Paradoxically, just as Western leaders slam Islamic extremism, they are at the same time only encouraging it, American journalist and author Daniel Lazare underscores.
"In the wake of the latest terrorist outrage in Paris, the big question is not which specific group is responsible for the attack, but who's responsible for the Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the first place. The answer that has grown increasingly clear in recent years is that it's Western leaders who have used growing portions of the Muslim world as a playground for their military games and are now crying crocodile tears over the consequences," Lazare stressed in his recent article for Consortiumnews.com.
Today, the US and France are helping Saudi Arabia to crack down on Houthi Shiites in Yemen, at the same time turning a blind eye to the fact that the Gulf states are pouring millions of dollars into al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
"Western leaders encourage this violence yet decry it in virtually the same breath," Lazare emphasized.
It is no secret to Washington that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait have long been fuelling the al-Qaeda and Islamic State insurgency.
"Yet despite countless promises to shut down such funding, the spigots have remained wide open. The US has not only acquiesced in such activities, moreover, but has actively participated in them," the US journalist pointed out.
Much in the same vein, the Obama administration made no objection when Riyadh provided al-Qaeda's branch al-Nusra Front with high-tech TOW missiles to support al-Nusra's offensive in Syria's Idlib province.
Furthermore, according to Lazare, the US is sending its Special Ops troops to train and support the Syrian rebels which had previously collaborated with al-Nusra. It seems that the Pentagon has no scruples about cooperating with al-Qaeda's counterparts.
At the same time "the Obama administration continues to back Saudi Arabia in its assault on the Middle East's poorest nation [Yemen], providing it with technical back-up and naval support, while France, eager to supplant the US as the kingdom's chief weapons supplier, backs it as well," Lazare remarked.
Incredible as it may seem, the French President backs the kingdom that in its turn backs that forces responsible for the Charlie Hebdo massacre as well as the latest atrocities in Paris.
It looks like a vicious cycle with no end in sight.
To make matters even worse, Western leaders prefer to beat their chests calling for compassion instead of shutting down the money flow from the Gulf States to numerous jihadi groups, the US author writes.
"Instead of defeating ISIS [ISIL], this policy of neither-nor has allowed it fester and grow. The group is richer than ever, its troops travel about in shiny new Toyota pickups, and its technical prowess is also on the upswing," Lazare notes gloomily.
What is to be done then?
Sealing off the borders a la Donald Trump is unlikely to bring a desirable result, the journalist underscored, warning that the more havoc the West continues spreading in the Middle East, the more violence and right-wing reaction it will face in Europe and the United States.
