War leads to fascism and fascism leads to war: this has never been more clearly demonstrated than in the plight of Syria.

As we watch the flood of refugees leave this ancient part of the world, it is with a sense of deja vu. So too, as we watch parts of Europe rush to close their doors to the human tragedy on their doorstep.

We also see what we always do in situations such as this: brave, compassionate people overcoming fear to do their best to help.

A case in point is the ageing Austrian shepherd, driving family after family to safety in Germany. He is joined by many others, bringing any vehicle capable to the border to whisk families away.

Yet the pressure – social, political and practical – this tragedy is bringing to bear on Europe cannot be underestimated. Europe is still struggling to recover from the effects of the Global Financial Crisis.

While many in Australia are digging deep to help, others point to those living in hardship within our own shores.

However, the war in Syria cannot be separated from the decision of the Western powers – Tony Blair in the UK, John Howard in Australia and George W Bush in the United States – in 2003 to invade Iraq.

Most Australians at the time opposed this move and Sydney’s Hyde Park drew more demonstrators that at any other time since the Vietnam War.

A brutal dictatorship ruled Iraq – but it was a dictatorship we had once been allied with, despite the treatment meted out to the Kurds – including gassing.

However, prior to the first gulf war, Iraq had a first-world standard of living, health care and education. Importantly, prior to 2003, it had no fundamentalist presence – it simply would not have been tolerated.

Now, the leadership of ISIL is founded on the bones of the former Iraqi Army leadership – former Ba'athists, reinvented as Sunni fundamentalists, waging war on Shi'ite, Christian and minority alike. It is this army that has swept through western Iraq and Syria – and continues to cause such havoc.

It is difficult not to feel that the Western powers have created a monster. 

By deposing one brutal leader, we created a power vacuum that has led directly to the creation of an army and political system that is destroying the culture of Iraq itself and bleeding into its neighbours, such as Syria.