About a century ago, after World War I, British and French leaders carved up the Middle East and set the modern borders of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Now a growing force of Sunni extremists fighting under the banner of the Islamic State are creating a new nation in the same region . . . at gunpoint. Its boundaries are not yet set in ink on a map. But the jihadists have seized vast chunks of Syria and Iraq with a clear goal: Establish a new "caliphate," an Islamic state led by a supreme religious and political leader. Theirs would be a kingdom where justice is dispensed by bullet, blade and sheer savagery.
The Islamic State is on the march across Iraq, Syria and even launching military incursions into Lebanon. Last week the militants seized a strategic dam in Iraq that provides water and electricity to a wide swath of the country. They can now cut off the water and power or, as they have before, use water as a weapon by flooding homes and schools, forcing more to flee.
All this brings into focus the primary goal for the U.S. and its allies: Reverse the rampage of the Islamic State. End its state of siege. Relieve a fracturing Iraq.
One way to do that: Give more and better weaponry to the best fighting force in Iraq, the Kurds' peshmerga. Last week the Kurdish fighters attacked Islamic State forces near the Kurdish regional capital of Irbil, a welcome counter-offensive to break the Islamists' momentum. For the first time, the Iraqi government says it will offer air support to Kurdish fighters. Smart move--and long overdue.
Sending weapons to the Kurds does not pose the same risks as arming Syrian rebels battling Syrian President Bashar Assad. The Kurds can be trusted not to pass weapons to terrorists. They fight to defend their territory, not to enslave or kill those who don't toe an extremist Islamic line. It is true that, someday, the Kurds could use U.S. weapons in a long-deferred bid for independence. But there won't be an Iraq for the Kurds to gain independence from if the jihadists establish a de facto nation.
Editorial on 08/13/2014