The Syria Thread 2011 - Present

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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Jun 27, 2017 7:37 pm

ZZZZ
White House Threatened Syria While Trump Yawned, Insiders Say

Tillerson secretly warned the Russians, and Kushner and Bannon were consulted before the White House rattled its saber. But the commander-in-chief was consumed with ‘fake news.’

ASAWIN SUEBSAENG
SPENCER ACKERMAN
06.27.17 12:26 PM ET
Hours before the White House issued an ominous warning to Syria’s dictator against launching another chemical assault, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gave the same message to Bashar Assad’s patron in Moscow, The Daily Beast has learned.

According to a knowledgeable senior administration official, Tillerson warned his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov: the U.S. sees that Russia and Syria may be prepping for another chemical weapons attack; and that there will be consequences if Assad follows through with it.
All this occurred this week as President Donald Trump displayed what two White House officials characterized as relative indifference and passivity towards the subject, instead opting to focus his public and private energies towards fuming at his domestic enemies in the Democratic Party and the “fake news.”
“The president cares more about CNN and the Russia story than [Syria] at the moment,” one official observed.

The first senior administration official would not discuss the underlying intelligence behind the White House’s warning, but said it matched the sort of indications the U.S. had previously observed ahead of Assad’s “prior CW [chemical weapons] attacks,” and the Trump administration opted to deliver a warning through public and private channels.
“Our main aim is to make sure nothing happens,” the official told The Daily Beast.

Lavrov told Tillerson that nothing will happen—“as always,” the official noted.
The Russian foreign ministry emphasized a different aspect of Tillerson’s call.
In a statement issued Monday summarizing the conversation between the two chief diplomats, Moscow said Lavrov urged Tillerson to prevent “provocations” by the U.S. and its allies against “Syrian government forces carrying out operations against terrorists.” According to the Russian foreign ministry, the agenda for the call was to discuss implementing the ceasefire plan that Russia, Turkey and Iran—and not the U.S.—recently negotiated in Kazakhstan.

Several times this month, most recently on June 20, U.S. forces in Syria have moved on Syrian aircraft, ostensibly to protect its own Syrian allies. It twice shot down Iranian-made drones and even downed a piloted Syrian fighter jet, prompting deep concern over escalation between the two major world powers in a proxy conflict.

Hours after the Tillerson-Lavrov call, press secretary Sean Spicer’s own missive said vaguely that Assad and his military would “pay a heavy price” for any “mass murder attack using chemical weapons.” Spicer conspicuously did not mention Russia in his statement.
On April 6, following the first chemical attack Assad launched during Trump’s presidency, U.S. Navy destroyers launched 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian base used to stage the chemical assault where the Russians also operate. While it is not clear when the U.S. received the underlying intelligence behind Monday’s warning, a Pentagon spokesperson, Marine Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, said that it concerned the same Shayrat airbase near Homs that the American military struck in April—a clear sign that the earlier strike did not eliminate its chemical-weapons capability.

“Inartfully Drafted”

On April 6, following the first chemical attack Assad launched during Trump’s presidency, U.S. Navy destroyers launched 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian base used to stage the chemical assault where the Russians also operate. While it is not clear when the U.S. received the underlying intelligence behind Monday’s warning, a Pentagon spokesperson, Marine Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, said that it concerned the same Shayrat airbase near Homs that the American military struck in April.

While no Russians were harmed in the attack, thanks to a prior warning, the Trump administration believes that Moscow does not want a second U.S. missile or airstrike against its ally. Trump’s unexpectedly martial response to Assad’s chemical barrage, a reversal of his previous comments indicating the U.S had no appetite to prevent the Syrian dictator from doing as he liked, disrupted his administration’s rapprochement to Moscow.

The warning to Assad prompted much of the U.S. national security apparatus to stonewall reporters seeking additional information – which in turn prompted concern that much of that apparatus was taken by surprise by the warning. A U.S. Central Command official told Buzzfeed that the official had “no idea” to what Spicer was referring.

