Copy/Pasted from Ukraine thread as it's also largely relevant in this thread too.
Well the way I see it.. Saddam Hussain overthrown, secular government. Muammar Gaddafi overthrown, secular government. Afghanistan tribesmen and religious zealots with the assistance of the U.S overthrew the Russian installed government in Afghanistan, another secular government. In all three nations in their place now resides destroyed states turned into jihadist strongholds overrun by sunni jihadis. I've seen liveleak videos of the Syrian army riffling through the belongings of the dead rebels, finding wallets stuffed with Saudi cash. Saudi-Arabia an autocratic despotic sectarian kingdom ally of the west home of the Bin Laden family, sold advanced weaponry by the West, it then provides to the jihadis fighting all over the Middle-East. It's no coincidence the Libyan government trying to cling to power in Tobruk has stated the jihadi's facing them have more advanced weapons than they, and that's the exact same thing Iraq has said about ISIS. These weapons have been sold to Saudi-Arabia by the west and then given to the jihadists.
We must not forget that it was not only in the 80's the West assisted jihadis, only a few years ago we assisted them in Libya, vocally supported them in Egypt, provided equipment and aid and the Americans provided weapons to the "moderate" rebels in Syria.. The Wests (more specifically the U.S's) meddling in the Middle-East, as it has Europe and now Ukraine have made situations worse, not better.
Removing secular governments has ramped up the sectarian pressure in the region and you'd have to be incredibly dumb not to realise this. Also, about power play, the U.S and West are aligned with Saudi-Arabia/Israel and on their behest has taken a firm stance toward Iran, a nation which welcomes nuclear inspectors whom find no evidence to support claims of a nuclear bomb being built and yet without evidence the West slaps sanctions on Iran which hurt the Iranian people the most, and lets not forget the Western overthrow of an Iranian leader in the 50's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tatThe Roman empire played divide and conquer, the British empire played divide and conquer and the Western empire formed at the end of WW2 is also playing divide and conquer.
