Purges of Bathists and Sunnis from the Shia dominated government and military in Iraq was a recipe for disaster.

Of course this whole mess could've been avoided by not invading Iraq.

When the Sunnis tried peacefully demonstrating for the democracy that we promised them, and got massacred for their trouble amidst the resounding silence of Western observers, then the rise of ISIS or someone like them was more or less a given.

A tragedy on so many levels.

the Saudis backed ISIS from the get go - nasty Wahabi whackjobs, one and all.

Of course no one on NPR would dare mention that our "allies" the Saudis are not our friends.

they specifically referred to the Saudis giving out vast swathes of money and not being very particular about to whom they gave it.

I'm not sure why you think that NPR (PBS?) is a bastion of pro-Wahhabi sentiment.