While the Obama Administration presents its ultimate goal in Syria as propping up “vetted, moderate rebels” as an alternative to ISIS, those self-same rebels are increasingly allying themselves outright with ISIS.
The Free Syrian Army (FSA), the most endorsed faction from the US perspective, is eagerly attaching itself to ISIS, with FSA commander Bassel Idriss admitting he regularly collaborates with ISIS in attacking Assad government forces along the Syria-Lebanon border.
Fighting at the border crossing in Qalamoun is a joint FSA-ISIS operation, and Abu Fidaa, the head of the local Revolutionary Council, says that a “very large number” of FSA fighters have joined ISIS outright.
The US has been funding and arming the FSA for many months now, and recently, reports are that a lot of those arms are ending up in ISIS hands. It wasn’t clear how that was the case, but overt alliances between the two makes it more obvious.
But the administration wants to pump even more arms toward the FSA, a move that even politicians nominally allied with the FSA aren’t sure is a good idea. The aid seems destined to give ISIS even more US weapons than it already has.
The various rebels are nominally in conflict with ISIS, a fact that gets hyped whenever US arms are up for grabs, but their interrelations are far more complicated than that, and the only constant among them is that they are all hoping for power in post-Assad Syria.
Such thing as "moderate" Syrian rebel never existed, is a fantasy name cooked up by pentagon, state department and war party, and the other war party to fool the American people and those who are challenging Obamas Islamization, dividing Iraq and returning the Saudis/UEA favor for their rule in Afghanistan, Iraq and before that Yugoslavian, Bill Clinton/Madeline Albright.
ISIS is the product of Saudi Arabia/UAE/Washington and London to stop any kind of democracy, unity that could have developed in Middle East between Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Russia and more of progressive governments in this world, USG job is to destroy such outcome which is the reason for USG all the time being at war and cooperating with fascist/dictatorial regimes around the world.
Nothing touched by the evil Wahhabis in Saudi is moderate. They have destroyed the image of islam and muslims for illusory control they want over the region.
“The aid seems destined to give ISIS even more US weapons than it already has.”
If we think Obama is doing this because he’s stupid, we’re stupid. The USA knows what it’s doing: what it always does: anything for advantage. Filthy.
Did they made that statement before Obama's speech or after? Obama seems to be more concern about his next round of golf than to sit through his security briefings.
Should be less ambiguous treason to arm & fund FSA now that their trading buds are publicly declared 'the enemy.'
Haven't heard anything from McCrazy in awhile, perhaps he's starting to see the idiocy of his ways…oh wait, WTF am I saying…
Grahamcrackers, otoh, has continued to blather about putting lethal weapons in the hands of the "moderates" and US boots on the ground in Syria.
If I recall right, the arming-the-moderates bit a la Syria gos back at least to Hilary…and apparently Susan Rice (Mz 'Heartbroken')…and perhaps a few other (said Eric Margolis, for one) "[…] Amazons." Oughta wreck an HC presidential bid, at least.
The incompetence defense shouldn't work: long prior to "lethal aid" there was "a growing need to" ~clean up~ terrorists there. They were on board to get into Syria on some pretext or another…apparently some were persuaded Ghouta and siding-with AQ couldn't be 'it.'
John McCain is less likely to apologize than is the Ohio National Guard.
They didn't , if I remember correctly.
Three-state solution
Give the Sunni tribes a third of the land and oil in Iraq — and be done with it. Anything short of that will be hell on earth.
For Syria has very little oil giving it very little control over all that goes down in the Middle-East. Also it’s government is rock-solid, as it allows the upper half to hoard all the wealth and a war unending will it be to change such a greed driven situation.
All that oil wealth in the Middle-East, surely it makes for corruption most criminal and all our quest for cheep oil can accomplish is to drag us down into the quagmire of it.
This is three years into a nasty civil war. At three years in, there were no moderates left in the US Civil War either. There is no nation that three years into a civil war still featured moderates. Civil war is by its nature radicalizing.
Amb Crocker, that Bush Admin hack, admitted yesterday we have no idea who might actually be moderate on the ground in Syria. A more truthful statement would be that we already know there are none. Obama recently said as much, before he decided denial of reality would poll better after that appalling video.
we are aligned with IS but we will take the weapons anyway
Do the neocons hate America? I think they do. And they are there to make sure the people suffer and stumble and ultimately fail.
What else besides incompetence or evil? They get paid very well to fail – a generation of George W. Bushes, Karl Roves, Bob Kagans, Krauthammers, Podhoretzes, Kristols designed for failure and folly and not only do they not pay for their sins, someone else has to clean up the mess they leave behind when they finally die.
It seems like when they f*ck up, they are above getting punished or fired.
When they turn a small brush fire into a raging inferno, everyone just ignores it and moves on.
When they make us go from looking merely stupid, to god-awful psychopaths, no one bats an eye.
When they can work with the Syrian gov't. to beat on the terrorist skum that has been running rampant thru Syria for three years, they don't because it makes sense to do so. ('Cause golly-gee, the SAA might be a proxy army we could actually TRUST! No, let's go with the FSA losers LOL). Of course that they were trying to oust him for all that time and it didn't work makes them seem even more buffoonish, so now eating crow is off the table. Can't look stupid in public now can we…or worse yet, the cardinal sin of being WRONG and not having the balls (big surprise) to admit it.
Where did they find these overgrown childish dopes? From prestigious universities? Through good ol' fashioned nepotism?
High school and social life must have been miserable for these trolls. Now the world (and regular Americans) can pay for the neocon losers not getting laid or being popular. For getting tripped in the hallways or beaten up on freshman Fridays. Because gym class was a place to cower in fear; because they never had a date for the big dance.
I wonder if they will remain when a new Administration takes over. Why not? Such a sterling track of record of success and victory so far. If they keep this up long enough, maybe nuclear missiles can finish them off, as well as the rest of us.
Nice work if you can get.
U.S. Foreign Policy in 6 adjectives:
Sick
Troubling
Unbelievable
Preposterous
Imbecilic
Disgusting.