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OPINION: Violence in Iraq Result of Wreckage of US Policy Since 9/11

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Violence and instability in Iraq over the past week is a reflection of the long-term wreckage of US policy in the Arab world since September 11, 2001 and has created a very dangerous situation, counterterrorism expert and former CIA analyst Larry C. Johnson told RIA Novosti Friday.

WASHINGTON, June 13 (RIA Novosti) - Violence and instability in Iraq over the past week is a reflection of the long-term wreckage of US policy in the Arab world since September 11, 2001 and has created a very dangerous situation, counterterrorism expert and former CIA analyst Larry C. Johnson told RIA Novosti Friday.

"All of this ultimately goes back to the Bush administration with its decision to invade Iraq and take out Saddam Hussein, thereby paving the way for Shia-backed jihadists, supplied by Iran, to take over the country," Johnson said. He continued that the successful takeover of Mosul and Tikrit by the militant Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is the result of "the wreckage of US policy that started with George W. Bush and has been exacerbated under Barack Obama." Johnson concluded, "It's a terrible mess and it's dangerous."

In an article published Friday on his website, No Quarter, Johnson pointed out that President Obama's "eagerness to ‘end the war' in Iraq, coupled with his incredibly stupid policy of backing the so-called Arab Spring and arming rebels seeking to overthrow Bashir Assad, has fueled this unraveling in Iraq."

Earlier this week two major towns in Iraq fells to the Al-Qaeda linked ISIS. It is reported that in Mosul, 800 ISIS militants caused 30,000 members of the Iraqi military to stand down. The ISIS has stated their goal to march on and take Baghdad and create a Sunni caliphate in the region.

Johnson elaborated to RIA Novosti that there is a lot of confusion in US policy, particularly now in Syria, which is rooted in the response to the 9/11 attacks. "The attacks were not carried out by Iran or by Shia, but by radical Sunnis. They were not from Iran, they were from Saudi Arabia," Johnson said of fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers. "And yet the US policy was going after a ruler, Bashir al Assad who was a secular, not a sectarian ruler... Now the US aligned itself with rebels who want to impose a Sunni version of Islamic rule." He said that in imposing that new rule, the militants in Iraq are using the Anbar province to conduit weapons and fighters.

Johnson further warned of the danger inherent in the ISIS achieving their objectives and making their way to Baghdad. He questioned in his Friday blog post what would happen to the thousands of American, British, French, and Australian citizens in Baghdad. "Could we be looking at an event that combines the worst of Benghazi with the Iranian takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran back in 1979?" Responding to RIA Novosti, Johnson answered the question by saying, "Yes, it is a realistic possibility."

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