources/statistics/factsheet.shtml

Current peacekeeping operations: 16
Personnel
Uniformed personnel: 104,668 (as of 28 February 2015)
Approved resources for the period from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015: about $8.47 billion [much paid by the US]

[Missions Include]

United Nations Mission Western Sahara (MINURSO) since April 1991
Strength: 476 total, including:
Uniformed personnel: 220
Civilian personnel: 244
Fatalities: 15
Approved budget (07/2014– 06/2015): $55,990,080

United Nations Central African Republic (MINUSCA) since April 2014
Strength: 9,660 total, including:
Uniformed personnel: 9,285
Civilian personnel: 357
Approved budget (07/2014– 06/2015): $628,724,400

United Nations Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) since April 2013
Strength: 11,029 total, including:
Uniformed personnel: 9,883
Civilian personnel: 1027
Fatalities: 46
Approved budget: (07/2014– 06/2015): $830,701,700

United Nations Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) since July 2010
Strength: 25,175 total, including:
Uniformed personnel: 21,067
Civilian personnel: 3,679
Fatalities: 86
Approved budget (07/2014 – 06/2015): $1,398,475,300

African Union-United Nations Darfur (UNAMID) since July 2007
Strength: 19,994 total, including:
Uniformed personnel: 15,863
Civilian personnel: 3,839
International civilians: 970
Fatalities: 215
Approved budget (07/2014 – 06/2015): $1,153,611,300

United Nations Abyei (UNISFA) since June 2011
Strength: 4,304 total, including:
Uniformed personnel: 4,089
Civilian personnel: 193
Fatalities: 17
Approved budget (07/2014 – 06/2015): $318,925,200

United Nations Mission South Sudan (UNMISS) since July
Strength: 14,272 total, including:
Uniformed personnel: 11,669
Civilian personnel: 2,194
Fatalities: 35
Approved budget(07/2014 – 06/2015): $1,097,315,100

United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) since April 2004
Strength: 8,784 total, including:
Uniformed personnel: 7,602
Civilian personnel: 1,028
Fatalities: 130
Approved budget (07/2014 - 06/2015): $493,570,300

United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) since September 2003
Strength: 7,299 total, including:
Uniformed personnel: 5,865
Civilian personnel: 1,241
---

Your views please.

Pete

Dear Pete,

But what are those 104,668 personnel instructed to do?

We know from previous missions that their instructions were to lie on the beach, visit bars, drink and harass the local girls. When trouble actually occurred, such as the genocide in Rwanda, they were ordered to not intervene (though they clearly could) and flee the country.

"Peacekeeping" is a code-name for an organised holiday at the expense of other countries' tax-payers - see http://www.unmemovie.com

Are yee o' little faith Yuyutsubabe.

UN staff may receive twice the pay but surely they work (or Party) twice as hard?

If they fail then all the more reason for all those benign US Coalitions - of which Australia has perpetual membership.

Sure Pete, I sincerely hope those coalitions will do better, though looking at the clumsiness of the US and its past history, I may doubt so... but hope I'm wrong!

#plantaganet

Seems you need to study up on the difference between a UN peacekeeping force and a UN force authorised to take military action under the authority of a Chapter VII resolution of the UN Charter.

Thanks anyway for your complimentary plaudits.

UN military are military David.

#plantagenet

Depends on what the UN force is authorised to do. A peacekeeping force has a different authority to a force authorised to degrade and destroy.

If the UN fails to act to authorise the use of force against Islamic state and those supporting or pledging allegiance to it then the UN runs the risk of becoming as irrelevant as the League of Nations did in failing to prevent World War II occurring.