Syria Study Group in US Congress seeks multi-decade if not permanent U.S. presence in Syria to effect for instance “enduring defeat” of ISIS. What they mean is they want to run a US taxpayer funded money laundering operation. US has quietly known since at least 2014 that “ISIS” was backed by its Saudi and Qatari pals-Doug Bandow, American Conservative

.
US occupies a third of Syria, pale green area in map below. The Syria Study Group created by Congress seeks a permanent, US taxpayer funded occupation of Syria including “enduring defeat” of [so-called] ISIS, a process it says could “take decades.”…Right. Save the phony ISIS pitch. US has known since at least 2014 that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were funding ISIS and Al Qaeda groups, but didn’t admit this publicly, feared making Saudis and others mad. Podesta email 8/19/2014 referencing Hillary email of 8/17/2014, item 4.

6/13/19, “End America’s Illegal Occupation of Syria Now,“ Doug Bandow, The American Conservative 

“Washington decided that Assad had to go…. 

Despite [media] pressure to actively intervene against Assad, the Obama administration focused on aiding supposedly moderate insurgents, with little success. One program spent a half billion dollars to train fewer than threescore fighters. Radicals hid their views in order to receive arms from America; supposedly democratic forces fought with and sometimes surrendered to Islamists, along with their equipment. 

Moreover, reported the New York Times: “Most of the arms shipped at the behest of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to supply Syrian rebel groups fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad are going to hard-line Islamic jihadists, and not the [supposedly] more secular opposition groups that the West wants to bolster, according to American officials and Middle Eastern diplomats."

One of the indirect beneficiaries of U.S. aid was Jabhat al-Nusra, Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate. Noted National Review’s Michael Brendan Dougherty: “We also funded a group called Nour al-Din al-Zenki, until its members showed up on YouTube beheading a child, at which point the ‘moderate’ label no longer quite fit.” 

With the war largely over and the much-weakened Assad government mostly in control, roughly 2,000 U.S. personnel occupy about a third of the country, mostly in the north working with Kurdish forces. At first, President Trump ordered the Americans home, but now hundreds or more will stay, according to his aides. 

But for what? The [supposed US] goal of shielding civilians was undercut all along by…the underwriting of [Islamic terrorist] insurgents.”… 

[Ed. note: Many “insurgents” were from outside Syria. In Idlib there is a “large proportion of HTS [Salafist Ihadist] fighters who aren’t Syrians at all, but foreign takfiri (extremist-jihadi) fighters from a variety of countries, most of whose governments do not want them to return.” HTS is “Hai’at Tahrir al-Sham”

(continuing): “The president [Trump] recently objected to Syria’s increasing military pressure on Idlib [thus seeking to preserve what US says is the world’s largest Al Qaeda safe haven since 911], the only area still held by [vicious jihadist] insurgents (of a very nasty Islamist variety), [allegedly] because of the risk to civilians. However, Syria, backed by Russia, is determined to reconquer the one area hosting an active insurgency….[Americans have no choice but to hope Putin succeeds.]

Yet some administration officials would deny Damascus its oil and other resources [causing starvation, disease and death for innocent Syrians] in an attempt to pressure Assad from power, drive Iranian forces from Syria, thwart Russian objectives, protect the Kurds from Turkey, and stop an ISIS revival. 

The Syria Study Group, established by Congress to justify a permanent U.S. military presence, came up with even more bizarre objectives, such as helping locals handle Islamic State prisoners, “enabling civilian-led stabilization efforts,” and “countering the threat of terrorism, 

protecting a rules-based international order, and 

contributing to the security of key allies and partners.” 

It’s a bizarre mishmash. Supporting “key allies and partners” should be the means, not the end, done to increase American security. 