But the senior administration official, who was granted anonymity because the official was not cleared to speak to reporters, said that it should not come as a surprise to the Pentagon, which took part in recent high-level meetings on “the underlying topic.”
The official said Spicer’s statement may have been “inartfully drafted” and defended the underlying decision to warn the Syrians and their Russian sponsors of a certain reprisal for any follow-on chemical attack.
“On balance, it’s good to make clear there will be consequences,” the official said, in the hope of deterring Assad.
Within the Trump White House and the president’s inner circle, the number of advisers kept in the loop on this was relatively small, according to administration officials with knowledge of the conversations. At least one senior Trump aide expressed some “surprise,” however, to The Daily Beast at just how caught off-guard so many in the Trump administration’s national security wing seemed to be on Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Kushner, Bannon in the Loop

“The fact of the matter is that inter-agency coordination did take place, but it’s also true that ‘normal channels’ have proven 100% ineffective in stopping these attacks for more than 5 years,” said a third senior administration official said of the stark statement. “Shaking up this system a little bit and surprising people-including Assad-might not be a terrible idea,” the official said of sending the written warning out without providing the usual immediate background information to allies or the media of what triggered the warning.

The fast-moving decision cycle from spotting activity at Shayrat airbase to sending the Syrians and Russians a warning took only “a matter of hours,” and all senior levels of the national security community were aware of the incident and the White House decision to respond, the official said.

Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, as well as chief strategist Steve Bannon, were consulted prior to Monday evening’s Syria announcement. In the past, the two have clashed on an array of ideological and political issues, including how deeply involved the Trump administration should be involved in the Syrian war. In April, Kushner pushed the president to launch the missile strike against the Assad regime, while Bannon cautioned that further military action in Syria would risk betraying Team Trump’s “America first” stance.

One of the senior administration officials said Trump himself helped craft the statement and was instrumental in sending it out and letting it stand on its own for several hours without further explanation. “We've had five years of them attack and the international community acting with outrage, and then it happens again,” the official said. “So he saw an opportunity to have it maybe not happen.”

However, White House officials speaking to The Daily Beast painted a picture of a president who, for the time being, is far more obsessed by negative press attention and media feuds at home than any coming atrocities abroad.
On Tuesday morning, President Trump’s personal Twitter feed was filled with tweets attacking CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, The Washington Post, and and The New York Times as “Fake News!” and “failing.” The president retweeted the official account of Fox & Friends, one of his favorite shows where he derives some of his Republican talking points, multiple times in the early morning. He bashed CNN several times for a recently retracted story and called out the “3 employees forced to resign.” He retweeted someone mocking the network with a photoshopped image declaring them the “FAKE NEWS NETWORK.”
There wasn’t a peep about Syria, chemical weapons, or the Assad dictatorship
http://www.thedailybeast.com/white-hous ... via=mobile
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby conniption » Fri Jun 30, 2017 8:01 pm

theamericanconservative

Ex-Weapons Inspector: Trump’s Sarin Claims Built on ‘Lie’


Scott Ritter takes on White House Syria attack claims.

By Scott Ritter • June 29, 2017
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby Elvis » Fri Jun 30, 2017 9:17 pm

^^^^ While Scott Ritter has generally been on the right side of questions of WMDs, the Iraq invasion etc., it's interesting that Ritter seems to have been more recently 'rehabilitated' after his arrests for lewd intent with underage girls, including masturbating on video for the benefit of who he thought was a 13-year-old girl. I guess these days everyone is allowed one leaked "sex video" with no damage to career or public standing?

In any event, Ritter again looks correct on the weapons issues at hand. His paranthetical note is notable: "(In the interests of full disclosure, I had assisted Mr. Hersh in fact-checking certain aspects of his article; I was not a source of any information used in his piece.)"

