Foreign Islamic extremists “intent on turning Syria into an autocratic theocracy have swollen the ranks of rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad and think they are waging a ‘holy war,'” Reuters reports a surgeon treating rebel fighters in Aleppo as saying
Jacques Beres, co-founder of medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, has spent time working as a doctor in embattled cities of Syria on multiple visits. He tells Reuters that on his last visit it was more apparent than ever that the opposition fighters are made up of largely of foreign jihadists.
“It’s really something strange to see. They are directly saying that they aren’t interested in Bashar al-Assad’s fall, but are thinking about how to take power afterwards and set up an Islamic state with sharia law to become part of the world Emirate,” Beres said.
The presence of al-Qaeda fighters and other affiliates jihadist groups among Syria’s rebel opposition has been understood, even by US officials, practically from the beginning. One US intelligence estimate found as many as a quarter of the 300 different rebel groups in Syria may be fighting under the banner of al-Qaeda, according toRep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
But people like Mr. Beres that have been on the ground in Syria estimate the number is much higher. Still, the Obama administration has been sending aid and funneling weapons to the rebel fighters for months. This policy was just ramped up recently when Obama sent more spies and diplomats to the Turkish border to help train and organize the rebels.
For months the CIA has had people there on the ground funneling weapons from third party allies like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. They were there to keep the aid coming from the US and its allies from going to Islamic extremists looking to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
But the process is made up of untrustworthy, third-party sources and intelligence officials have recently told the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times that the truth is that the US doesn’t know who is getting the money and weapons.
The Obama administration runs the risk of helping to bring these extremists to power if and when the Assad regime finally does collapse. Moreover, as happened in Afghanistan after the US proxy war there with the mujihadeens, the potential for deadly blowback is very real.
Look, no matter how this or other US and EU war scenarios looks like, both governments have no other choice but to support terrorism, the barbarians and etc. because there is no democracy in all and every wars that US or EU-England involving either countries, the only thing has changed is the Swedish government wanting to have some of that cake if and ever is sliced.
If the case of every wars that US and EU been involved was about democracy, the entire world should be ruled by an functioning democracy system, the Austerities in Europe and US would vanish; secondly the Syrian government, Syrian people already have voted for the social political changes directing the nation toward democracy, so if there was a democracy in US and EU they would jump on the wagon, doing some adjustment here and then the war would stop.
US and EU have promised the Saudis, Turkish and Qatar – Sunny Muslims to be the rulers of entire regions, they are not going to backdown on their promise because they are going to lose the biggest war customer they have.
I'm glad it has finally dawned on Western Liberals and Humanitarian Intervenors (which is what Beres is) that the intention by the islamcists, who see themselves as fighting an Apostate government, is to set up a fundamentalist emirate under Sharia law, which is a step on the way to a WORLD-WIDE Caliphate.
This is why the secular middle class is terrified.
Unfortunately foolish policy-makers in Washington, London and Paris believe that after the overthrow of the Syrian government believe the seculars will be in the majority and win the subsequent elections, or "moderate" Islamicists will come to power.
However they are clearly conning us, they must know the majority of their paramilitaries are "their" Islamicists who they imagine they can control and Saudi gave them a promise before it started that this time they would be able to control them.
It should be added that the biggest group behind this "Caliphate tm." is the Sunni based Wahhabis. Not all, but certainly the majority, and still all we hear is be scared of Iran and it's Shiites.
This is just one more U.S. f….up. The Arabists in our State Department were purged years ago, and we just don't have any good understanding of the dynamic and calculus in the Middle East anymore (just as Hillary and the Department seem to lack it with China). Outsourcing our intelligence to Israel and only having AIPAC approved policy people and ambassadors in the Department have damaged our national interest. Frankly, and it is unfortunate to have to say it, but the U.S. will only be saved if the Russia and China remain steadfast in their support of Syria and the Assad regime survives until the people of Syria can vote for their leaders again in their next election scheduled for 2014. In the meantime, it would be better for the U.S. and NATO to reverse course, back off, and call off Turkey and its other proxies. Saving face, with all of the embarrassment it has caused, may not be easy, but getting out and stopping a continuation of the invasion would be the best course.
If the US gov't purged itself of the folks who keep pushing it into these things, that would recover the 'face' they've long since lost.
More "peaceful protests" in action:
http://youtu.be/VK_0XwxX7A8
Anyone who's actually been watching what's going on would know that since this thing started, people have been saying they want an Islamic government. If you know Arabic (and even if you have to watch the ones in English translations), you could see tons of videos of protests where people chant that they want an Islamic government. And why shouldn't they have that right? The world didn't care during all these years when the people were living in a state of fear and repression – who are they to tell them what kind of government they should have? And which Western country can hold up its own government as an example, when they're all falling apart and their own citizens have no confidence in them? And Ben_C thinks the Assad regime was great, and that the people have no business not being happy with it.
From the beginning, Sunni Muslims around the world have supported the Syrian people in whatever way they could, even if it was prayers. Those who were able also offered clothes, medical supplies, money, etc. It is only natural – and I've said this before – that as this goes on, as they see the deaths and the refugees, and the people in need of help, fighters from other countries will join in. (And considering how small Syria is, men coming from neighboring countries is not surprising.) Sham (the area of Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon) has a high status in Islam.
Wanting Islamic government doesn't equal al-Qaeda, and the idea wasn't brought by 'foreign jihadists'.
her's a quote from Philip Giraldion another site;-
"The Syrian opposition somehow reminds me of the scene in Monty Python’s Life of Brian where the four Pythons who make up the People’s Front of Judea (PFJ) are meeting in an amphitheater, with the character Reg played by John Cleese demonstrating his disdain for the Roman Empire by refusing to snack on rich imperialist tit-bits being hawked by Graham Chapman’s Brian Cohen character, “Larks’ tongues. Wrens’ livers. Chaffinch brains. Jaguars’ earlobes. Wolf nipple chips. Get ‘em while they’re hot. They’re lovely. Dromedary pretzels, only half a denar. Tuscany fried bats.” The PFJ spends most of its time casting aspersions on the old man sitting some distance away who is the entire Popular Front of Judea and also complaining about the Judean Popular People’s Front. “Splitters.”
And it’s tough to join the PFJ:
Reg: “If you want to join the People’s Front of Judea, you have to really hate the Romans.
Brian: “I do!
I find it disgusting to mock the people trying to get out from under decades of hell. Let Phil Giraldi live like that and see how he likes it.
"Reg: “Oh yeah, how much?
"Brian: “A lot!
Reg: “Right, you’re in. The only people we hate more than the Romans are the f**king Judean People’s Front.”"
This just about sums it up.
The Obama administration is giving material support to terrorist. If we were a nation of laws then the last couple of administrations would be in jail.
Would Israel rather have Al Qaeda as their northern neighbor than Assad?
If they don't know who they're arming/funding, and they continue to do it, whose will are they following or whose word are they trusting?
Here is a really crazy thought, in the very near future the "West" and the Shiites will become allies to fight the Wahabbists and their hegemonic desires. Crazy, yes but what isn't these days?
Crazier, presumably, to many: in 'long' war, the enemy is the central resource. That is, nothing is more tragic than running-out-of-enemy. Now, if you think you're running out of wheat, you plant more…. …and cash in on it in one growing season…