If the U.S. couldn’t drive Assad from power when his military was stretched thin while facing multiple insurgencies, a few hundred or thousand Americans won’t do so now. Moscow has been allied with Syria for decades and will not quit. The U.S. doesn’t need to permanently and illegally occupy another nation to help with reconstruction”… 

[Ed: US already has ongoing reconstruction and nation-building projects in Syria but only in Islamic terrorist held territories: “The U.S. State Department, USAID, and other government agencies have refused to provide humanitarian aid to government-held areas in Syria and have instead expressly used the funding to bankroll the political, civil, and health infrastructure of [Islamic terrorist] rebel-held territory, including areas that are governed by Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra.The Guardian exposed how similar aid initiatives by the British government financed the activities of al-Nusra and other extremist Salafi-jihadist militias. [Former Obama Ambassador] Ford acknowledged in his [2018] testimony that U.S. humanitarian aid to Syria was heavily politicized, explaining:

 “The U.S. also has deployed a small civilian team into Syria charged with initial reconstruction and building new local governance or improving on existing local governance. If it sounds like nation-building, it is but on a smaller scale. USAID and other civilian agencies have provided $875 million in non-lethal and stabilization aid to [Al Qaeda groups] opposition-controlled areas in Syria since FY 2012. Last year [2017] alone the US provided about $200 million.” This politicized humanitarian funding has been part of a concerted effort to undermine the Syrian government’s control over Syrian territory by creating independent political administrations, civil society organizations, health institutions, and infrastructure that are outside of its control, effectively establishing de facto autonomous governments that survive on U.S. [taxpayer] funding.”……2/9/2018, “US Ambassador Confirms Billions Spent on Regime Change in Syria, Debunking ‘Obama Did Nothing’ Myth,”The Gray Zone, Ben Norton

 (continuing): “and fight terrorism (such a rationale could justify occupying half of the globe)….Violating both domestic and international law by 

invading and dismembering a country is 

an odd way [for US] to support the “rules-based international order.”… 

Moreover, U.S. war-making is likely to inflame the toxic passions and theologies that spawn jihadist crusades. The Syria Study Group envisions an essentially permanent occupation: it called for the “enduring defeat” of [so-called] ISIS, which “depends on inclusive, responsive, and legitimate governance in the areas it once controlled,” a process that could “take decades.””… 

[Ed. note: So Congress says US taxpayers should give another 20-30 year blank check to occupy Syria to supposedly “fight ISIS” in what is obviously a Congressionally-created money-laundering operation among other crimes. Congress knows “ISIS” is a project of their Saudi and Qatari pals, has known this since at least 2014 but never publicly admitted it.] 

(continuing): “Reducing Syria’s cash flow mostly means intensifying the hardship facing [millions of innocent Syrian] residents desperate for reconstruction [but whom the US makes clear it will never help except in terrorist controlled areas]. 

Those Syrians will blame Washington for denying them needed funds, and Damascus would end up relying even more on Iranian and Russian aid. If starving Damascus promotes instability, it is more likely to undermine than promote democratic reforms. 

The Syria Study Group complains that “current operations will not force all Iranian-backed forces from Syria,” but why is that [US taxpayers’] Washington’s job? Iran’s presence has virtually nothing to do with American security. [“Security” isn’t even the issue. US elites care nothing about US security because they insist on a wide open 2000 mile southern border.] Iranians don’t need a “land bridge” to Syria and Lebanon when they have airplanes. Nor are the Kurds likely to act as America’s catspaw, confronting Iran for Washington’s ends. There is no way to hermetically seal off Syria from Iran without far more American troops.
......
Moreover, Iran, a long-time ally of Syria whose forces were invited in by the Syrian government, won’t be driven out by a few Americans seeking to multitask geopolitically. Excluding Tehran cannot be done absent full-scale war against or omnibus political settlement with Iran. A better bet would be Israel and Turkey striking a deal with Damascus and Russia, which have their own problems with Tehran’s ambitions. 

Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, tasked with Syria by the State Department, recently announced that there was “a general agreement in principle on the pull back and on the safe zone” with Ankara and the Syrian Kurds, and that he believed coming talks have “a real chance.” However, important issues, including the zone’s control and the size and management of the Kurds’ arms, remain undecided. The Europeans apparently won’t be involved; more important, the Syrian government has not agreed to stand idle over the allies’ disposition of its territory.”… 

[Ed. note: Ambassador James Jeffrey announced Trump’s increased US funding of Islamic terror group White Helmets: A March 2019 State Dept. proclamation “at the direction” of Pres. Trump praised Islamic terror group White Helmets: 

“These heroic first responders have the most dangerous job in the world.” Trump also gave the terror group 5 million more US taxpayer dollars, stating “The United States Government strongly supports the work of the White Helmets.”…Obviously, Trump should be forced to resign. But he won’t be because the entire US political class agrees with him as this article indicates, favors Islamic terrorist butchers over ordinary Americans. Americans have no choice but to hope Putin succeeds in Syria and the US fails.] 

