|
tweakabelle -> RE: So . . . what do we do about Daesh? (12/2/2015 1:31:14 AM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: thompsonx
Now we have a new "enemy" how long before they are no longer the enemy?
There is no doubt that IS is public enemy #1. At least that's what govts are saying in public and what the media is telling us.
But there is persistent and troubling evidence that the relationship isn't as simple as that, and that IS has a far more nuanced and sometimes friendly, profitable relationships with the West and its allies. It has long been known that Saudi Arabia and Qatar have funded and supplied weapons to IS. Both are US allies and it's naive to believe that either Saudi Arabia or Qatar, both US allies of long standing, acted without some kind of tacit approval from their Western patrons.
It is well known that Turkey, another long standing US ally and NATO member, has also supported IS in multiple ways - supplying weapons, funding, buying IS's oil and allowing recruits to pass through Turkey to IS held parts of Syria and Iraq, Turkey has also attacked the Kurds, who are widely acknowledged as some of the most effective anti-IS fighters. Turkey refuses to close it borders thus ensuring the continuing flow of new recruits to IS and the export of IS oil.
One commentator, Pepe Escobar, described Turkey thus:
"Turkey, for all practical purposes, has been a handy, sprawling Salafi-jihadi Infrastructure and Logistics Center; it offers everything from porous borders enabling countless jihadi return tickets from Syria to Europe, facilitated by corrupt police, to a convenient crossroads for all kinds of smuggling and a hefty money laundering ops."
http://sputniknews.com/columnists/20151125/1030730838/turkey-erdogan-war-russia.html#ixzz3t9Y7HRix
Indeed, the desire to protect its oil trade with IS partly-motivated Turkey's recent shooting down of a Russian bomber. The extent of that trade was made explicit by Putin:
"“I’ve shown our colleagues photos taken from space and from aircraft which clearly demonstrate the scale of the illegal trade in oil and petroleum products. The motorcade of refueling vehicles stretched for dozens of kilometers, so that from a height of 4,000 to 5,000 meters they stretch beyond the horizon,” Putin added, comparing the convoy to gas and oil pipeline systems.”
According to Putin, IS is funded by sources in over 40 countries. including some G20 States:
" “I provided examples based on our data on the financing of different Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) units by private individuals. This money, as we have established, comes from 40 countries and, there are some of the G20 members among them,”
https://www.rt.com/news/322305-isis-financed-40-countries
Escobar identifies Turkish President Erdogan's son, Bilal as a major player in the marketing of oil stolen by IS in Syria and Iraq. The market is said to be worth as much as $50 million a month.
It is inconceivable that the US is unaware of this duplicity, and it's just as unlikely that these activities occur without some kind of US approval. If IS was the real enemy, one simple sure and safe way of guaranteeing its downfall would be to close the Turkish border to IS controlled parts of Syria and Iraq. Turkey would be unable to resist concerted pressure from its NATO allies to do this, if the West so desired. The West's failure to close this lifeline suggests that the real goal in Syria remains regime change, and that until this occurs, IS will remain safe from attack from the West and its allies, as it has been for the recent past.
Indeed, the rise of IS was anticipated by a recently declassified 2012 Defence Intelligence Agency report, which emphasised how useful such a group could be in securing regime change in Damascus:
"[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.
Astoundingly, the newly declassified report states that for “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"
http://levantreport.com/2015/05/19/2012-defense-intelligence-agency-document-west-will-facilitate-rise-of-islamic-state-in-order-to-isolate-the-syrian-regime/ emphasis added
So our 'enemy' might not be our 'enemy' after all ....... and while our leaders continue to play power games in Syria, ordinary Syrians are dying in their hundreds of thousands and their country is decimated ....... that's what happens to the West's 'real enemies'.
|
|
|
|
