Exclusive: The dirty secret about the Obama administration’s “regime change” strategy in Syria is that it amounts to a de facto alliance with Al Qaeda’s Nusra Front which is driving toward a possible victory with direct and indirect aid from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel, as Daniel Lazare explains.
By Daniel Lazare
When the U.S. and Turkey announced on July 23 that they were joining forces to establish a “safe zone” in northern Syria, no one could quite figure out what they meant. With the White House denying that the deal required it to send in troops to seal the zone off or warplanes to patrol the skies, Bloomberg’s Josh Rogin wrote that the whole thing was misnomer: “In fact, there is really no ‘zone,’ and there is no plan to keep the area ‘safe.’”
Indeed, Rogin said, three “senior administration officials” had put together a conference call in order to assure reporters that there were no plans “for a safe zone, a no-fly zone, an air-exclusionary zone, a humanitarian buffer zone, or any other protected zone of any kind.” So if that wasn’t the plan, what on earth was it?
President and Mrs. Obama disembark from Air Force One at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Jan. 27, 2015, for a state visit to Saudi Arabia. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Now we know. The purpose of the non-zone zone that Turkey and the U.S. may or may not wish to establish is to give the former a free hand to bomb the Kurds and the latter an opportunity to engage in joint operations with Al Qaeda.
The proof? A front-page article in the Aug. 1 New York Times reporting that a U.S.-trained rebel unit, known as Division 30, which had been sent into Syria to combat ISIS, had come “under intense attack on Friday from a different hardline Islamist faction the Nusra Front, which is affiliated with Al Qaeda.”
This is no big news in itself since the Syrian opposition’s myriad rebel factions, one more hardline than the next, are constantly battling one another for control of arms, territory, resources and personnel. But what was new was the fact that the trainees had been caught off guard.
As The Times’s Anne Bernard and Eric Schmitt reported: “American military trainers did not anticipate an assault from the Nusra Front. In fact, officials said on Friday, they expected the Nusra Front to welcome Division 30 as an ally in its fight against the Islamic State. ‘This wasn’t supposed to happen like this,’ said one former senior American official.”
In other words, Defense Department officials expected Al Nusra to see Division 30 as friends and were perplexed when it didn’t. The Americans “had no known plans to fight the Nusra Front,” the Times went on, adding that, while “allied with Al Qaeda,” Nusra “is seen by many insurgents in Syria as preferable to the Islamic State, and it sometimes cooperates with other less radical groups against both the Islamic State and Syrian government forces.”
According to the London Independent, a “distraught” Division 30 commander whom it managed to catch up with in Turkey said that he and one of the captured trainees had actually met with an Al Nusra leader ten days earlier to work out a truce. “They said that if even one bullet reached them, they would attack us, but we assured them we were there only to fight Daesh [i.e. ISIS],” he said.
But even though Division 30 had kept its part of the bargain, Al Nusra was now beating the captured trainees and parading them in the hot afternoon sun with their shirts pulled over their heads while Al Nusra fighters accused them of “collaborat[ing] with the crusader coalition.”
So when the New York Times announced that the U.S.-Turkish plan “would create what officials from both countries are calling an Islamic State-free zone controlled by relatively moderate Syrian insurgents,” it’s now clear who those “moderates” are: Al Nusra. The zone would be safe for U.S.-trained forces, which numbered only around 60 fighters prior to last week’s attack, but it would be mainly safe for the much larger and more powerful Syrian branch of Al Qaeda.
Teaming Up with Al Qaeda?
The U.S. teaming up with Al Qaeda how can this be? Although the press doesn’t like to talk about it, there in fact has hardly been a moment in recent history when the U.S. has not worked hand in glove with the most dangerous fundamentalist forces.
It goes all the way back to President Dwight Eisenhower who, as Ian Johnson noted in his excellent book, A Mosque in Munich (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010), was always eager “to stress the ‘holy war’ aspect” in his talks with Muslims leaders according to an internal White House memo and, when informed that jihad might be directed against Israel, replied that the Saudis had assured him that it would only be used against the Soviets.
More recently, President Jimmy Carter and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski opted to put the Eisenhower Doctrine to the test by channeling money and arms to Afghan mujahedeen battling a Soviet-backed government in Kabul. The effort, which eventually under President Ronald Reagan morphed into a $20-billion-plus joint operation by the Saudis and CIA, no doubt contributed to the collapse of the U.S.S.R., Brzezinski’s top priority.
But it also destroyed Afghan society, paved the way for the Taliban takeover in 1996, gave rise to Al Qaeda, and, of course, led directly to the destruction of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.
