• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
    • Our Mission
      • Political Islam
    • Areas of Expertise
      • Economic Warfare
        • Cyber Security
      • U.S. Policy
      • Anti-Corruption
      • Foreign Election Observing
      • Supporting Free Speech
        • Legislation
      • Impact of ACD’s Work
      • Free Speech Celebration, U.S. Senate
    • Board of Directors & Advisors
    • Our Team
    • Contact Us
    • Subscribe
  • Our Impact
    • Endorsements
    • Additional Praise
  • Media
    • Recent Interviews
    • Events
      • Coming Events
    • Radio
    • Television
    • Rumble / Youtube
  • Publications
    • All Posts Archive
    • ACD Presentations
    • Articles
    • Books
    • Papers
    • Recommended Readings
  • Free Speech
    • Legislation & Support
    • Impact of ACD’s Work
      • FREE SPEECH Act Celebration, U.S. Senate, September 20, 2010
      • Some Congressional Testimonies
  • Economic warfare
    • The Impact of Purposeful Interference on U.S. Cyber Interests
    • Cyber/Space, EMP Insecurity- Current and Future Threats
    • The Existential EMP Threat
    • New Strategies to Secure U.S. Economy from Cyber Attacks
    • Economic Warfare Subversions July 9, 2012
    • CyberSpace Security – Papers And Articles
    • Cyber Security
    • Da’esh “lite” North America Islamist – Sources
    • The Muslim Brotherhood and Da’esh “Lite” in North America
  • Support ACD
    • Donate
    • Subscribe
    • Contact
American Center for Democracy

American Center for Democracy

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • youtube
  • linkedin
  • Free Speech
  • U.S. Policy
    • U.S. Foreign Policy
  • Political Islam
    • Canada
    • Hamas
    • Iran
    • Islam
    • Muslim Brotherhood
    • Palestinian
    • United States
  • Narco-Terrorism
  • Middle East Conflicts
    • Iran
    • Israel
  • Global Conflicts
    • China
    • North Korea
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
  • Soros
You are here: Home / ACD/EWI Blog / The Middle East ‘Black Revolution’

The Middle East ‘Black Revolution’

September 18, 2014 by Mark Burr*

In the Fall of 2010, liberals in many Middle Eastern countries wanted a ”Color Revolution,” like other countries had in the previous decade. Yet, in the Fall of 2014, the dominant color that splashes all over is black. The black color of the growing jihadist movement, the ISIL.

But in the Fall of 2010, Iraq had a new government in place. The Iraqis were still proud of their 2005 referendum of a free people–men and women of every sect and faith–who then, for the first time voted for their constitutionally elected government and raised a purple finger, as a symbol of what they called the The Purple Revolution.

In the Fall of 2010, Dubai was the center of the universe with Doha trying desperately to catch up.  Riyadh was in the middle of one of its transformations.  And Egypt, my U.S. diplomat host was disappointed that Cairo was not a challenging post, as Baghdad had been! But the burgeoning youth, connected to the world through their smart phones, seemed increasingly restless, and a liberal class was unhappy with their presidents-for-life and the stiflingly corrupt bureaucracy.

Almost everyone was happy that Iraq was off the radar. In fact, many openly stated they wanted what the U.S. had established there, or at least for the U.S. to spend the same kinds of money and efforts on civil society and building open markets in the rest of the region.

I returned to Saudi Arabia where they ridiculed our anti-Bush president and his pseudo-Islamic credentials, and all was good. The Middle East seemed so quiet that Obama talked openly about ending the war in Iraq–a Win, according to his administration, with lots of platitudes to our boys and girls in uniform–so he could turn to more pressing matters like socializing healthcare and solving global warming.

The spoiler was an under-employed Tunisian vegetable salesman.  Harassed by a policewoman for having an unlicensed business in a country as Western as you get in the Arab world, he protested by setting himself on fire, an almost unheard of form of civil protest in that part of the world. And the flames spread quickly.  This was the time for a liberal and progressive American president to seize the moment and support those who sought reform in the corrupt Arab world. Yet he paid them lip service and allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to “help organize” the massive demonstrations of tens of thousands of 16-30 year-olds, most with a totally antithetical worldview. The moderate “Arab Center” has not recovered.