(continuing): “Nor does the policy make sense. While the Syrian Kurds are liberal compared to others in the region, between half a million and a million Kurds effectively rule over 1.5 million Arabs. Guarding the Kurds means a permanent presence while confronting Turkey, which views Kurdish separatism as an existential threat, along with Syria itself, which fought an eight-year [so-called] civil war [it was really a US war] to protect its territory, and Russia, which is committed to restoring Damascus’s authority and enhancing ties with Turkey. Ankara may be the most dangerous, having launched a major offensive, Operation Euphrates Shield, against Kurdish forces in early 2018. In doing so, it seized the city of Afrin and environs, and threatened to move on Manbij, where Americans are stationed alongside Kurds.
 
[Image: 12/30/2018, “US flag flies in Syria’s Manbij despite pullout notice,” AFP, Delil Souleiman] 

Although that crisis faded, more limited fighting has continued since, including a modest Turkish offensive in May in response to Kurdish attacks on nearby Turkish units. A more formal arrangement would be even more dangerous. Ankara cannot be trusted to control the zone. The Kurds could try to turn such a zone into a safe haven from which to strike at Turkish forces and their insurgent allies, which still occupy Kurdish territory. 

Moreover, an American-guaranteed refuge would draw in insurgents defeated or displaced by Damascus seeking to continue their fight. Either Americans would have to fight and disarm them or Syria would have to respond, perhaps backed by Iran and Russia. There are few violence-free zones in the middle of a [so-called] civil war. 

Perhaps most important, though little discussed in Washington, is that occupying Syria militarily, for whatever purpose, is a violation of international and U.S. law. The land is indisputably Syria’s and the Constitution requires Congress to authorize war. 

Syria is an extraordinary tragedy. Yet turning the Assad dictatorship into a liberal, humane democracy was always a long shot. Nor was Washington’s support for the insurgency benign: the Syria Study Group acknowledges that “al-Qaeda is in effective control of Idlib and retains the capacity to conduct external attacks”—yet warns against a Syrian attack on this enclave.

 The main achievement of Washington’s intervention has been to prolong one of the worst [so-called] civil wars in modern times…. 

President Trump claims that he wants to bring U.S. troops home from Syria. He should do so. Now.” 

“Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan. He is the author of Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire.”
……………………………………. 

Among comments 

…………………………… 

“SteveK9 says: June 12, 2019 at 8:58 pm 

It was not a ‘civil’ war, but an attempt by the US to destroy Syria as a state, at the behest as always, of Israel. This attempt was aided and abetted by the Saudis, Turks and other gulf states. Various false flags and propaganda from jihadists like the ‘white helmets’ have attempted to paint Assad as a monster. Try actually listening to a speech or interview and I think a very different impression will result. 

Assad will be a hero to the Syrians for as long as it remains a country. If he had fled in 2015, the black flag of ISIS would be flying now over Damascus, and we would be looking at an ongoing bloodbath of epic proportion, caused by us. It would be far worse than what we did to Libya. Instead, with the help of Russia, Syria is still standing, and with any luck will finally be rid of the Americans and Turks and take complete control of their country back from some of the most vicious killers on this planet.”

………………………………….. 

Added: US knew in 2014 but didn’t publicly admit that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were funding ISIS and Al Qaeda type radical groups, per Podesta email dated August 19, 2014, referencing Hillary email of August 17, 2014: “On Aug 17, 2014 3:50 PM, “H” wrote: > >> Note: Sources include Western intelligence, US intelligence and sources >> in the region….4…. While this military/para-military operation is moving >> forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence >> assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, >> which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and >> other radical Sunni groups in the region.” Wikileaks.org, Podesta emails 

10/14/2016, “We finally know what Hillary Clinton knew all along – US allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar are funding Isis,“ UK Independent, Patrick Cockburn 

“Most fascinating of these is what reads like a US State Department memo, dated 17 August 2014, on the appropriate US response to the rapid advance of ISIS forces, which were then sweeping through northern Iraq and eastern Syria. 

