The United States military involvement in Iraq has been an area of concern for government officials and the American people as a whole. With the latest eruption in Iraq, the question of whether or not to send our troops back into the turmoil of a country that has a flimsy government and operating rebel and terrorist groups has President Obama strongly considering the possibility. Even if limited in our involvement by using air assaults and technology such as drones, the U.S. would more than likely harm Iraqi civilians in the process, send nationals flooding into the ISIS camps, and destruct an already fragile economic system. That would be a bad move for the U.S. military and one that would have repercussions. "An isolated U.S. is an unsafe country. Attacking Iraq without provocation will ignite anti-American sentiment around the world, disrupting efforts to weaken terrorist networks. While the benefits of invading Iraq are murky the costs are all- too- clear" (Global Exchange). ISIS (Islamic State of Syria and Iraq) is an off-shoot of Al-Qaeda and is backed by Sunni tribal and Para-military forces and militia. "In Seizing Falluja, Mosul and a string of other cities, ISIS has left devastation and mass executions in its wake, and it is aggressively provoking a revival of the Sunni versus Shiite Civil War that left thousands dead between 2005-2008" (The Editors). .
The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 looking for weapons of mass destruction. That led to the capture and eventual death of leader Saddam Hussein. However, no weapons were ever found and in doing such the U.S. military succeeded in bringing the Shiite majority to power, outing the Sunnis, and upsetting a delicate historical balance between the two Islamic groups. The invasion resulted in the separation of Iraqis into Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish camps, groups that are separated based on differing Islamic interpretations of the Quran.