For several years in the Syrian War, a CIA program saw US and Saudi-acquired weapons smuggling into Syria, nominally for the “moderate rebels.” The program was ultimately scrapped this year, and had been criticized because the “moderates” never amounted to much.
But studies from Conflict Armament Research set about to find out what happened to these arms shipments. In many cases, the weapons wound up in the hands of the ISIS movement, and served as a source for some of their most advanced armament.
The biggest source of weapons ISIS had was looting the Iraqi and Syrian militaries, though in the case of Iraq this was basically the same result, as the US provided materially all the weapons for Iraqi forces as well.
The weapons in large measure were made in the European Union, with purchases mostly coming out of Eastern European nations like Bulgaria to try to avoid scrutiny. The CIA made this an incredibly efficient smuggling route, though where the arms ended up after they arrived at the Syrian border appears to have been a big blind spot.
Arms not made in the EU came mostly out of Russia and China. Russian arms largely were looted from the Syrian military, which used Russia as their primary supplier, while the Saudis at times purchased missiles from China to send to the rebels.
This lossage to ISIS included some very advanced armaments, including a 9M111B missile, a powerful anti-vehicle missile which the CIA smuggled into Syria in December 2015. By February of the next year, ISIS already had at least one such missile.
The rapidity of ISIS getting such advanced arms out of the other rebels was particularly noteworthy, researchers say, because it suggests there were not many intermediaries between the “moderates” the US thought they were arming and the ISIS fighters they were actually arming.
That Islamists were beneficiaries of the US arms smuggling program was never really in doubt, but the scope to which they were, and that ISIS was in particular, is extremely embarrassing for the program, and raises questions why the smuggling kept going for so long.
Just as planned.
It would most likely prove enlightening if Senators McCain and Graham were strapped down and administered a nice dose of sodium thiopental and asked questions about the ratlines their buddies in the CIA were running into Syria.
Indeed. But that method wouldn’t be suited to their stature. Perhaps, something along the lines of CIA techniques would be more useful.
They’d most likely expire as soon as the first drop of water hits. I’d prefer to have them able to answer to their constituents, the country, and maybe the courts though that might be a stretch seeing as how the courts seem to protect the elites, especially ex-military “hero” Congresscritters.
Is this supposed to be the whitewashed, bumbling but well meaning do-gooder version? Seriously…
Who the heck are they trying to fool?
Point blank: You are the terrorist, You.
Not “them”, YOU.
Deal with it.
Are we so into magical thinking that we don’t already know that ISIS has had US-supplied weapons for years because CIA/Mossad has trained, armed and given them logistical support all this time? When those TOW missiles we gave them are finally aimed at US “boots on the ground” in Syria, what are we going to do, blame the Russians? The illogic of all this is breathtaking.
It went on so long because everybody knew who was hyperventilating to keep it going.
Many of the same “somebodys” are STILL arming some other redefined and repurposed terrorist version 11.5. The information about transfering weapons from Eastern Europe was very detailed long time ago. The problem is, general public is completely indifferent to the oroblem. This allows parts of government to go rogue, and even worse. But crimes against peace are portrayed often in a romantic light, rendering adults into teenage children, blurring reality and fantasy.
The only way to become serious in stopping use of terrotism for destroying peace , and stopping the strategy of weaponizing conflicts in other countries — is making it a serious crime. . The definition of the crime must include anyone who facilitates arming, financing and politically supporting terrorists.
That would mean punushing politicians, bureaucrats that orocess purchase orders, shippers and bankers. And until we get serious about it, fake media eill continue blurring rights snd wrongs, finding excuses why we should support a “rebellion”, so that one group of people has the licence to kill others, in the name of greater good.
I thought that the ideology of communism and revolutionaries is finished, that we would
support peacefull resolution of conflicts, thinking longer term solutions and not justifying
use of arms to encourage people to “win”. This may have worked once upon a time,
when we did not posses such horrible means of destroying life.
To be a leader today in the world is to understand that world has changed. And that this is not the time when cultures imposed their dominance by force. World is at a different place, and for our own protection we need to set an entirely different tone in global relations. If we do not reform ourselves, others will find pathways to isolate us. Military might does not buy happiness.
There is a lot of other evidence that the US/CIA actively supported and was involved in the creation of both ISIS and al Qaeda. I have put together a large collection of articles related to that topic. Links available here:
http://www.pearltrees.com/joshstern/government-supporting/id18814292