The U.S. may have backed off thereafter, although it continued to maintain close relations with Saudi Arabia, which, according to Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called “twentieth hijacker,” maintained close ties with Osama bin Laden right up to the eve of 9/11. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “The Secret Saudi Ties to Terrorism.”]
But by 2007, as Seymour Hersh argued not at all implausibly in The New Yorker, the Saudis had succeeded in convincing the Bush administration to concentrate on battling Shi‘ite forces instead. This meant not only lightening up on Al Qaeda, but cooperating with increasing militant Sunni groups in order to pursue the fight against Hezbollah and other such Shi’te forces.
The consequences have grown more and more evident ever since the Arab Spring caught up with the Assad family dictatorship in February 2011. Washington’s pro-Sunni orientation required that it ignore reports that the radical-Sunni Muslim Brotherhood was dominating the protests, which were taking on an ugly and bigoted anti-Shi‘ite and anti-Christian coloration as the Assads who are of Shi‘ite origin but otherwise non-sectarian struggled to maintain control.
When fighting broke out, the “re-direction,” as Hersh called it, also required that the U.S. steer money and aid to Sunni rebels and even that it rely on the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the Times, to determine which groups were deserving and which were not.
In order to rein in the Shi‘ites, the U.S. thus threw its weight behind ultra-Sunni Saudi Arabia and its program of bloody sectarian warfare. As Vice President Joe Biden put it at Harvard’s Kennedy School last October, Saudi Arabia and the gulf states “were so determined to take down Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war, what did they do? They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of military weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad except the people who were being supplied were Al Nusra and Al Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world.”
In August 2012, a Defense Intelligence Agency noted that Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and assorted Salafists were “the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria”; that the Western powers, the gulf states, and the Turks were solidly behind the uprising; that Al Qaeda was seeking to use the revolt to unite all Sunnis in a general anti-Shi‘ite jihad; that the holy warriors were likely to establish “a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria,” and that “this is exactly what the supporting powers want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran).”
Although the consequences would be disastrous for Syria’s Christian, Druze and Alawite-Shi‘ite minorities, the U.S. went along and the mainstream press supplied the all-important cover-up.
A Non-Aggression Pact
The non-aggression pact that Defense Department thought it had hammered out with Al Nusra is the latest step in this strategy. While the Obama administration claims to be battling ISIS, its attitude toward the hyper-brutal group is more ambiguous than it lets on. The U.S. only raised the alarm when ISIS invaded Iraq in June 2014 and began threatening the American-backed government in Baghdad.
Before then, the U.S. was content to sit back and watch while ISIS made life miserable for Assad and the Baathists in Damascus. Turkey claims to oppose ISIS as well even though it has allowed Daesh to turn its 550-mile border with Syria into “an open highway for jihadists from around the world.”
After ISIS bombed a left-wing, pro-Kurdish rally in the border town of Suruç, killing 32 people and injuring more than a hundred, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to get tough. But instead of ISIS, he got tough with the Kurds, bombing targets in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey associated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) even though the PKK, along with its Syrian branch, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) is one of the few effective anti-ISIS forces in the field.
As Reuters observed, “Turkey’s assaults on the PKK have so far been much heavier than its strikes against Islamic State, fueling suspicions that its real agenda is keeping Kurdish political and territorial ambitions in check.”
Indeed, Erdogan’s agenda may be even more convoluted than that since striking out at the PKK may serve to undermine the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which, after an impressive 13-percent showing in June’s elections, poses a growing danger to his rule.
Further, Turkey and other U.S. allies in the region have packaged their attacks on the most effective anti-ISIS forces as indirect ways to undermine ISIS. Turkey offers the curious belief that the best way to defeat ISIS is by defeating the Kurds.
Similarly, Saudi Arabia claims the best way to defeat ISIS is by toppling Assad since his determination to remain in power is supposedly what fuels Sunni anger, which in turn fuels the growth of ISIS. This rationale holds that even though Assad’s Syrian Arab Army is one of the few bulwarks against an ISIS victory, defeating Assad is suppose to somehow spell doom for ISIS.
Another country that claims to want to see ISIS go down in flames is Israel, except that whenever it intervenes in the Syrian civil war, it ends up bombing Assad’s forces and their Shi’ite allies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iranian military advisers.
So, everyone claims to want to defeat ISIS, yet everyone bombs precisely those forces that are working to stop ISIS. Of course, the most convoluted agenda of all is that of the U.S. The Obama administration seems to believe that defeating ISIS is the top goal, except when it says that priority number one is overthrowing Assad.