As 2011 progressed we all watched as one dictator after another fell. The corrupt Ben Ali fled Tunisia as the French turned their backs on his kleptocracy.  Algeria, Jordan and Oman changed cabinets or announced immediate reforms saving them from a similar fate. Mubarak was deposed, jailed and even prosecuted on TV!  King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia returned home from Morocco, handing out billions of dollars to keep the young liberals and ever-menacing tribals happy–while spending billions more on development that was said to provide jobs to more than 1 million unemployed Saudis, and massive amounts on internal security and greater state control of the media. The civil unrest in Bahrain scared the rest of Gulf Arabs, and they sent troops to brutally quell the Shia uprising. This led to a temporary arms embargo from European countries, but tellingly not the US.  The obvious reason was the need to protect the American Navy base in Bahrain, but also to keep up the sale of American weapons to the region.

Meanwhile Yemen’s 33-year President Saleh barely survived a massive bomb attack on his palace, only to be deposed, while a reinvigorated al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula increased its attacks also in Iraq.  In fact, any casual observer would have known of the increasingly dictatorial behavior of Maliki and his Iranian-supported Da’wa party.  In February 2011, he announced he would not seek a third term, a concession he later hoped the world had forgotten. Meanwhile, the two other regional dictators, Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi and Syria’s Bashar Assad were facing uprisings. For years we heard: “Do not mess with Syria as it will be a quagmire worse than Iraq.”  I heard it after visiting al-Qaim in 2005, when the U.S. Marines were desperate for support to eliminate the jihadist rat lines that ran down the Euphrates river valley from Syria all the way to the Sunni Triangle.  And while we helped to dislodge Qaddafi, the President declared it was a NATO victory.  But not before we ensured all those Qaddafi Family Office billions around the world were placed in receivership. (Where are they now as Libya becomes a failed state?). America’s involvement faded into an arms re-purchasing program for export to Syrian “moderate” rebels–an arrangement that ended in a disgraceful disaster. Syria, in the meantime, went from bad to worse.

In the midst of all of this chaos, Obama exited Iraq by the end of 2011, primarily to fulfill a campaign promise as he geared up for reelection.  ISIS (ISIS, IQ, ISIL…Da’esh, by its Arabic acronym), an al-Qaeda branch present in Iraq from the earliest days of the insurgency, massively increased its attacks within Iraq, literally from the date of our departure, and by the end of 2013, raised their black flag in Ramadi and Fallujah.

All of the worst actors began to gather on the borders of Mesopotamia, where Iran had been increasingly calling the shots, with the notable exception of oil-rich and American-protected (non-Arab and largely secular Muslim) Kurdistan.

The Arab youth and disaffected Muslims from around the world finally had the opportunity themselves to put videos like those they had been watching on YouTube. Twitter and other social media outlets sprung into action.  The Islamist ideologues welcomed the new jihadist recruits and sent them off to battle. The funding, literally billions of dollars, has been supplied by wealthy Arabs in Kuwait, Jeddah, Riyadh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha…from other Muslim countries and the global Arab/Muslim diaspora.

This is the Middle East our soldiers now find as they return once again to insert themselves in the middle of a series of concentric circles of a religious war: Sunni vs. Shia, secular vs. Islamist, Muslim vs. apostate, rich Gulf Arabs vs. the Arab Street.

In the Fall of 2010 the Arab World was at a crucial tipping point. Like it or not: America’s commitment, or lack thereof, then and now would determine whether black will become the dominant color throughout the Middle East.

* Mark Burr is a former reconstruction adviser in Iraq and a businessman with over 20 years experience in the Middle East.

