I have blogged about the sectarian strife in Syria from its start in 2011 and the quick turn for the worse when the rebellion sparked outside parties to participate with weapons, logistic support and jihadist fighters. A harsh and ugly civil war ensued for a strategic nation to Western powers, Israel, Iraq and Iran.

The attempt to get Obama more deeply involved in August 2013 failed. In September 2015 Russia as ally to the Assad regime stepped in and this was a turning point in the civil war. The hordes of Sunni forces emboldened by ISIL coming in along the Euphrates from Iraq were about to overthrow the Assad regime. A slaughters of the Alawite and Orthodox Christian minority was feared as outcome.

More below the fold …
The very ugly and bloodied war has ended. There are no winners. The stream of refugees has endangered neighboring states. The flow of migrants across the Aegean Sea into Greece and the EU has turned Europe into a bastion of Xenophobia and deepened Islamophobia. I am convinced this was not by accident but by design to make the Western world make a move to the right with the upcoming populist parties.

FEAR is the ultimate weapon of the powerful to antagonize, create chaos and go to war. The Western powers failed in the overthrow of the Assad in Syria where they succeeded in regime change earlier in Libya. In the latter case, the direct result was a massive flow of weapons transported by ships to Turkey and Northern Syria in support of the “Free Syrian Army”. HRC was very close to the Emir of Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood who funded terror in Libya and Syria.

The logistic support by NATO in “defense” of the European nations made the EU complicit in the bloodshed.

The Obama administration, through the deeper conviction of the military in the Pentagon and the Intelligence Community (IC), made the decision to let the Islamic State fighters from Iraq create a forth front to attack the Syrian Army in the attempt for regime change. Michael Flynn, then head of the DNI, spilled the beans and has become an outcast waiting to be dealt with by America’s dark forces at Langley, VA.  

The arrogant positioning by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led time and again in failed negotiations in Geneva with the opposition “leaders”, Russia and the Assad regime. The US failed to understand the opposition was deeply divided into Sunni factions (Saudi Arabia) and the Muslim Brotherhood (Qatar and Turkey).

George Bush under his presidency was confronted with 9/11 and the decision for retribution all across Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan. After declaring  “Mission Accomplished” George and Tony decided to overthrow Saddam Hussein with the military might of both nations. This was an illegal war, against International Law. The result was a complete mess and the rise of the Islamic State and the migration of Al Qaeda fighters from across the globe to fight this battle.

The Americans, never learned the lessons of the Phoenix program of SE Asia and Vietnam of the 60s, nor the Fort Bragg alumni fighting the left-wing rebellion in South America and Central America. The so-called Salvador Option of death squads under leadership of James Steele and Colonel Jim Coffman was introduced. Dick Cheney knew James Steele from his Central America mission. James Steele has been honored for his mission in Iraq. General Petraeus and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld were overseeing the result. Up to 3000 murders per month was the result with most having suffered the most gruesome torture. Death was a relief of their suffering.  I understand the military “police” as they were dubbed, were recruits from the Shia majority (Badr Brigades) who had suffered early under the Sunni minority regime of Saddam Hussein.

    Al Jazeera documentary – < to be fixed >.

An ethnic cleansing took place under “leadership” of the US and UK military and ambassadors holed up in a fortified Green Zone.

[Links added to article below are mine – Oui]

James Steele: America’s mystery man in Iraq | BBC Documentary |

The Pentagon’s “Salvador Option for Iraq” initiated in 2004 was carried out under the helm of the US Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte (2004-2005) together with Robert Stephen Ford, who was appointed US Ambassador to Syria in January 2011, less than two months before the beginning of the armed insurgency directed against the government of Bashar Al Assad. Negroponte has an infamous record of involvement in torture, kidnapping, rape, extra-judicial killing and other police state crimes against democratic movements in Central America.

“The Salvador Option” is a “terrorist model” of mass killings by US sponsored death squads. It was first applied in El Salvador, in the heyday of resistance against the military dictatorship, resulting in an estimated 75,000 deaths. We were in Amman, Jordan, in January 2005. Iraqis had a question for us, and for US citizens who pay taxes to support the foreign policy implemented by men like John Negroponte and James Steele. “The Americans are in complete control of the air and constantly monitor activities in our cities and towns. They declare curfews, and threaten our people with death if they go outside their homes. And they mean it. Women have been shot to death by American snipers for the crime of trying to get food for their children after curfew. So our question for you is this. Why is it that brand new SUVs carrying armed monsters in brand new uniforms with brand new automatic weapons can drive down our roads in convoys, kidnaping our people from their homes and torturing them to death? There can only be one reason. The Americans are supervising these death squads. They are directing the forces that torture Iraqis.”

Thanks to Bradley Manning, we now have proof. It is up to us — the citizens of the US — to express our outrage and insist that American participants in these international crimes be brought to justice.