Ritter points out that the only evidence for a gas attack is, "analysis of images brought to them by the volunteer rescue organization White Helmets, of fragments allegedly recovered from the scene"—not fragments, but images of fragments that could have come from anywhere.*

* ( and probably did, given the history of White Helmets & associated PR groups re-using photos from years-old wars, movies, and even music videos; the most memorable shot lifted from a music video and splayed on Twitter showed a little girl running past dead bodies (actors in the music video) with the caption, "Assad's Syria. This is Real."

"This is real" indeed. :lol:
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby BenDhyan » Fri Aug 25, 2017 5:19 pm

Sorry, our bad, carry on Mr Assad....

Washington, Riyadh Urge Syrian Opposition to Accept Assad Role

The Associated Press Aug 24, 2017 5:48 PM

As the Syrian regime makes military advances, Western and regional actors have ceased to call for Assad's removal and instead seek mediation toward a 'new vision' that would include dictator.

As Damascus reverses military losses in much of the country's strategically important west, and foreign states cut support for rebel forces, diplomats from Washington to Riyadh are asking representatives of Syria's opposition to come to terms with President Bashar Assad's political survival.

The country's civil war has crossed the halfway point of its seventh year and Assad and his allies are now in control of Syria's four largest cities and its Mediterranean coast. With the help of Russian air power and Iranian-sponsored militias, pro-government forces are marching steadily across the energy-rich Homs province to reach the Euphrates River valley.

Western and regional rebel patrons, currently more focused on advancing their own interests rather than accomplishing regime change in Damascus, are shifting their alliances and have ceased calls on Assad to step down.

"There is no conceivable military alignment that's going to be able to remove him," said former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, now a fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. "Everyone, including the U.S., has recognized that Assad is staying."

The war has settled into a familiar, lower-intensity grind, with the Syrian government now in control of most of the populated west while Islamic State group militants and al-Qaida affiliates, U.S.-backed Kurds and Turkey-backed rebels hold on to remaining pockets in the north, east and south. Russia-sponsored so-called de-escalation zones have significantly reduced violence in rebel-held territory although fighting continues to rage in some areas.

read more: http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/1.808837
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby Elvis » Fri Aug 25, 2017 5:35 pm

"Everyone, including the U.S., has recognized that Assad is staying."


But will this bring an end to U.S. meddling in Syria? Should be interesting.
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby conniption » Sat Aug 26, 2017 3:30 am

mint press news

Syria War Diary: What Life Is Like Under ‘Moderate’ Rebel Rule


Since the liberation of Aleppo, and the restoring of peace to Madaya and al-Waer, most Western media have gone silent on the areas, even though it is now possible to visit all of them and hear from civilians who lived under the rule of ”moderate rebels,” which is exactly what journalist Eva Bartlett did.

August 24th, 2017

By Eva Bartlett


http://www.mintpressnews.com/syria-war- ... le/231201/
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby chump » Sat Aug 26, 2017 8:47 am


http://www.globalresearch.ca/conflict-i ... rs/5605400
Conflict in Syria Far From Resolved. US Bombings Targeting Raqqa Residential Areas. 78 Civilians Killed in Last 24 Hours.

By Stephen Lendman
Global Research, August 23, 2017

Russia’s intervention nearly two years ago significantly changed the dynamic on the ground – much of the country liberated from US-supported terrorists’ control, from ISIS, al-Nusra and other groups.

At the same time, US terror-bombing continues, notably in Raqqa, targeting residential areas, massacring civilians daily, likely thousands since the aerial campaign began in early June.

In the last 24 hours alone, local media sources and survivors reported US-led so-called coalition warplanes massacred 78 civilians in three Raqqa neighborhoods.

Homes and infrastructure were targeted, no ISIS or other terrorists at or around areas struck. The attack was cold-blooded murder like so many others in all US war theaters – Nuremberg-level high crimes.

On Tuesday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry blasted White House hypocrisy, continuing phony accusations of CW use by Syrian forces, despite the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirming the country’s entire stockpile was destroyed.

