Early in 2013, a woman working for Dutch intelligence AIVD was criticised and fired by the government. She voiced her knowledge ISIL or ISIS was supported by the West and used by the CIA as an asset in the overthrow of President Assad of Syria. She was ridiculed and lost her job before the week was out. Dutch politicians would have nothing of it, such shameful tweets undermined the credibility of Dutch politics and intelligence. How dumb are democratically chosen representatives to Parliament and how poorly do they perform in their jobs. I have sritten plenty about developments of ISIL or ISIS in recent years. It has become clear that the intentional removal of president Assad by western powers (invl. NATO) has led to a greater disaster, lives lost and refugee crisis, than the invasion of Iraq by George Bush in 2003. An overview of recent history and the defiant roles of Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
○ Obama Says ‘We Don’t Have a [Military] Strategy Yet’ for Fighting ISIS | TIME – Aug. 2014 |
○ Obama Got It Wrong On Strength Islamic State
These Western-backed advances were facilitated by the delivery of “gamechanging” new advanced weaponry to the extremists, including TOW anti-tank missiles. The Guardian reports that the results of this “were shocking. The regional capital of Idlib fell within days. Several weeks later, the nearby town of Jisr al-Shughour also fell to an amalgam of jihadist.”(6) All of this being “the outcome of the first heavy weapons to reach the hands of the Syrian opposition in years of civil war from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Turkey,” which was “blessed by Washington after long hesitation.”(7)
The US recently encourages support to Islamists while it’s Saudi and Turkish allies openly support al-Qaeda linked militants, all of whom have been provided with new shipments of advanced weaponry and support which has been instrumental in their recent advances.
Qatar has made recent efforts to convince al-Nusra’s leader to detach itself from al-Qaeda and portray Nusra as though it is not planning to attack the West in an attempt to justify this increased aid. However it is important to note that “if Nusra is dissolved and it abandons al Qaeda, the ideology of the new entity is not expected to change,” while it’s leaders would remain “close to al Qaeda chief Ayman Zawahri [sic].” In a recent interview with the Qatari channel Al Jazeera, al-Nusra’s leader al-Golani was given a platform to say that Nusra does not plan to attack the West, yet he still reaffirmed full allegiance to al-Qaeda’s leader al-Zawahiri against the wishes of Qatar.(8) Despite the failure of re-branding al-Qaeda’s Syria faction the group still received a substantial increase in aid and support from its backers in the Gulf, Turkey, and the United States.
On Monday, May 18, the conservative government watchdog group Judicial Watch published a selection of formerly classified documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Defense and State Department through a federal lawsuit.
While initial mainstream media reporting is focused on the White House’s handling of the Benghazi consulate attack, a much “bigger picture” admission and confirmation is contained in one of the Defense Intelligence Agency documents circulated in 2012: that an `Islamic State’ is desired in Eastern Syria to effect the West’s policies in the region.
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An 'Islamic State' is desired in Eastern Syria - the Levant (Judicial Watch)Astoundingly, the newly declassified report states that
“THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY [WHO] SUPPORT THE [SYRIAN] OPPOSITION… THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME…”
The DIA report, formerly classified “SECRET//NOFORN” and dated August 12, 2012, was circulated widely among various government agencies, including CENTCOM, the CIA, FBI, DHS, NGA, State Dept., and many others.
The document shows that as early as 2012, U.S. intelligence predicted the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), but instead of clearly delineating the group as an enemy, the report envisions the terror group as a U.S. strategic asset.
While a number of analysts and journalists have documented long ago the role of western intelligence agencies in the formation and training of the armed opposition in Syria, this is the highest level internal U.S. intelligence confirmation of the theory that western governments fundamentally see ISIS as their own tool for regime change in Syria. The document matter-of-factly states just that scenario.