As the Times blandly puts it with regard to units like Division 30: “The training [of Division 30 to combat ISIS] is often at cross-purposes with a covert C.I.A. training program for fighters battling Syrian security forces. Toppling Mr. Assad was the original goal of the Syrian revolt, before the Islamic State sprang from its most extreme Islamist wing.” (However, the actual history of ISIS is that it emerged from the Sunni resistance to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, originally calling itself “Al Qaeda in Iraq” before joining the war against Assad and taking the name “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” or simply the “Islamic State.”)
What’s the Priority?
Based on recent developments, one might ask: is toppling Assad yesterday’s top goal superseded by today’s top goal of defeating ISIS or is it the other way around? Meanwhile, the U.S. policy is to bomb ISIS whenever possible except when it is engaged in battle with Syrian government forces, at which point the U.S. policy is to hold off.
Explained the Times’s Anne Bernard: “In Syria, a new awkwardness arises. Any airstrikes against Islamic State militants in and around Palmyra would probably benefit the forces of President Bashar al-Assad. So far, United States-led airstrikes in Syria have largely focused on areas far outside government control, to avoid the perception of aiding a leader whose ouster President Obama has called for.”
In other words, the U.S. bombs ISIS except when it might help the most potent force fighting ISIS. Washington is also at war with Al Nusra sometimes. In early July, for instance, a U.S. air strike killed seven Al Nusra members in Idlib Province in northern Syria. But America’s neocons disapprove of such strikes because they may indirectly benefit Assad’s forces.
Neocons were gleeful when a Nusra-led coalition swept through Idlib in April with support from the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army, while the administration remained conspicuously silent about the large numbers of U.S.-made TOW missiles almost certainly supplied by the Saudis that provided Al Nusra with a critical edge. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Climbing into Bed with Al-Qaeda.”]
So the U.S. opposes Al Nusra except when it supports it. Indeed, just about every player in the Middle East is busy playing both sides of the fence, which is why ISIS and Al Qaeda are doing so well.
As Karl Sharro, a Lebanese architect turned political satirist, noted: “Obama is an astute strategist. His plan centers on supporting Kurdish factions as he also supports Turkey which is now attacking the Kurds while also supporting Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen which upsets Iran whom U.S. forces are collaborating with in fighting ISIS in Iraq as he simultaneously yields to pressure from allies to weaken Assad in Syria which complicates things further with Iran which he pacifies by signing the nuclear deal upsetting America’s traditional friend Israel whose anger is absorbed with shipments of advanced weapons escalating the arms race in the region.”
Exactly. It would all be quite funny if the consequences 220,000 deaths in Syria, millions more displaced, plus widespread destruction in Yemen where nightly Saudi air raids are now in their sixth month weren’t so tragic.
Daniel Lazare is the author of several books including The Frozen Republic: How the Constitution Is Paralyzing Democracy (Harcourt Brace).
The Situation in Southern and Western Syria
Damascus is increasingly having difficulties to assert sovereignty over the region along the Lebanese border, the Golan Heights and at its border to Jordan. Israel has, by supporting Jabhat Al-Nusrah and associated brigades via the Golan Heights and the Sheeba farm area achieved two major objectives. It has weakened Damascus, but it has also weakened Hezbollah and Hezbollah’s capacity to resist against Israel. Israel has, by implication, weakened Teheran’s sphere of influence. Long-term Israeli policy aims at the permanent annexation of the Golan Heights and the Sheeba Farm area. Weakening Damascus and Hezbollah was one of the main stumbling stones Israel is about to have overcome. Considering the strength of the Israeli military, it will have no problems with dislodging Al-Nusrah and others from the Golan once that becomes opportune. This move would ultimately further weaken Damascus and Hezbollah.
Syria has long been Moscow’s primary ally in the Middle East. The naval base in Tartous was Moscow’s sole Mediterranean naval base. Russian policy and strategy had, however, to adjust to the developments in Ukraine and Syria. Moscow was, in other words, confronted with the problem how to secure its export of gas to Europe via Ukraine while searching for alternatives. It is here that Turkey is playing a key role. Even though it is possible to compartmentalize energy policy and geopolitics, this option is inherently risky. The more secure option is to combine the two. Developments in Russian – Turkish relations suggest that Turkey and Russia may be approaching a consensus with regards to both gas pipelines, the Kurdish question as well as the question about at least parts of Kurdish – Syrian territory.
Moscow has redirected its naval presence by agreement with Cyprus as well as by attempting to gain leverage via developing and repositioning Russian – Egyptian relations. Also this ultimately suggests that Moscow is thinking in terms of – the inevitable – development of a Kurdish construct and a substantially weakened Syria.
An additional, largely ignored factor is that Russia is not dependent on importing energy from the Middle East. The Russian Federation is, to the contrary, aiming at the export of energy. Long-term Russian Middle East policy will have to be based on this consideration.