“We don’t rule out the very regrettable official comments (from Washington) are composed to offer grounds for (its) possible future intensification of interference in Syria’s domestic affairs,” a ministry statement said.

Separately, a May commentary by YaleGlobal Online contributors Carol and Jamsheed Chosky irresponsibly and illegally called for partitioning Syria as a way to resolve years of war.

They argue

“Syria was never a country whose 14 provinces and 8 main communities were voluntarily bonded together by secularism and tolerance. Not surprisingly the six-year civil war became violently sectarian and ethnic.”

For millennia, America was never a country. Land was stolen from its indigenous people. The same goes for Israel, historic Palestine stolen to create an apartheid Jewish state, numerous other countries artificially created – notably by imperial carving up of continents belligerently.

Syria is Obama’s war, now Trump’s – naked aggression, the country invaded by US-supported terrorists, recruited from scores of countries. There’s nothing civil about years of conflict.

The Choskys accused Russia, Iran and Turkey of “greatly abet(ting) the strife…” True enough for Turkey. Erdogan can never be trusted.

Russia and Iran are the only foreign powers genuinely supporting conflict resolution – through Astana/Geneva peace talks and establishment of deescalation zones, hoping to extend them nationwide.

The authors claim Russia and Iran aim to enhance their regional influence and control. Their goal is diplomatic conflict resolution, liberating Syria from the scourge of US-supported terrorism, preventing its spread to their own countries.

The authors:

“(T)he United States and its EU partners have been more distant players, supplying funds and armaments to anti-Assad rebels while occasionally bombing Syrian government and Islamist terrorist bases.”

False! War was planned and orchestrated in Washington. US-led terror-bombing has been ongoing for nearly three years, massacring thousands of civilians, destroying vital infrastructure, several times attacking Syrian and allied forces – supporting ISIS and other terrorists, not combating them.

The authors:

“Syria already has been de facto partitioned by the opposing forces of the civil war. No political leadership represents the many domestic factions, and none could control the territory militarily and politically, or run a national administration.”

“(T)here is no currently-envisaged governing coalition that would be acceptable to the major international players.”

Syria is partly occupied, not partitioned, democratically elected governance in Damascus the only legitimate authority over the entire nation.

So-called “major international players” have no legal right to dictate policy to any other sovereign nations, including Syria and other countries victimized by US aggression.

International law prohibits interfering in the internal affairs of any other nations – accept in self-defense if attacked. Syria is the victim of aggression, not its perpetrator.

The authors irresponsibly propose partitioning the country into Sunni-controlled Homs, Hama, Idlib, Aleppo, Raqqa and Deir Ezzor provinces and governorates, a Kurdish northeast, along with southwestern and southern areas run by Damascus.

If adopted, their proposal would flagrantly violate international law. It would fail to achieve peace. Syria’s legitimate government rejects foreign powers carving up their country at their discretion, repeating the horrors following WW I.

The authors falsely called Assad a “dictator.” In June 2014, he was overwhelmingly reelected democratically, a process independent observers called open, free and fair. Syrians want no one else leading them.

The authors:

“Partition may not the ideal outcome for Syria’s crisis, but is necessary and can be done correctly.”

Partition would be illegal destruction of a nation-state, a flagrant violation of international law – likely exacerbating things, not responsibly resolving them.

Conflict never would have begun if not launched by Washington, using ISIS and other terrorists as imperial foot soldiers, aided by US-led terror-bombing, serving as their air force.

The way to restore peace and stability is by defeating the dual scourge of terrorism and US imperial aims.

Partition is a scheme only hegemons and their supporters endorse.
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby parel » Wed Sep 06, 2017 4:07 am

Some good news from Syria. SAA liberates Deir Ez-zor after three years of occupation by NATO backed terrorists.
Video at link.

See SAA soldiers embrace after finally breaking IS siege of Deir ez-Zor: video
By News Desk - 06/09/20170

BEIRUT, LEBANON (7:10 A.M.) – Footage captured the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) embracing with troops previously surrounded by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS; formerly ISIS/ISIL) at the Brigade 137 base, Tuesday, after government forces broke the IS siege, in the Deir ez-Zor area, Tuesday.