…
Forensic evidence, video evidence, as well as recent admissions of high-level officials involved (see former Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford’s admissions here and here), have since proven the State Department and CIA’s material support of ISIS terrorists on the Syrian battlefield going back to at least 2012 and 2013 (for a clear example of “forensic evidence”: see UK-based Conflict Armament Research’s report which traced the origins of Croatian anti-tank rockets recovered from ISIS fighters back to a Saudi/CIA joint program via identifiable serial numbers).The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports.
As it evolved, the airlift correlated with shifts in the war within Syria, as rebels drove Syria’s army from territory by the middle of last year. And even as the Obama administration has publicly refused to give more than “nonlethal” aid to the rebels, the involvement of the C.I.A. in the arms shipments — albeit mostly in a consultative role, American officials say — has shown that the United States is more willing to help its Arab allies support the lethal side of the civil war.
More from the DIA report of 2012:
Continued below the fold …
More from the DIA report of 2012:
3. <STRIKE>(G)</STRIKE> AL-QAEDA – IRAQ (AQI):
A. AQI IS FAMILIAR WITH SYRIA. AQI TRAINED IN SYRIA AND THEN
INFILTRATED INTO IRAQ.B. AQI SUPPORTED THE SYRIAN OPPOSITION FROM THE BEGINNING, BOTH
IDEOLOGICALLY AND THROUGH THE MEDIA. AQI DECLARED ITS OPPOSITION OF
ASSAD’S GOVERNMENT BECAUSE IT CONSIDERED IT A SECTARIAN REGIME
TARGETTING SUNNISC. AQI CONDUCTED A NUMBER OF OPERATIONS IN SEVERAL SYRIAN CITIES
UNDER THE NAME OF JAISH AL-NUSRA (VICTORIOUS ARMY) ONE OF ITS
AFFILITIATES.D. AQI, THROUGH THE SPOKESMAN OF THE ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ (ISI), ABU
MUHAMMAD AL ADNANI
, DECLARED THE SYRIAN REGIME AS THE SPEARHEAD OF
WHAT HE IS NAMING JIBHA AL RUWAFDH (FOREFRONT OF THE SHIITES) BECAUSE
OF ITS (SYRIAN REGIME) DECLARATION OF WAR ON THE SUNNIS.
ADDITIONALLY, HE IS CALLING ON THE SUNNIS IN IRAQ, ESPECIALLY THE
TRIBES IN THE BORDER REGIONS (BETWEEN IRAQ AND SYRIA), TO WAGE WAR
AGAINST THE SYRIAN REGIME, REGARDING SYRIA AS AN INFIDEL REGIME FOR
ITS SUPPORT TO THE INFIDEL PARTY HEZBOLLAH AND OTHER REGIMES HE
CONSIDERS DISSENTERS LIKE IRAN AND IRAQ.
- ○ Profusion of Rebel Groups Helps Them Survive in Iraq | NY Times - Dec. 2, 2006 |
○ Did the US DIA see ISIL as a strategic ally against al-Assad in 2012? | Juan Cole - May 25, 2015 |
○ Pentagon report says West, Gulf states and Turkey foresaw emergence of `IS’ | Middle East Eye - May 29, 2015 |
‘Thank God for the Saudis’: ISIS, Iraq, and the Lessons of Blowback | The Atlantic |
“Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar,” John McCain told CNN’s Candy Crowley in January 2014. “Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar, and for our Qatari friends,” the senator said once again a month later, at the Munich Security Conference.
McCain was praising Prince Bandar bin Sultan, then the head of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence services and a former ambassador to the United States, for supporting forces fighting Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham had previously met with Bandar to encourage the Saudis to arm Syrian rebel forces.
But shortly after McCain’s Munich comments, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah relieved Bandar of his Syrian covert-action portfolio, which was then transferred to Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. By mid-April, just two weeks after President Obama met with King Abdullah on March 28, Bandar had also been removed from his position as head of Saudi intelligence–according to official government statements, at “his own request.”
Sources close to the royal court told me that, in fact, the king fired Bandar over his handling of the kingdom’s Syria policy and other simmering tensions, after initially refusing to accept Bandar’s offers to resign.