At the time, the US government was not admitting that Saudi Arabia and its Sunni allies were supporting ISIS and al-Qaeda-type movements. But in the leaked memo, which says that it draws on “western intelligence, US intelligence and sources in the region” there is no ambivalence about who is backing ISIS, which at the time of writing was butchering and raping Yazidi villagers and slaughtering captured Iraqi and Syrian soldiers. 

The [Podesta email referencing Hillary email] memo says: 

“We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to Isis and other radical groups in the region.” This was evidently received wisdom in the upper ranks of the US government, but never openly admitted because to it was held that to antagonise Saudi Arabia, the Gulf monarchies, Turkey and Pakistan would fatally undermine US power in the Middle East and South Asia.””…

……………………………… 

Added: 100% of US supported “opposition” in Syria are Islamic terrorists, many aren’t from Syria, are jihadists from other countries. None of them have the slightest interest in “democracy, gender equality or human rights,” but the US War Machine supports them. The only way to end the US War Machine is to end the US, break it into parts, perhaps SW states joining Mexico. The Machine will never stop on its own: 

“Those advocating arming [Islamist terrorists in Syria] also assume that, because rebels are fighting a dictator, the [Islamist] rebels must themselves support democracy. While opposition leaders outside Syria speak of inclusive democracy, gender equality and human rights, such concepts are largely alien to the Islamist fighters dominating Syria’s [so-called] rebels, the most influential of whom are groups such as the al Qaeda linked al Nusra Front. Rather, they aim to replace Syria Shia with Sunni power….Many have good reason to detest the Assad government. But this is no reason to provide weapons to those with little regard for democracy and human rights…which for the true interests of Syria’s people and the West may make matters very much worse.” 3/14/2013, “Why We Shouldn’t Be Arming Syria’s Rebels,” Huffington Post UK, Charles Shoebridge

…………………………….. 

Added: President Trump in March 2019 praised Islamic terror group White Helmets per State Dept. proclamation: “These heroic first responders have the most dangerous job in the world.” Trump also gave the terror group 5 million more US taxpayer dollars, stating “The United States Government strongly supports the work of the White Helmets.”…Obviously, Trump should be forced to resign immediately.

3/16/19, “US to provide $5 million to White Helmets to continue services: State Dept.,” almasdarnews.com, Beirut, Lebanon
 
“The U.S. administration, at the direction of President Donald Trump, will be providing an addition $5 million to the White Helmets in Syria, the State Department announced on Friday. 

“At the direction of the President, subject to congressional approval, the United States intends to provide $5 million for the continuation of the [so-called] vital, life-saving operations of the White Helmets in Syria and in support of the UN’s International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) [separate from OPCW] which is charged with assisting the investigation and prosecution of persons responsible for the most serious crimes under International Law committed in Syria since March 2011. [That would easily be the US] 

Today, at the third Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region, Special Representative for Syria Engagement and Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Ambassador James Jeffrey publicly announced these contributions. In addition to those made last year, these contributions to the White Helmets and IIIM demonstrate the United States’ commitment and ongoing support for justice and accountability in Syria. 

The United States Government strongly supports the work of the White Helmets…. 

These heroic first responders have the most dangerous job in the world….Despite these dangers, the White Helmets provide these services based on strict humanitarian principles and have become a symbol in Syria and world-wide for these courageous values,” the statement read.”
……………………. 

Added: White Helmets is an Islamic terror group:

“This March [2017], a leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the powerful newly rebranded al-Qaeda-led rebel coalition in Syria, hailed the White Helmets in a special video message as the “hidden soldiers of the revolution.”…”Abu Jaber praises [terrorist] humanitarian workers, such as the White Helmets.” 3/19/17.….. 

9/6/2017, ”Investigation: White Helmets Committing Acts Of Terror Across Syria,” Mint Press News

……………………………

Added: 

Jan. 2016, “A Special Relationship: The United States is teaming up with Al Qaeda, again,” Harpers.org, Andrew Cockburn



..........