Units of the Syrian Arab Army linked up with the previously-surrounded troops, thus breaking a three-year-long siege of the government-held enclave of Deir ez-Zor, with the help of the SAA Tiger Forces (also known as the Qawat Al-Nimr).

The SAA reached the Brigade 137 base on the western edge of Deir ez-Zor, where a garrison of the Syrian army had been surrounded by IS since 2014.

In recent days, pro-government forces have made rapid advances with tanks and helicopters to push through IS lines.


The link-up to the garrison followed days of fierce battles in which the SAA and its allies swiftly seized IS positions. Much of Deir ez-Zor province, including a military air base and a number of towns and villages, remains under IS control.

Deir ez-Zor, which is situated southeast of IS’ former stronghold of Raqqa, has been under siege by IS since 2014.
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby conniption » Wed Sep 06, 2017 7:11 am

Axis of Logic

The Utter Corruption of the West

By Pres Bashar al-Assad
Information Clearing House
Thursday, Aug 31, 2017


For the West, this conflict is a valuable opportunity to settle its accounts with many countries that have rebelled against its hegemony

Speech by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on August 20, 2017 to the Syrian Diplomatic Corps

Video and transcript at the link:
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/A ... 7278.shtml
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby Elvis » Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:58 am

Thanks, conniption. It's a very good speech.

This came toward the end:

The West has enormous resources and excellent capabilities in every area, but because of his lack of wisdom, it does not take advantage of them. That’s why it goes from one mistake to another, from one problem to another, from one dead end to another, and covers them with lies. It seems that the Western political system is no longer able to produce (true) statesmen.
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby Morty » Thu Sep 14, 2017 2:59 am

Probably a different $2 billion to that supposedly cut from the CIA's Syria budget, I guess.

The Pentagon Is Spending $2 Billion Running Soviet-Era Guns to Syrian Rebels

By Rhys Dubin
September 12, 2017



The U.S. Department of Defense is reportedly still funneling billions of dollars’ worth of Soviet-era weaponry to anti-Islamic State groups in Syria, with questionable oversight.

In a joint report published Tuesday, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) allege that the Pentagon has given up to $2.2 billion worth of weapons to groups like the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG.

The program sidesteps long-established checks on international weapons trafficking, the report alleges, and appears to be turbocharging a shadowy world of Eastern European arms dealers.

In particular, the Pentagon is reportedly removing documentary evidence about just who will ultimately be using the weapons, potentially weakening one of the bulwarks of international protocols against illicit arms dealing.

“The Pentagon is removing any evidence in their procurement records that weapons are actually going to the Syrian opposition,” Ivan Angelovski, one of the report’s authors, told Foreign Policy.

The program replaced a failed initial attempt to train and equip so-called “moderate rebels” in Syria beginning in 2014. Nine months later, the program collapsed after the vast majority of trainees were either captured or absorbed into other unvetted groups.

The Defense Department then decided that it would instead select “vetted” opposition forces on the ground and provide them with cheaper, Soviet-style weapons.

Legally, however, shipments like the ones that started flowing to groups in Syria are supposed to include information on the end-user of the weapons. Instead, according to the report, the Defense Department decided to allow the transfer of equipment to any army or militia it provides security assistance to — including Syrian rebels — without any clear documentation.

A Pentagon spokesman quoted in the report said the department monitored the usage of the equipment to ensure compliance. In comments to FP, spokesman Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway re-emphasized that, saying that the Pentagon “carries out end-use monitoring of issued equipment.” He also said that the the department’s primary objective was to provide equipment that was simple and easy to operate so that partner forces could quickly secure and hold territory retaken from the Islamic State.

Sidestepping rigorous controls on who receives arms threatens international efforts to halt arms trafficking, outside experts told the report’s authors.