[Note: Links to WSJ articles in oroginal have been replaced – Oui]
- ○ Kerry On a Mission to Convince Friends of a Political Solution in Syria | Oui @BooMan on July 26, 2013 |
○ US With Both Feet in Syrian Quagmire | Oui @BooMan on June 27, 2014 |
Turkey’s Imperial Motive In Attacking Syria And Iraq | MoA |
Turkey’s attack on Syria and Iraq and its support for Islamists in those countries and elsewhere is often described as religiously motivated. But that is only a part of the story. The real-political side is an imperialist effort to expand Turkey into the space of the former Ottoman empire.
A former head of Israel’s National Security Council Giora Eiland writes in The Guardian:
About a year before that meeting with the Russian, I met a senior Turkish official. That was at a time when relations between Jerusalem and Ankara were excellent. At that meeting, the Turkish official spoke openly about his country’s world view. “We know that we cannot get back the lands that were under the control of the Ottoman empire before 1917,” he said, “but do not make the mistake of thinking that the borders that were dictated to us at the end of the first world war by the victorious countries – mainly the UK and France – are acceptable to us. Turkey will find a way to return to its natural borders in the south – the line between Mosul in Iraq and Homs in Syria. That is our natural aspiration and it is justified because of the large Turkmen presence in that region.”
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Tents set up for Syrian Turkmens fleeing a military offensive and clashes between opposition fighters and Assad forces are seen on the Syrian side of the border. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Turgut Engin)Analysis: Turkey’s ‘worthy solitude’ sidelines Erdogan in Middle East | Sept. 2013 |
○ Syrian Turkmens ask for Turkey’s help under heavy bombardment by Assad, Russia | Nov. 22, 2015 |
○ Syrian Turkmens are forgotten ally in war against Islamic State | Feb. 2015 |
Turkey’s troop deployment to Mosul in Iraq puts focus on Kurdish war against ISIL
When Turkish tanks rolled across the border into Iraqi Kurdistan, Ankara thrust the autonomous region onto the centre stage of an already complex jostle of competing interests that has come to define the fight against ISIL.
Around 150 combat troops entered Iraq in tanks and armoured vehicles last week, according to the Turkish Anadolu news agency. The convoy drove to a military base near the town of Bashiqa, where the Turks are helping train a police force that is to provide security in Mosul once the city has been retaken from ISIL.
The build-up sparked an outcry from Baghdad which considered the move a violation of national sovereignty and demanded the troops withdraw.
Turkey on Tuesday reiterated its respect for Iraq’s territorial integrity and said it would stop deploying troops for now, but those already there will remain as part of the training mission.
The troops are in Iraq to protect against a possible attack from ISIL and those who interpreted their presence differently were involved in “deliberate provocation”, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.
That Iraq is unable to enforce its borders is an intense embarrassment to its government, though unsurprising given that ISIL still controls roughly a third of the country. Beyond the humiliating headlines, Turkey’s move points to a complex web of alliances and enmity that mar Iraqi Kurdistan’s war effort.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish separatist group that has clashed with the Turkish government for decades before it retreated into the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, was outraged by the move.
Top Shi’ite cleric Ali al-Sistani orders Turkey out and respect Iraq’s sovereignty
I hasten to repeat, HRC will damage America’s future with her foreign policy stance in the Middle East if she becomes President. She must be basing her Likes and Dislikes on the funds received by the Clinton Foundation.
○ Israeli Defense Minister Ya’alon urges U.S. leadership on ISIS and warns of a resurgent Iran
○ Israel’s inertia on the Palestinian conflict has a price: American support
Obama a symbol of gun control? LMAO
○ Gun in Paris terror attacks linked to ‘Iran-Contra’ Florida arms dealer | RT |
○ WASR-10 produced by Century International Arms found repeatedly at crime scenes Mexican drugs war
○ Century International Arms Inc. $256,382.42 Contract Issued by Department of the Army – Aug. 2012