It has gained considerable ground, weaponry and funds in recent months, with the goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate across the region.
If Iran blames the United States for supporting the Syrian rebels, the US' Arab allies argue that Washington's failure to supply moderate Syrian rebels with the sophisticated weaponry and funding they needed to defeat Assad's forces or allow Gulf states to do so, had created a vacuum that the Islamic State filled.
Over the next year Tehran, concerned about a Sunni reemergence in Iraq and U.S. efforts to limit Iranian influence, will continue to provide funding, weaponry, and training to Iraqi Shia militants.
The flow of arms and funds from America that bolstered the PIRA is a thing of the past, which means the terrorists must buy weaponry on the black market (at least two such efforts have been disrupted by MI5 sting operations) and raise money from smuggling, drugs and extortion.
The country has also been a beneficiary of U.S. Foreign Military Financing, which provides grants and loans to purchase U.S.-produced weaponry and equipment and funds military training.
One of the most notable and, for Washington, embarrassing, instances of this came last year when the Harakat al-Hazm gave up its bases and US funded advanced weaponry to al-Nusra.
Gaddafi not only provided funding and weaponry to a number of rebel groups there, he also trained their leadership in Libya.
In 2013, working with U.S. regional allies who also invested funds, intelligence and weaponry, the CIA-run program set up shop in Jordan and began to arm and pay Syrian nationalists fighting Assad.
This is true, whether you're talking about taxpayers being forced to fund high-priced weaponry that will be used against us, endless wars that do little for our safety or our freedoms, or bloated government agencies such as the National Security Agency with its secret budgets, covert agendas and clandestine activities.
If Bush was serious about 'exporting democracy and freedom', the best place to start would be with the authoritarian regimes he currently funds, supports and deals weaponry to".