The United States is “undermining the object and purpose” of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, Patrick Wilcken, an arms control researcher at Amnesty International, told the investigators. Another expert on conflict prevention said U.S. manipulation of the system could put the the entirety of the international arms control regime at risk.

In addition to the potential legal consequences of the Pentagon’s program, the report also documents issues with the acquisition process itself.

According to the report, many of the weapons suppliers — primarily in Eastern Europe but also in the former Soviet republics, including Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Ukraine — have both links to organized crime throughout Eastern Europe and spotty business records.

The sheer amount of material necessary for the Pentagon program — one ammunition factory announced it planned to hire 1,000 new employees in 2016 to help cope with the demand — has reportedly stretched suppliers to the limit, forcing the Defense Department to relax standards on the materials it’s willing to accept.

In a well-documented incident in 2015, a Pentagon contractor working for a little-known company called SkyBridge Tactical was killed in Bulgaria when an aging rocket-propelled grenade he was testing exploded at a firing range. According to the new report, the Defense Department continues to use one of the other contractors involved in the accident.

Several contractors and subcontractors have also reportedly bragged about paying “commissions” to foreign agents to secure deals, the report alleges.

OCCRP is a worldwide investigative reporting platform specializing in coverage of criminal networks and corruption. It receives funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the International Center for Journalists, and Google Jigsaw — among others.

BIRN is a news outlet focused on analysis, commentary, and investigative reporting from Southeast Europe. It is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and others.


Original OCCRP report
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby Elvis » Thu Sep 14, 2017 4:47 am

Thanks, Morty, that's significant news. I don't recall hearing about the report on my usual NPR (who's lately been thanking Koch Industries for its generous support) and BBC.

It's interesting to me that the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) is "funded by the National Endowment for Democracy...."
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby 8bitagent » Thu Sep 14, 2017 5:30 am

It's been a kneeslapper watching the racist "14 words" alt right rally around Bashir al-Assad online. Maybe I've become a rino neocon, but Syria and Russia's genocidal war crimes in Syria rival even the horror show of ISIS(tho not quite as bad as Bush and Obama's mass slaughter across the middle east)

In 2011 we all were saying Obama and Sec. State Hillary should not start arming al Qaeda and destabilizing Syria, Lybia and the Middle East. Now we're seeing the fruits of that labor...and what was the end goal?
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby BenDhyan » Thu Sep 14, 2017 6:53 am

8bitagent » Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:30 pm wrote:It's been a kneeslapper watching the racist "14 words" alt right rally around Bashir al-Assad online. Maybe I've become a rino neocon, but Syria and Russia's genocidal war crimes in Syria rival even the horror show of ISIS(tho not quite as bad as Bush and Obama's mass slaughter across the middle east)

In 2011 we all were saying Obama and Sec. State Hillary should not start arming al Qaeda and destabilizing Syria, Lybia and the Middle East. Now we're seeing the fruits of that labor...and what was the end goal?

It seems you are implying that the 2011 arming of al Qaeda and destabilizing Syria, Lybia and the Middle East was not a good thing, but at the same time you are unhappy that the Syrian administration was able to survive the attempted regime change?
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Re: US troops surround Syria on the eve of invasion?

Postby Morty » Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:47 am

Elvis » Thu Sep 14, 2017 6:47 pm wrote:Thanks, Morty, that's significant news. I don't recall hearing about the report on my usual NPR (who's lately been thanking Koch Industries for its generous support) and BBC.

It's interesting to me that the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) is "funded by the National Endowment for Democracy...."


NED? Good catch, Elvis. I didn't bother checking up on these organisations I've never heard of before, or reading the original OCCRP report for that matter, but when I did I notice that all these arms shipments were claimed to be for the purpose of the rebels fighting ISIS (as depicted in the snazzy OCCRP infographic). But the general trend has been for the supplied rebel arms to quickly fall into the hands of ISIS, and the big grey area for observers has been whether the guys the SAA are fighting are considered to be "rebels" or "ISIS" by the SAA or the other interested parties.
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