So, now that they were out of a job, many of the Sons Of Iraq joined ISIS because, fuck it, ISIS had money. Since the Iraqi government forces were Shiite, many of the Sunni Sons Of Iraq saw ISIS as a natural ally against the dudes who'd kicked them out of a job and seemed to be gearing up for some good old-fashioned religious repression.

Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images News/Getty Images

And from a distance, their flag looked like a Jolly Roger.

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It's true that most of the Sons Of Iraq didn't join ISIS (some of them were actually murdered by ISIS), but it didn't matter. The Islamic State's largest roadblock was gone. Suddenly, a bunch of violent assholes -- who had plenty of time to plan during their stint in prison together -- found themselves at the head of around 30,000 active fighters. The most effective military force in the area -- the hundred-thousand strong Sons Of Iraq -- had been disbanded. The actual Iraqi Army proved so ineffective that ISIS now controls more than half of their country.

So, here's the lesson in all this, as far as we can tell: You can debate among yourselves as to whether or not a particular military action is right or wrong. But, if anybody states with absolute confidence that they know exactly what the results of that action is going to be? Yeah, they're either lying or are fucking insane. It's like those people who keep opening bigger and bigger Jurassic Parks and act like it's absurd to think anything will go wrong this time. Well, we're going to go out on a limb and say that the genetically-engineered superdinosaur you're breeding might sell some tickets at first, but the control you think you're exercising in this situation is probably an illusion.

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