PCG Misunderstanding the Rise of ISIL

Back in June last year, shortly after Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's lackeys made large advances into Iraq, PCG's Kiall Lorenz wrote an article about the murderer Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. It is entitled "The Unnecessary Rise of ISIS" (June 18, 2014).

The terrorist group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has risen rapidly to power, which could have been prevented easily had America not released him from prison. 

Really? What about all the other issues that fueled ISIL/ISIS's rise to power? Just keeping one man imprisoned would not have solved the many issues that led to the rise of ISIL.

For instance many of the Iraqi Sunnis were very suspicious and weary of the Iraqi government of Nouri al Maliki. They viewed his government as only working for Shiites and refusing to protect and look after the Sunnis within Iraq. ISIL cynically took advantage of these widespread problems in order to gain power for themselves.

Also many of those working for ISIL are former Baathists who previously worked for the Saddam Hussein regime. They would still be out and about even if Abu Bakr al Baghdadi had stayed imprisoned.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is just one man. He has no supernatural powers. He and ISIL would not get anywhere if so many within Iraq and Syria were not disillusioned and fearful of their governments as they are now. If there was no power vacuum there ISIL would be nothing.

ISIL is not strong of itself. It is just that the others on the ground are weak. The Iraqi government had failed to gain the trust of the Iraqi Sunnis and the Assad regime had thrown away its popular support within Syria by engaging in a campaign of violence against the Syrian people. ISIL took advantage of these situations for their own benefit.

U.S. forces captured and imprisoned Baghdadi in 2005. Baghdadi was detained in Camp Bucca under the command of Col. Kenneth King. During his four years in prison, Baghdadi received militant training from fellow al Qaeda detainees. In 2009, the United States deemed him a minor threat to its interests and released him. Colonel King said Baghdadi “was a bad dude, but he wasn’t the worst of the worst.”

So how was anyone supposed to know that he would be the one man who would be given leadership of the continuation of Al Qaeda in Iraq? There were many others involved in that outfit.

A year later, Baghdadi took over the leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq after its leaders were killed by U.S. and Iraqi troops. The militant group was collapsing at that time, but was revived by the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011. Baghdadi rebuilt the group over the next three years with campaigns in Syria and Iraq. 

In other words just keeping one man imprisoned would not have prevented the current rise of ISIL. Of course it is impossible to know what would have happened if another man had taken power within what used to be Al Qaeda in Iraq but any other man could have taken advantage of the turmoil in Syria in a similar way.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is just one man. Others within ISIL could have also followed the same tactics to get the same result.

The rapid rise of ISIS under Baghdadi’s leadership raises another question: If a low profile fighter like Baghdadi could accomplish such widespread destruction, what will the five senior Taliban leaders released from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Bowe Bergdahl do? 

The problem is not just one man. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi could never have gotten anywhere were it not for the widespread dissatisfaction of Iraqi Sunnis with the Baghdad government or for the fact that since 2003 many persons had created and funded the blood stained institutions that he would later have at his disposal.

Also during the early days of the turmoil within Syria the Assad regime released many Islamists from prison so that the Assad regime could vilify the opposition as Al Qaeda like terrorists. Unfortunately this later become a self fulfilling prophecy. This also helped lead to the rise of ISIL.

America’s leaders are not worried, though. “These five guys are not a threat to the United States,” former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview with NBC News. Baghdadi’s example shows that such an assessment is dangerously naive. To see how childish America’s Middle East foreign policy has become [Lorenz then advertizes a program by PCG.]

How superficial. 

When it comes to politics PCG's leaders are far to the right. So they tend to be very opposed to the Obama Administration and exploits the problems involving the American government to claim World War III will soon occur.

So the article condemns America's policy as "childish". How respectful.

Comments

There are comments. Let's take a look. Comments are presented as they are written.

This is a big mess for America and has ‘bitten‘ the US so hard … I guess that’s what you get for trusting in your enemies and not in God…

PCG's leaders often accuse the leaders of the United States of trusting in their enemies and not in God. This person is repeating PCG's nonsensical denounciations.

We always knew since 9-11 that Iraq would fall to Iran. We just didn’t realize our president would hand it over to them, and actually support the take over. We could have never forseen this happen this way. It still just blows my mind. Wow.

But ISIL hates Iran. ISIL's recent rise if anything was a set back for Iran. And this person does not seem to see that is what has happened. Instead this person simply trusts that PCG is right and assumes that PCG's fearful proclamations that Iran will grow more powerful will soon come true. Of course PCG are false prophets and their words have no power except for people who happens to believe them.

Here's one comment from South Africa.

Shocking, shocking, shocking how gutsless and backboneless the USA has become. They free their arch enemies just to face them on the battleground and in the process thousands of others are loosing their lives as a direct result of this. Thank you USA for being spineless and so tuned into humanitarian shananigans. I said this before and I`ll say it again : thank you also very much for allowing my country, SA, to fall into the hands of terrorists and communists wearing Western suits and ties. The U-S-of-A has really messed up globally on a scale that I think is worse than the world wars.

Apartheid was never going to allow equality to all the peoples of South Africa. It is good that Apartheid is now abolished. Although there are many problems within South Africa at present just enforcing white supremacy upon the majority population for the benefit of a small minority was never going to solve the pressing problems South Africa currently faces.

One US detainee released and look at this mess. Imagine when the 5 from Gitmo get free! They got a hero’s welcome in Qutar and imagine when they go missing and find there way back to fight. Seems every single day now we are descending more and more into the mire.

The problem is not one man. There are many issues that fueled ISIL's recent rise to power.

Truly disappointing and tragic, but not surprising to readers of Trumpet. Com. One huge component is our leadership vacuum, but the greatest source of prophecy is found in the Holy Bible. Thus, the King of the South gains more power! It is almost as if they are following the Books of Daniel and Revelation.

So ISIL, which hates Iran, makes advances within Iraq. So the Iraqi government finds it necessary to get help from others including Iran. And this commenter thinks this means Iran ("the King of the South") is gaining more power. Nonsense. If anything Iran's power weakens if ISIL grows stronger. This shows just how blinded by dogma some within PCG are.

What we are seeing before our very eyes is the coming together of the Psalm 83 alliance and the taking over of Iraq by the King of the south. This exactly what Mr Flurry has been prophesying now for more than 2 decades.

This person is wrong. Gerald Flurry only began teaching his doctrine of the Psalm 83 alliance starting in 2011. Before then the Psalm 83 alliance and Iran (the king of the South) seems to  have been viewed as essentially the same. But Flurry changed this doctrine in 2011 and made those two things separate.

Here's my favorite comment from here.

These events are not by accident. Obama is one of them. His goal is and always has been is to destroy the U.S.A., there is no doubt in my mind. The sheeple of the U.S. will be rudely awakened when New York is nuked.

So does this mean Obama is plotting to nuke New York? This person definitely thinks Obama is trying to "destroy the U.S.A." Is this the sort of people PCG is trying to attract?

That is madness. That is bizarre and weird.