Filed Under: ACD/EWI Blog, ACD/EWI Exclusive, Al Qaeda, Jihad, Kurdistan, Latest News, Middle East Conflicts, Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, U.S. Foreign Policy

Primary Sidebar

Spotlight

website capture islamist incitement quote by j.woolsey obama signing Rachel's law chemical terrorism transportation terrorism nuclear threats on the rise winning the cyberwar gps concepts and misconceptions libel tourism

Search ACD

Recent Appearances

[5/1/2025] National Talk Radio with Shawn Moore

[3/11/2025] Shaun Thompson Interview

[3/10/2025] Larry Conners Interviews Rachel Ehrenfeld

[2/3/2025] The Truth About George Soros - Grey Matter Podcast

[1/22/2025] Fighting Terrorism Funding - SAM Podcast

[1/8/2025] COUNTER NARRATIVE Interview on PATRIOT.TV

[10/2/2024] The Shaun Thompson Show: Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld

[9/30/2024] Counter Narrative: Soros Power Grab: Media Takeover & Election Manipulation |

[8/28/2024] SOS Blinken warns U.S. allies that Iran may attack Israel in the next 24-48hrs

[8/9/2024] Purham & Associates Show Special Guest: Rachel Ehrenfeld

[7/26/2024] Dr. Ehrenfeld on The Andy Caldwell Show

[6/12/2024] Dr. Ehrenfeld on The Shaun Thompson Show

[5/29/2024] Interview on Bill Martinez Live

[5/24/2024] CAEF presents "Soros is No Dreyfus: The Soros Agenda to Change America & his Anti-Israel Crusade"

[5/16/2024] Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld on Jayne Carol Tonight - Portland, OR

[5/9/2024] How deep do the Soros ties go?

[5/6/2024] Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld: The College Intifada-How Jew Hunting Became a Left Wing Blood Sport On Campus

[4/15/2024] Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld on The Vic Poricini Show

[4/11/2024] The Andy Caldwell Show

[4/10/2024] Always Right Radio with Bob Frantz

[4/3/2024] Kacee Allen & Rachel Ehrenfeld - The Pelle Neroth Taylor Show

[3/12/2024] Rachel Ehrenfeld | Gunther Rewind - Podcast on iHeart Radio

[2/18/2024] תעלומת ג'ורג' סורוס ותרומתו למאבק נגד ישראל - פוקוס על אמריקה - Podcast on Spotify

תעלומת ג'ורג' סורוס ותרומתו למאבק נגד ישראל - פוקוס על אמריקה | Podcast on Spotify

[2/7/2024] Are We in World War III and Don't Know It? - Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson

[1/23/2024] The Chris Smith Show - TNTRADIO.LIVE

[1/22/2024] 'Soros Agenda' Author Warns That Global Elites Could Steal '24 Election - One America News

[1/12/2024] Stacy Washington NOW Rachel on from 24:10 – 31:46.

[12/23/2023] Propagaza – Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson

View ALL

The Soros Agenda

g. soros

Soros: The Man Who Would Be Kingmaker, Part I

Rachel Ehrenfeld & Shawn Macomber

Soros: The Man Who Would Be Kingmaker, Part II

Soros: The Man Who Would be Kingmaker, Part III

Soros: The Man Who Would be Kingmaker, Part IV

More about Soros...
ORDER THE SOROS AGENDA →
Buy The Soros Agenda

Tags

antisemitism Caliphate Canada capital punishment China Christians Daniel Haqiqatjou Dawah Disinformation genocide Hamas Iran ISIS Islam Islamic Party of Ontario Islamic Relief Canada Islamic Relief Worldwide Islamization Islamophobia Israel J. Millard Burr Jews jihad Justin Trudeau LGBT liberalism Muslim Brotherhood Muslims NCCM Norman Bailey Palestine Political Islam Quran Russia Salaheddin Islamic Centre Saudi Arabia Sharia Sol W. Sanders SOROS Syria Terrorism Toronto US USA women's rights

Footer

About ACD

ACD is a New York-based 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, which monitors and exposes the enemies of freedom and their modus operandi, and explores pragmatic ways to counteract their methods.

Endorsements

"The ACD/EWI ability to predict future threats is second to none"

- R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence

- - - More Endorsements - - -

Follow ACD!

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • youtube
  • linkedin

Copyright © 2025 | The American Center for Democracy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.