“As November 2017, only 14 other lawmakers out of 435 United States House of Representatives have co-sponsored Gabbard’s House bill. [Rand] Paul’s Senate version of the bill, on the other hand, has zero cosponsors.”
3/3/2017, “The Nation: Why Does the US Continue to Arm Terrorists in Syria?," James Carden
“The “Stop Arming Terrorists Act” should be a top priority for the 115th Congress [2017-2018].”
https://www.thenation.com/article/why-does-the-us-continue-to-arm-terrorists-in-…
“Tima Kurdi never wanted the spotlight. But, in September 2015, the Syrian native and longtime Vancouver resident found herself at the center of a tragedy when her sister-in-law and her two nephews drowned during an attempted crossing from Turkey into Greece. The image of the body of her two-year-old nephew Alan Kurdi, which washed up on a beach in Turkey, made headlines around the world and brought much needed attention to the humanitarian catastrophe that is the war in Syria.
Kurdi was in Washington this week to lend her voice in support of Hawaii Democrat Tulsi Gabbard’s legislation, H.R. 608, the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, which would put an end to the counterproductive, unaccountable, and immoral CIA “train and equip” program in Syria. The Act, which has attracted eight co-sponsors, including North Carolina Republican Walter Jones and Virginia Republican and Army veteran Thomas Garrett, would prohibit “the use of federal agency funds to provide covered assistance to: (1) Al Qaeda, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, [ISIS] the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), or any individual or group that is affiliated with, associated with, cooperating with, or adherents to such groups.”
Incredibly, after nearly six years of war [as of 2017], the US government continues to fund [Islamic terrorist] rebel groups which, far from being moderate, often subscribe to an Islamist ideology long funded and propagated by the Gulf State tyrannies Saudi Arabia and Qatar with, in recent years, a healthy assist from Erdogan’s Turkey.
The role of Turkey in not only turning a blind eye to ISIS’ takeover of vast swathes of northern Syria, but in exacerbating the refugee crisis by its callous treatment of Syria refugees is often underreported or perhaps – given the severe media crackdown Erdogan initiated after the failed coup attempt by the Turkish military last summer – intentionally overlooked by Western reporters who cover the Syrian conflict from Istanbul.
What Kurdi says she saw in Turkey when she visited her brother and his family in 2014 “was worse than I could ever have imagined. I saw people in the streets without homes, without hope. Children were hungry, begging for a piece of bread.” The West deserves some share of the blame for the refugee crisis, triggered by a savage war during which war crimes were routinely committed on all sides. Instead of acting to alleviate the suffering through a combination of diplomacy, aid and generous offers of resettlement, oftentimes the US and its European allies merely settled on a strategy of bribing Turkey to do more….
Gabbard’s bill takes on an even greater urgency in light of recent events. Last Thursday UN-backed peace talks between representatives of the Syrian government and rebel factions resumed in Geneva, but progress, such as it was, stalled over the weekend when suicide bombers loyal to a the [vicious Salafist terror] rebel alliance Tahrir al-Sham [also known as HTS] killed 42 people in the government-held Syrian city of Homs.
Tahrir al-Sham consists of [Islamic terrorist] rebel factions that include Nour al-Din al-Zinki [“moderate” CIA approved child beheaders and] (recipients of US funding as recently as 2015) which gained worldwide attention when its members cut the head off of a child last summer, and the allegedly moderate US-funded rebel group Fastaqim which recently allied itself with Ahrar al-Sham, which itself adheres to an extreme Salafist ideology and is a constituent part of Tahrir al-Sham.”…
[“Most groups receiving US support were centred around Hama in western Syria and Deraa in the south. Early in 2014, Saudi Arabia began supplying the same groups with [coveted] Tow missiles – an anti-tank rocket that Washington had sold to Riyadh in large numbers in the early 90s. The end user agreement attached to the sale meant the Saudi supply more than 20 years later had implicit US support.…The US state department said: “We strongly condemn this type of barbaric action, no matter what group is responsible. We do not comment on which groups are funded by the United States [taxpayers].”…7/20/2016, “Syrian [Islamic terror] opposition group that [beheaded] killed child ‘was in US-vetted alliance’,” Nour al-din al-Zenki, widely condemned over images of child’s beheading, was part of group receiving military support, including anti-tank missiles, until 2015,“ UK Guardian, M. Chulov]
(continuing): “A July 2016 report by Amnesty International condemned both Nour al-Din al-Zinki and Ahrar al-Sham for committing “serious violations of international humanitarian law, including abductions, torture and summary killings.”