○ Insurgents Storm Iraqi Jail, Killing 18 and Freeing Prisoners | NY Times – March 2006 |

Pacifying Iraq …

The Way of the Commandos | NY Times – May 2005 |

Getting to Know the General In a country of tough guys, Adnan Thabit may be the toughest of all. He was both a general and a death-row prisoner under Saddam Hussein. He favors leather jackets no matter the weather, his left index finger extends only to the knuckle (the rest was sliced off in combat) and he responds to requests from supplicants with grunts that mean “yes” or “no.” Occasionally, a humble aide approaches to spray perfume on his hands, which he wipes over his rugged face.

General Adnan, as he is known, is the leader of Iraq’s most fearsome counterinsurgency force. It is called the Special Police Commandos and consists of about 5,000 troops. They have fought the insurgents in Mosul, Ramadi, Baghdad and Samarra. It was in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad in the heart of the Sunni Triangle, where, in early March, I spent a week with Adnan, himself a Sunni, and two battalions of his commandos. Samarra is Adnan’s hometown, and he had come to retake it.

○ Free Syrian Army Defeated, US Entices Saudi Led Terror Group by Oui @EuroTrib on Dec 16th, 2013
○ Syria: U.S. Policy Options | CFR – Sept. 2006 |
○ Iraqi Resistance Report for Sunday, Sept. 18 by DuctapeFatwa @BooMan on Sep 20th, 2005
○ 1986 CIA Document Analyzes Possibilities Of ‘Regime Change’ in Syria

Townhall Meeting Ms Clinton with CNN’s Amanpour by Oui @BooMan on Jun 22nd, 2014

No surprise here, both Christiane Amanpour and Ms Clinton are advocates for neocon foreign policy and were trying to outdo each other. What expression is used when two women are in a contest of being more hawkish? I checked the transcript how often the progressive word peace was used during the long interview and Q&A session … just once as in ‘peace of mind.’

…
Amanpour didn’t pop the question about Obama’s red line and the gas attack in Ghouta, would Ms Clinton have bombed the Assad military assets and thus help the extremists to a victory in Syria?

○ U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford was to be appointed to Egypt, but this nation refused to accept this troubled ambassador.

○ Hariri Assassination, Robert S. Ford as counsel to CPA in Baghdad under John Negroponte – 2005

As soon as US president of “Hope” Barack Obama took over power in the White House, he declared all is forgiven and forgotten …

○ Obama Reluctant to Look Into Bush Programs | The New York Times – Jan. 11, 2009 |

President Obama, in a statement issued months after entering the White House:

    “We’ve been through a dark and painful chapter
    of our history. Nothing will be gained in spending
    our time and energy laying blame for the past.”

Obama kept his promise to keep America “United”… enter Donald Trump in 2016.

○ Leading Republicans Are Promising to Commit War Crimes — and Their Base Loves It

In Syria, rebel defeat marks ‘end of revolution’ | DW |

In a defeat steeped in symbolism, Syrian regime forces have ousted rebels from parts of Deraa, considered the birthplace of the country’s uprising. Deraa was where peaceful protests erupted in 2011, in what would eventually lead to a bloody regime crackdown that triggered a war.

Seven years later, armed opposition groups in the area agreed to surrender and hand over heavy arms under a Russia-brokered deal, even while regime forces continued to bombard rebel-held pockets in and around Deraa city.

Losing Deraa marks a significant blow to Syria’s rebel movement. While under previous surrender deals, opposition fighters unwilling to make peace with the government would be transferred to Idlib, their last bastion in the country, this time regime negotiators have reportedly rejected such a compromise, a sign of how Damascus views its newfound position.

“Deraa is the end of the Syrian revolution,” Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma and editor of Syria Comment blog, told DW.

“All of Syria’s remaining ‘independent’ rebel militias are in the southeast. Once they are dismantled, the only region where rebel militias will hold sway is in the north … But the militias that hold sway in the north are under direct US and Turkish control.”

The Think-Tanks Bark and the IRGC Moves On | Syria Comment |

Discussions of U.S. policy on Syria mostly revolve around two things: counter-terrorism (i.e. combating the Islamic State and other Sunni jihadist groups) and counter-Iran, the latter of which has gained much more prominence since the Trump administration came to power.

Proposals on the counter-Iran angle from many think-tanks largely focus on a policy of containment and/or hurting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria. At the most ambitious, the policy aim is set at removing the IRGC entirely from Syria, which is similar to Israel’s demands on the matter.

Policy recommendations that come about within these frameworks include …

Related reading …

○ New Fascist Pariah States America and Israel Lashing Out
○ Obama Got It Wrong On Strength Islamic State
○ US With Both Feet in Syrian Quagmire by Oui @BooMan on June 27, 2014
○ White House: We’re not seeking ‘regime change’ as goal in Syria [Aug. 2013]
○ Dream On Guys by Oui @BooMan on June 6, 2012
○ It Can’t Happen Here by suskind @BooMan on June 6, 2012 – with 21 recommends!
○ Isfahan: Heart of Persia, Possible Nuclear Target

0 0 votes
Article Rating