A New Middle East: An Assessment
By Christof Lehmann
http://journal-neo.org/2015/08/05/a-new-middle-east-an-assessment/
Of course, it should be pointed out that there is no such thing as a moderate rebel fighting inside Syria nor has there ever been such a fighting force operating there. The entirety of the “opposition†is made up of terrorists, jihadists, and mercenaries, all funded, supported, trained, and armed by NATO and the GCC.
With that in mind, any confrontation that takes place would find the United States in a flagrant act of direct aggression against a sovereign country, even greater than those acts already perpetrated by the U.S. in Syria.
This new policy is yet even more evidence that the US and NATO goal is to destroy the secular government of Bashar al-Assad as well as the entire nation of Syria. While this has been the goal of the U.S. since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, recent weeks have seen a steady increase in provocations and policies designed to bait a Syrian response and create a situation in which U.S. bombing and direct military assaults on the Syrian government could be presented as somehow justified.
It is only a matter of time before Assad’s steadfast repulsion of ISIS and al-Qaeda fighters is used as a justification for American airstrikes on the Syrian government.
Unfortunately, all signs are pointing to the possibility that Syria is about to enter the second phase of destabilization, a phase that Libya knows all too well.
U.S. Agrees To Act As Terrorist Bodyguard; Open To Attacking Assad Forces
By Brandon Turbeville
http://www.activistpost.com/2015/08/us-agrees-to-act-as-terrorist-bodyguard.html
In George Orwell’s novel 1984, the country of Oceania has been in a war against Eurasia for years.
Oceania suddenly switches sides, naming Eastasia as its enemy and making its mortal enemy, Eurasia, its new ally.
The government uses propaganda to convince people that, “We’ve always been at war with Eastasiaâ€. The dumbed-down public doesn’t even notice that they’ve switches sides, and blindly rallies around Eurasia as its perennial friend and ally.
The same thing is happening in real life with Al Qaeda.
Western governments and mainstream media have admitted that Al Qaeda is fighting against the secular Syrian government, and that the West is supporting the Syrian opposition … which is helping Al Qaeda.
Similarly, the opposition which overthrew Libya’s Gadaffi was mainly Al Qaeda … and they now appear to be in control of Libya (and are instrumental in fighting in Syria.)
The U.S. also funds terrorist groups within Iran.
The “War On Terror†Has Changed, and Not One In 1,000 Americans Has Noticed
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/07/weve-always-been-at-war-with-eastasia-allies-with-al-qaeda.html
The US is upset at the YPG [Kurdish: Yekîneyên Parastina Gel — People’s Protection Units] for their loyalty to democratic principles and civilization-state sovereignty, as they have thus far refused to turn against the Syrian government and unite with their Iraqi brethren in forming ‘Greater Kurdistan’. This threw a wrench into the US’ geopolitical cogs, which is why it’s not at all opposed to Turkey’s punishing attacks against them. Plus, since the YPG has proven itself to be an effective anti-ISIL actor, the more that its capabilities are degraded by the Turkish military, the more powerful ISIL can become, which circularly invites an even more pronounced American-Turkish intervention in ostensibly wiping the terrorist group out. All of this is just a smokescreen for the real objective, however, which has always been regime change in Syria. The fact that Turkey granted the US permission to finally use the strategic Incirlik air base for its anti-Syrian operations as well as Obama’s authorization for the Pentagon to attack the Syrian Arab Army under certain circumstances confirms that this is undoubtedly the case, although it’s uncertain exactly how far both sides will go in actualizing this grand objective.
Tick Tock
The timing for all of this (Turkey’s dual offensives, the Incirlik decision, and Obama’s new anti-Syrian aggression) was specifically coordinated so as to be rolled out almost immediately after the Iranian nuclear agreement was concluded. The US didn’t want to risk upsetting Iran and scaring it away from signing, ergo why such decisions were pushed back until after the ink was dry. Now that Iran has committed itself to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, there’s a little over a six month window until it can receive the billions of dollars of frozen funds that were withheld from it due to the UNSC sanctions. The impending financial windfall will allow Iran to more robustly assist Syria and its other regional allies in strengthening their defenses against unipolar aggression, which is why the US knows that it only has a set amount of time to act in fulfilling its regional designs. It’s for this reason that the US is heating up its War on Syria at the same time that Saudi Arabia has intensified its War on Yemen.
[…] Russia used its recent inroads with Saudi Arabia to broker a meeting between the Syrian Chief of Home Security and the Saudi Defense Minister. Obviously, the Saudis are wising up to the fact that their Wahhabist plans in Syria have backfired and that there are more pressing ‘security’ considerations for them to attend to, such as their War on Yemen, which is why they’re now probing for a way out of the fiasco that they themselves helped created. The clock is ticking, and the US and Turkey know that they need to act fast in Syria before a Russian-Saudi/Syrian-Saudi deal locks them out of the battlefield and Iran’s forthcoming financial assistance helps Syria sweep out the rest of the regime change remnants.
