{"id":80636,"date":"2016-10-03T12:00:14","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T11:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=80636"},"modified":"2016-10-02T17:21:40","modified_gmt":"2016-10-02T16:21:40","slug":"how-the-us-armed-up-syrian-jihadists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/10\/how-the-us-armed-up-syrian-jihadists\/","title":{"rendered":"How the US Armed-up Syrian Jihadists"},"content":{"rendered":"

29 Sep 2016 – <\/em>The West blames Russia for the bloody mess in Syria, but U.S. Special Forces saw close up how\u00a0the chaotic U.S. policy of aiding\u00a0Syrian jihadists\u00a0enabled Al Qaeda and ISIS to rip Syria apart, explains ex-British diplomat Alastair Crooke.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one on the ground believes in this mission or this effort\u201d, a former Green Beret\u00a0writes<\/a>\u00a0of America\u2019s covert and clandestine programs to train and arm Syrian\u00a0insurgents, \u201cthey\u00a0know we are just training the next generation of jihadis, so they are sabotaging it by saying, \u2018Fuck it, who cares?\u2019\u201d.\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t want to be responsible for\u00a0Nusra\u00a0guys saying they were trained by Americans,\u201d the Green Beret added.<\/p>\n

In a detailed report,\u00a0US Special Forces<\/em>\u00a0Sabotage White House Policy gone Disastrously Wrong with Covert Ops in Syria<\/em>, Jack Murphy, himself a former Green Beret (U.S. Special Forces),\u00a0recounts<\/a>\u00a0a former CIA officer having told him how the \u201cthe Syria covert action program is [CIA Director John] Brennan\u2019s baby \u2026Brennan was the one who breathed life into the Syrian Task Force \u2026 John Brennan loved that regime-change bullshit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Journalist<\/a>

Journalist James Foley shortly before he was executed by an Islamic State operative.<\/p><\/div>\n

In gist, Murphy tells the story of U.S. Special Forces under\u00a0one Presidential authority, arming Syrian\u00a0anti-ISIS<\/em>\u00a0forces, whilst the CIA, obsessed with overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad, and operating under a separate Presidential authority, conducts a separate and parallel program to arm\u00a0anti-Assad\u00a0insurgents.<\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s report makes clear the CIA\u00a0disdain for combatting ISIS\u00a0<\/a>(though this altered somewhat with the beheading of American journalist James Foley in August 2014): \u201cWith the CIA wanting little to do with anti-ISIS operations as they are focused on bringing down the Assad regime, the agency kicked the can over to 5th Special Forces Group. Basing themselves out of Jordan and Turkey\u201d \u2014\u00a0operating under \u201cmilitary activities\u201d authority, rather than under the CIA\u2019s coveted Title 50 covert action authority.<\/p>\n

The \u201cuntold story,\u201d Murphy writes, is one\u00a0of abuse, as well as bureaucratic infighting, which has only contributed to perpetuating the Syrian conflict.<\/p>\n

But it is not the \u201cturf wars,\u201d nor the \u201cabuse and waste,\u201d which occupies the central part of Murphy\u2019s long report, that truly matters; nor even the contradictory and self-defeating nature of U.S. objectives pursued.\u00a0Rather, the report tells us quite plainly why the attempted ceasefires have failed (although this is not explicitly treated in the analysis), and it helps explain why parts of the U.S. Administration (Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and CIA Director Brenner) have declined to comply with President Obama\u2019s will \u2013 as expressed in the diplomatic accord (the recent ceasefire) reached with the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n

The story is much worse than that hinted in Murphy\u2019s title: it underlies the present mess which constitutes relations between the U.S. and Russia, and the collapse of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FSA [the alleged \u201cmoderates\u201d of the Free Syria Army] made for a viable partner force for the CIA\u00a0on the surface<\/em>, as they were anti-regime, ostensibly having the same goal as the seventh floor at Langley\u201d [the floor of the CIA headquarters occupied by the Director and his staff] \u2013 i.e. the ousting of President Assad.<\/p>\n

But in practice, as Murphy states bluntly: \u201cdistinguishing between the FSA and al-Nusra is impossible, because they are virtually the same organization. As early as 2013, FSA commanders were defecting with their entire units to join al-Nusra. There,\u00a0they still retain the FSA monicker, but it is merely for show, to give the appearance of secularism so they can maintain access to weaponry provided by the CIA and Saudi intelligence services. The reality is that the FSA is little more than a cover for the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the FSA simply passed American-made weaponry off to al-Nusra is also unsurprising considering that the CIA\u2019s vetting process of militias in Syria is lacklustre, consisting of little more than running traces in old databases. These traces rely on knowing the individuals\u2019 real names in the first place, and assume that they were even fighting-age males when the data was collected by CTC [Counterterrorism Centre] years prior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sympathy for Al Qaeda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nor, confirms Murphy, was vetting any better with the 5th Special Forces operating out of Turkey: \u201c[It consisted of] a database check and an interview. The rebels know how to sell themselves to the Americans during such interviews, but they still let things slip occasionally. \u2018I don\u2019t understand why people don\u2019t like al-Nusra,\u2019 one rebel told\u00a0the American soldiers. Many had sympathies with the terrorist groups such as Nusra and ISIS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Al-Qaeda<\/a>

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri.<\/p><\/div>\n

Others simply were not fit to be soldiers. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to be warriors. They are all cowards. That is the moderate rebel,\u201d a Green Beret told Murphy, who adds:<\/p>\n

\u201cPallets of weapons and rows of trucks delivered to Turkey for American-sponsored rebel groups simply sit and collect dust because of disputes over title authorities [i.e. Presidential authorities] and funding sources, while authorization to conduct training for the militias is turned on and off at a whim. One day they will be told to train, the next day not to, and the day after only to train senior leaders. Some Green Berets believe that this\u00a0hesitation comes from the White House getting wind that most of the militia members are affiliated with Nusra and other extremist groups.\u201d [emphasis added.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Murphy writes: \u201cWhile the games continue on, morale sinks\u00a0for the Special Forces men in Turkey. Often disguised in Turkish military uniform, one of the Green Berets described his job as, \u2018Sitting in the back room, drinking chai while watching the Turks train future terrorists\u2019 \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong the rebels that U.S. Special Forces and Turkish Special Forces were training, \u2018A good 95 percent of them were either working in terrorist organizations or were sympathetic to them,\u2019 a Green Beret associated with the program said, adding, \u2018A good majority of them admitted that they had no issues with ISIS and that their issue was with the Kurds and the Syrian regime.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Buried in the text is this stunning one-line conclusion: \u201cafter ISIS is defeated,\u00a0the real war begins<\/em>. CIA-backed FSA elements will openly become al-Nusra; while Special Forces-backed FSA elements like the New Syrian Army will fight alongside the Assad regime.\u00a0Then the CIA\u2019s militia and the Special Forces\u2019 militia will kill each other.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, that says it all: the U.S. has created a \u2018monster\u2019 which it cannot control if it wanted to (and Ashton Carter and John Brennan have no interest to \u201ccontrol it\u201d \u2014 they still seek to use it).<\/p>\n

U.S. Objectives in Syria<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor Michael Brenner, having attended a high-level combined U.S. security and intelligence conference in Texas last week,\u00a0summed up<\/a>\u00a0their apparent objectives in Syria,\u00a0inter alia<\/em>, as:<\/p>\n

\"Video<\/a>

Video of the Russian SU-24 exploding in flames inside Syrian territory after it was shot down by Turkish air-to-air missiles on Nov. 24, 2015.<\/p><\/div>\n