Jon Stewart explains ISIS with a brief history of U.S. guns in the Middle East
On Monday's Daily Show, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal said he didn't think the U.S. deserved blame for creating ISIS and politely dismissed Jon Stewart's theory that the battle against Islamic State is a convoluted rematch of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. But this is Jon Stewart's show, so on Tuesday, he elaborated on that theory.
Stewart started out by playing clips of various Republicans accusing President Obama of creating ISIS by pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, which, he noted, was set in motion by George W. Bush. That wasn't Stewart's only problem with the Obama-did-it charge, but he didn't stop with tracing ISIS's roots to Bush's 2003 invasion. Using the GOP's proposed solution to ISIS — arming some faction — Stewart took a look back at America's poor track record in the region. "America is like Wile E. Coyote," he said: "Every time we send a weapon into the desert, it ends up exactly where we don't want it to end up."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
What would a UK deployment to Ukraine look like?Today's Big Question Security agreement commits British and French forces in event of ceasefire
-
Nicolás Maduro: from bus driver to Venezuela’s presidentIn the Spotlight Shock capture by US special forces comes after Maduro’s 12-year rule proved that ‘underestimating him was a mistake’
-
Artemis II: back to the MoonThe Explainer Four astronauts will soon be blasting off into deep space – the first to do so in half a century
-
‘One Battle After Another’ wins Critics Choice honorsSpeed Read Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, won best picture at the 31st Critics Choice Awards
-
A peek inside Europe’s luxury new sleeper busThe Week Recommends Overnight service with stops across Switzerland and the Netherlands promises a comfortable no-fly adventure
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