The Truth Behind Turkey’s Dual Offensive against Iraq and Syria
By Andrew Korybko
http://sputniknews.com/columnists/20150803/1025350334.html
FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds discusses her 2014 report, “Turkish PM Erdogan: The Speedy Transformation of an Imperial Puppet.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAiAFqXPwZ8
As Edmonds points out, “the U.S. Empire spent over a decade marketing and promoting its favorite puppet in the Middle East — the AKP Party & Erdogan, as the model for the Islamic World, Islamic Democracy, People’s Choice, Great Leader” before censuring ErdoÄŸan.
Edmonds notes ErdoÄŸan’s rift with CIA over his disruption of Imam Fethullah Gülen’s Turkish networks.
According to Edmonds, “the State Department and the CIA pressured the FBI prior and post 9/11 to close and cover-up those investigations pertaining to Turkey and Al Qadi, because exposing those operations would have resulted in exposure of covert CIA-NATO operations in Central Asia and the Caucasus during the period between 1996 and 2002.”
This is how USA-Installed puppets go from democratic presidents to despots & terrorists when their time comes
http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2014/01/18/turkish-pm-erdogan-the-speedy-transformation-of-an-imperial-puppet/
Kill The Messenger (French: Une Femme à Abattre) is a 2006 French documentary film about Sibel Edmonds. An English version of the film was produced in 2007 by SBS Australia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn10itGL5iM
Edmonds was fired from her position as a language specialist at the FBI’s Washington Field Office in March 2002. She had accused a colleague of covering up illicit activity involving Turkish nationals, alleged serious security breaches and cover-ups and that intelligence had been deliberately suppressed, endangering national security.
The documentary presents a terrifying picture of Turkish networks’ activities in global nuclear black-market, narcotics and illegal arms trafficking activities in the United States, and examines the extraordinary efforts of officials within the US Government to insure that the secrecy surrounding Edmonds’ case be maintained at any cost — from Edmonds’ termination from the FBI, to invoking the State Secrets Privilege, to gagging the US Congress.
The film explores the abuses behind the State Secrets Privilege as invoked in FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds’ case as well as highlighting the travails and persecution of US national security whistleblowers.
Many thanks to Mr. Lazare and all the commenters here who take the time to post pertinent information. And while this is a considerable amount of information, it’s just a small window into what are volumes of existing evidence that with the USA as Israel’s proxy, together they are the most successful war criminals since possibly Midieval times.
Because this is a Global war I wonder when the US of Israel, or the press, will actually and legitimately explain that “this is” WWIII they are waging…
Sorry, Mark, this is not a “global war” vis-a-vis World Wars 1 and 2.
This is a Targeted war of aggression against Arabs/Moslems in order to lay claim to a specific World Area.
You must read the Cliff Notes of S.P. Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilizations” in order to realize the Planned Structure of this Operation. BTW, Samuel P. Huntington is a very prodigious, insightful seer of US policy & procedure. I have, in other writings, declared him an American Political Alchemist in how he either Foresees events or Declares them into being…
For example, in a 1981 book, “American Politics, the Promise of Disharmony” Huntington foresaw that “between 2010 and 2030 – The weakening of government in an effort to reform it could lead eventually to strong demands for the replacement of the weakened and ineffective institutions, (i.e. the Obama presidency) by more Authoritarian Structures more effectively designed to meet historical needs. Given the perversity of reform, moralistic extremism in the pursuit of liberal democracy could generate a strong tide toward AUTHORITARIAN EFFICIENCY”.
This is a quiet prediction, written in 1981, of right wing/oligarchical control between 2010 and 2030, in America. That’s why our fiscal policies are now under “sequestration” which in other words is right wing directed AUSTERITY. Reagan’s Mantra (“Gov is the Problem, not the Solution”) will, supposedly lead us into economic salvation. Close your dumb eyes to the Fact that Reagan’s “leadership” , i.e. tax cuts & cheap labor off-shoring was the First Step into a weakened American social structure. What an ass-hole of a “leader”, Worshiped by his right wing bigots, he really is.
If Huntington is correct, a crazy Republican will be our next president. (God forbid!)
Before Our Eyes, under the control of a Brzezinski controlled US President and the watchful eyes of the Trilateral Commission, and other Controllers, with Brzezinski’s fierce desire to own and control the World Island, which is confirmed by his book, “A Blueprint for World Dictatorship” the land mass known as Eurasia. It’s a Big Boys throw down as to Who will Own and Control the New Silk Road. (Marco Polo’s European land road to Oriental riches).
