In May 2015 Judicial Watch obtained a huge cache of declassified documents from the US government through a FOIA lawsuit. The watchdog organization published more than 100 pages of confidential reports from the Department of Defense and the State Department earlier this year.

The documents confirm that America and its coalition allies facilitated the growth of ISIS in Syria as a counterweight to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. As a result, parts of Iraq are in chaos since ISIS began to cross the Syrian border in early June 2014. ISIS guerrillas were trained by private contractors and CIA assets at secret facilities inside Jordan.

According to one of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) reports the United States, along with Turkey and several Persian Gulf nations considered establishing a Salafist region – an Islamic State – in eastern Syria as inducement to ISIS. Salafists are radical Sunnis. They are an offshoot of the Wahhabi sect.

The declassified documents revealed that ISIS was a welcome presence in Syria at the time; NATO felt that they should be supported in order to isolate the Syrian regime. The files confirm that the U.S. and its European allies viewed the Muslim extremists as a “strategic asset toward regime change in Syria.”

Military officials warned that any further damage caused by the Syrian civil war would have adverse effects on the fragile government in neighboring Iraq. Intel analysis predicted that this situation could lead to al-Qaida returning.

But the scourge of Sunni terrorism can be traced back even further to the late 1970s when President Jimmy Carter was instructed to begin covert operations in Afghanistan to destabilize the Moscow-backed regime in Kabul. Ronald Reagan vastly expanded the program upon his election. With the help of the Saudis he poured more than $1 billion per year into the endeavor, ultimately giving rise to Saudi militant Osama bin Laden and Al Qaida.

The tragedy on the ground in Paris is horrific, but the greater tragedy is assuming that the anti-politics of endless conflict can be some sort of answer to the vicious cycle which it perpetuates. The impulsive rush to war continually ignores history and context. Syrians gained their independence from imperial France less than 70 years ago. The terrorists allegedly informed their victims they were committing these acts in retaliation for the allied bombing campaign in Syria. Connect the dots.

When will President Obama and the other world leaders finally level with their people about the underlying reasons for this madness? Will they explain that America’s allies in the Middle East have been fueling Sunni extremism for years? Will they dare recognize that Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinians could also be a contributing factor? What about the ongoing war crimes in Yemen?

French airstrikes against Syria are intensifying. President Hollande has said that his country is at war now and that a new constitution must be written. Marshall Law and a state of emergency are now required measures to fight this battle with renewed intensity. Sound familiar?

Sounds like a loser to me.