Iraq update

As the United States once again enters Iraq, it is time for an update on how we got to where we are. Back in the 1980’s the US along with a dozen other nations gave thousands of tons of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to Saddam Hussein. He used these WMD against Iran and the Kurds in his own country. The western democracies wanted to rid Iraq of these WMD so sanctions were place on Iraq hoping to convince Saddam to comply with the order to destroy the WMD. For years he played a cat and mouse game with the UN inspectors moving and hiding WMD. Then the UN agreed to allow him to sell enough oil to purchase medical and food supplies for the people. This he agreed to and spent most of the oil money building up his military and lavish homes for himself and his sons. Finally he said he destroyed the WMD but would not say where because he knew the UN would take soil samples and prove he was lying. After years of warnings the US invaded Iraq under the pretense that the WMD must be destroyed. It was a unanimous consensus that these weapons must be found and destroyed. The congress overwhelmingly approved and western leaders across Europe approved along with the UN and NATO. No WMD were found and to this day no one knows where they went. After the overthrow of Saddam the country was thrown into chaos and after a number of years elections were held and new leadership was put in charge. Then a civil war broke out and only after a US led surge did the country settled down. By 2011 things were peaceful and Obama pulled all troops out and the sectarian war started once again. The President said he could not leave any troops there because he could not get a status of force agreement but many feel he did not push the issue because he wanted out. With the country in turmoil Islamic terrorist began to take control. They are led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a man who was held captive by the US and then released. This group started in Syria and has now taken over the northern part of Iraq and that is where they are threatening to kill Christians who have escaped to the mountains where they now hide out with no food or water. The US is now attempting to send them aid. How they started in Syria is another subject. In the early days of the Syrian revolution the dictator Assad looked like he would be ousted. President Obama said publically that Assad had to go. Then Russian and Iran stepped into the battle and helped Assad to force back the rebel forces. At that time The President refused to aid the rebels and they soon faced defeat. While this was going on 160,000 civilians were killed and 2 million fled the country but the US just watched and we are still watching today. In the midst of all this turmoil ISSI the Islamic terror group that is now killing Christians rose to power and they are getting stronger each day as the US observes.