Huntington first garnered academic and political attention with his published piece against egalitarianism titled “The Crisis of Democracy” (excerpts can still be found on Google). The man and his writing’s render a strong portrait of dedication to and embrace of “American Exceptionalism” and primacy. His collective works bear deep & thoughtful scrutiny as pertains to Clausewitz’s remark that “All politics is war”.
Mortimer, thanks for that perspective, I’ll look deeper into it when I get a chance.
Where in the world has the US not engaged in political, economic, or direct military or by proxy warfare?
This is a neocon war against the entire world as anyone paying attention can see — call it what you like — waging war across the globe is a WORLD WAR!
Not too long ago, G. W. Bush declared a “Global War on Terrorism” and as we know the US and Israel both consider anyone that doesn’t bend to their will and interests as a “terrorist” — great excuse to invade and slaughter in the name of war!
Also as we know, the US and Israel like to support genuine terrorists whenever it suits their purposes — manufacturing their own reason to wage war along with or against their own mercenaries if desired — being the backstabbers they are.
Tell me, who has committed more war crimes on the magnitude of The US of Israel since WWII? And who has committed more since 9/11 2001?
Tell me how this is not a Global “World War”.
Britain was the main ally of the United States during the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
On 19 September 2005, two undercover British SAS soldiers in Iraq were caught wearing Arab clothing, carrying weapons and driving an explosives laden Iraqi car.
Throughout Iraq, police and civilians had been targeted and killed by “terrorists”.
The two British soldiers opened fire on Iraqi police officers after having been stopped at a roadblock. Two Iraqi officers were shot, at least one of whom died.
The two British soldiers were arrested and taken to the Al Jameat police station in Basra.
British tanks encircled the jail where the men (whose photographs have been widely circulated but whose names have not been made public) were being held. A crowd gathered and began throwing stones and petrol bombs at the tanks, setting at least one ablaze. Three British soldiers were injured and, according to some reports, two demonstrators were killed.
After nightfall, the British Army returned and stormed the police station with overwhelming force.
According to the governor of Basra province, Mohammed al-Waili, the British Army used “more than ten tanks backed by helicopters” to carry out the raid.
Demolishing the walls of the police station, the British Army freed the two SAS men.
Governor al-Waili denounced the event as “barbaric, savage and irresponsible”.
The Daily Express tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom reports that British SAS soldiers, “dressed in black and flying ISIS flags,†have attacked Syrian targets on the pretext of combating ISIS “in order to set the conditions for a potentially larger, future engagement”.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/595439/SAS-ISIS-fighter-Jihadis
The British SAS teams, part of a force known as the Coalition Joint Special Operations Task Force, are under American command.
The soldiers operate mini-drones, scouting the way ahead for targets, assigning and operating in so-called ‘kill-boxes’ – areas of territory in which no coalition airstrikes will take place during the soldiers’ time there.
The process of essentially outsourcing UK troops by placing them under foreign authority came under the spotlight recently after it was revealed UK fast jet pilots are carrying out combat operations in Syria despite a 2013 parliamentary vote banning military action in Syria.
In July it emerged that Royal Navy pilots embedded with US and Canadian forces had been involved in missions flown from aircraft carriers in the Gulf.
NATO Member Busted Massively Supporting ISIS … Now Declares War Against ISIS, But Instead Bombs Its Political Rival (Which Is the Most Effective Force FIGHTING ISIS)
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/07/nato-member-busted-massively-supporting-isis-now-declares-war-against-isis-but-has-ulterior-motives.html
Turkey and U.S. can make all the double deals they want but the fact is there is a ground war going on and it is a matter of life and death for the alawites, Druze, Christians, Shia, that live in Syria and support Assad as their protector.
No where in this strategy do I hear anything about these people and their fate. They know Who their enemies are and so this war will go on and on.
Yesterday, Obama authorized Neocon airstrikes to help I̶s̶l̶a̶m̶i̶c̶ ̶r̶a̶d̶i̶c̶a̶l̶s̶ rebels take over Syria.
After which, the the Neocons will demand war against the Islamic radicals running Syria. The “rebels” will by then be a threat to the “Homeland”, you see.
If we still had an opposition Party and actual reportage in America, none of this madness would be possible.
If we still had an opposition Party and actual reportage in America, none of this madness would be possible.
Ain’t that the truth!
What we actually have are Neocons of two flavors – (R) and (D).
Israel owns them all – lock, stock, and barrel.
The world’s largest public television broadcaster is ARD (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) in Germany. The ARD investigative news magazine as Monitor reaches millions of viewers every week.
For several years, German viewers have seen how Turkey arms and sends militants into Syria.
Monitor has reported extensively on links between the Turkish government and militants in Syria. During a notable September 2013 Monitor broadcast, ARD journalists filmed a militant base on the Turkish border.
Monitor interviewed an American (WATCH minutes 00:52 – 01:35)
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ad0_1411956585
The guy “from California” with the sunglasses and preposterous “What America hates, I love” remarks looks more like a US or Israeli military adviser than a “jihadi” volunteer.
Awesome…especially that last line…this you know is what I have suspected and researched.. To me Turkey is now the intell “gateway” regarding the real and true covert recruitment program of and for ISIS assets and “recruits”…in this “war” against Syria…that’s where the so-called “vetting” is taking place..what lies and BS..!!! .John McCain and Lindsey Graham are fools or liars… or more likely a combination of both…
That tip about the German media outlets looks like a real good source to add to my interests and other outlets…thank you… .
Basically, the United States is going to be the Islamic State’s private Air Force.
Now I am beginning to get why Congress refuses to “debate” the “war” against IS.
Because they all know full well it is a war FOR IS!
Seriously! How much more obvious can it get? We are fighting all the entities in the region who are making gains against IS!!
And if you want to understand the twisted relationship the U.S. has with Turkey, watch the Sybil Edmonds documentary on YouTube, “Kill the Messenger”.
There is a huge reason they gagged her for life with State Secrets Privilege.
Man…so true!!! it’s like some shell game..some neighborhood corner “game” with marked, cards, or loaded dice, or 3 card monty……I learned how to decipher, within reason what is said on CNN, MSNBC…think of it, in terms of what is NOT being said or not elaborated on and couple that with what is being left out , or ignored and also attribute some sort additional “parallel” “news-speak” (a 1984 term? or is it Animal Farm? or Brave New World?) which is really some type of “double talk” or “reverse” talk…. You ( not “YOU” !) already know this!) but the all of rest of YOU really need to listen to what is being said, how it is said and why and what is NOT being said.or ignored..that is the key to understanding and recognizing BS…e.g. people in occupied countries did use, since time immemoriam, their “their eye”- the intuitive one, along with their cognitive skills to decipher and decode reality from lies and BS…and believe that what we are being told about ISIS would make the lies and unaccountability regarding our prior operations and programs against Cuba AND in SE Asia pale by comparison….a large shell and con game…
Al Qaeda/ISIS function as US/NATO ground forces in Syria/Iraq/regime change du jour.
Of course, there are the occasional building demolition, occasional major building demolition, and not-too-many grunts in body bags to keep up appearances.
But no military officers or officials are being subjected to impertinent hearings before the US Congress, British Parliament, Deutscher Bundestag, Parlement français or North Atlantic Council.
Works like a charm.
Brand Al Qaedaâ„¢ — Fighting Global Jihadâ„¢ for Western Imperialism since 1989
While Ankara would have the world believe that its hands are clean, and that it is the innocent victim of international terrorism, the reality is that Turkey has done everything to foster and promote the growth of ISIS from the very beginning. As such, it is the Turkish government who must shoulder much of the blame for the Suruç bombing.
Since at least 2012, Turkey has been the principal conduit for weapons flowing into Syria. In June of that year, the NY Times confirmed that the CIA was smuggling weapons to anti-Assad forces from the Turkish side of the border using agents of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, long-time assets of US intelligence. Also in 2012, Reuters revealed that Turkey had “set up a secret base with allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar to direct vital military and communications aid to Syria’s rebels from a city near the border… ‘It’s the Turks who are militarily controlling it. Turkey is the main coordinator/facilitator. Think of a triangle, with Turkey at the top and Saudi Arabia and Qatar at the bottom,’ said a Doha-based source.â€
It is now also documented fact that Turkish intelligence (MIT) has been an active player in the ongoing campaign to arm and resupply the terror groups such as the al Nusra Front and others. The evidence of this fact was made public by the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet which published video footage along with transcripts from wiretaps confirming what many eyewitnesses have stated: Turkish security forces have been directly involved in shelling and support operations for Nusra front and other jihadi groups in and around Kassab, Syria, among other sites. Many of the very same terrorists who have been armed and supported by the Turkish government are today being held up as enemies of Turkey, and rationalization of the need for Turkish military intervention.
So, with the inescapable understanding that Turkey’s government is the primary supporter and sponsor of terrorist groups in Syria, the justification for war becomes flimsy at best. But, if it’s not about fighting terror, then what exactly is Ankara’s objective? What does it hope to gain?
At the top of Erdogan’s agenda is using ISIS as a pretext for effecting the regime change in Syria that he has failed to bring about for these past four years. Despite providing weapons and cash, training sites and political cover, Turkey’s terror proxies have been roundly defeated by the Syrian Arab Army, Hezbollah, and allied forces. As such, Erdogan now needs to provide the overwhelming military superiority required to get the job done. This means air support and a “No Fly Zone†along the Turkey-Syria border, one which ostensibly will allow Turkey to fight ISIS, but in actuality is a means of securing territory for the terrorists who otherwise have been unable to do so. It is a de facto military intervention into Syria. Perhaps not even de facto, but outright declaration of war – a clear war crime.
Secondly, the alleged war on ISIS is a politically expedient cover for Erdogan to wage a full-scale war on the Kurds, and the PKK specifically. Within hours of announcing the new phase of the war, Turkish forces were bombing Kurdish targets in Syriaand Iraq, effectively declaring war on both countries, in blatant violation of international law, to whatever extent such a thing still exists. Indeed, Erdogan made his position quite clear when he stated, “It is not possible for us to continue the peace process with those who threaten our national unity and brotherhood.†Essentially, Erdogan has declared war on all Kurds of the region.
Perhaps most important, and almost never discussed in the West, is the simple fact that Turkey is perpetuating an outright myth in their supposed strategy to create “Islamic State-free zones†along the border; Turkey plans to work with “moderate opposition†and “Free Syrian Army†in this endeavor. However, the fact remains that there is really no such thing as the “moderates,†and those terrorists that had at one time been labeled such have all either gone home, fled the country, gone over to the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, or are now fighting under the ISIS banner. And so, by stating such a plan, Erdogan is unwittingly admitting what this author has already reported numerous times – Turkey acts as military muscle for ISIS and al Qaeda in Syria and now Iraq.
The Fake War on ISIS: US and Turkey Escalate in Syria
By Eric Draitser
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-fake-war-on-isis-us-and-turkey.html
Great & excellent points…I tip my hat to you !!! BUT I would think there is no way Turkey doing this without CIA AND NATO orchestration via “wink and nod”… out of or due to their (pre-)approval and “pressure: to some degree.on Turkey to begin with….Turkey is part of NATO nas has been for a very long time and being a part of NATO naturally involves a strong US intelligence presence..so at the very least “some meeting of the minds” took place recently….
So much duplicity and double dealing… so much double-talk and double-speak… and “news-speak” (tv double.talk or “reverse talk”) from US media outlets about the real and true aganda…..US gov./intell/defense sectors are lying their pants-off about what is happening and what the true goal and end game is: Assad and control of Syria…
I suspect that the “reason” (or “reasons”) still resonates deep and wide and will for along time within US corridors of power, is that the US “lost” the ‘war” in SE Asia and also why it was unable to unseat Castro…was that either , on one hand the US public was “told” too much and on the other hand not cleaver and too loud with its “secret war” against Castro…now they have the best of both…cleaver sheer duplicity and deception regarding the true agenda, of who and what is the real, true instrument of the US and what the true end-game and result is…all controlled and fitted within a large covert operation.within the eve more rigidly controlled “box”–called and labeled “the war on terror…..and spoon-fed to US media outlets and supposed US congressional “over-see’ers” in the US Senate and House of Reps…
Here is your “wink and nod”.
Apparently Obama has decided to declare war on Syria by using U.S. air power (and Turkey’s bases) to target any entity fighting the rebels in Syria. Which means the Syrian military and the Assad government (and ostensibly Syria’s allies Russia and Iran).
Talk about a slippery slope leading to WW III!:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42541.htm
But all we will be hearing about on the MSM will be the wildfires in California, what outbursts to expect from The Donald at the big “debate” this Thursday night, Hillary’s email fiasco and how another surfer fought off a great white.
YES ! I noticed that as well !!! You are so right…Do these ultra/mega-pro-war nuts and their chicken hawk allies in the US House and US Senate really believe that BOTH RUSSIA –AND– CHINA will sit idly by and watch this oh-so-slow, deceptive US military build-up become active and directed towards Syria and possibly “trip-wire” a larger war with Iran?…Right on Russia’s door-step???…These guys are insane and incredibly and dangerously short-sited…Just like the nuts who tried to talk JFK into bombing and invading Cuba time and time again, ESPECIALLY DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISES….It’s the same exact thing all over again…just a “new” or current “theater of priority”…Cuba then,,,Syria now…Criminal exiled gangs.&.thugs…trained, funded. sponsored terrorist then…ISIS now…same exact thing….
You forgot to mention the on-going “under-inflated football scandal”, and the “growing size of the most admired buttocks trend” dominating popular media.