Yet, as the Washington Post reported this past Sunday, under a “three-year-old program initiated by the United States, [Islamic terrorist] rebel groups that have been vetted by the CIA receive support in the form of salaries, light arms and ammunition, and limited quantities of anti-tank missiles.” Currently there are around a dozen such US-backed groups. According to the Post, “The supplies are overseen by a military operations center known as Musterek Operasyon Merkezi, or MOM, comprising representatives of the US-backed Friends of Syria.” [More on US-created group, Friends of Syria“]
Alarmingly, according a report on February 8 [2017] in the Financial Times, “MOM -backed [Islamic terrorist] commanders” that is to say, US-backed [terrorist] rebel commanders, “regularly inflated their forces’ numbers to pocket extra salaries, and some jacked up weapons requests to hoard or to sell on the black market. Inevitably, much of that ended up in ISIS hands.”
“The CIA knew about this, of course,” a former US-backed rebel commander told the FT, “everyone in MOM did.”
This wouldn’t be the first time the US – perhaps inadvertently, but perhaps not – worked to strengthen ISIS’s position. As the redoubtable Middle East correspondent Patrick Cockburn has reported, the “US has studiously avoided attacking ISIS from the air if it is fighting the Syrian army because it is frightened of being accused of helping President Bashar al-Assad to stay in power.”
By now, it should hardly need saying that the passage of Gabbard’s legislation, given all that we know about America’s involvement in the Syrian [so-called] civil war”…
[Which is actually a US War to destroy Syria as it did Libya: “All of the violence that is still happening in Syria is the fault of the US and its allies, who helped extremist jihadist factions like Jaysh al-Izza overrun the nation to advance the preexisting goal of effecting regime change. The blame for all the death, suffering and chaos which ensues from a sovereign nation fighting to reclaim its land from these bloodthirsty factions rests solely on the [US] government bodies which inflicted their dominance over the region in the first place….After it was discovered that the US and its allies armed actual, literal terrorist factions in Syria with the goal of effecting regime change, the only sane response would have been for the public to loudly and aggressively demand that all governments involved to take immediate action to completely rectify all damage done by this unforgivable war crime at any cost, and for there to be war crimes tribunals for every decision maker who was a part of it. Instead, because of propaganda…the public remains asleep to the depravity of its rulers. This dynamic must change if we are to survive and thrive as a species"].
(continuing): “should be a top priority for the 115th Congress.”
…………………………………….
Added: List of 42 Islamic terror groups fighting in Syria “approved” by CIA to receive US made deadly weapons, as of 10/20/2015. Since new groups are constantly created, this isn’t a complete or up to date list as of 7/29/19:
“The groups that the CIA currently allows munitions to be shared with are:
13th Division (Forqat 13)
101st Division Infantry (Forqat 101 Masha’a)
Knights of Justice Brigade (Liwa’ Fursan al-Haqq)
Falcons of the Mountain Brigade (Liwa’ Suqour al-Jabal)
Grouping of the Falcons of Al-Ghab (Tajamuu Suqour al-Ghab)
1st Coastal Division (Forqat Awwal al-Sahli)
Gathering of Dignity (Tajammu al-Izza’)
Central Division (Al-Forqat al-Wasti)
46th Division (Forqat 46)
Sultan Murad Brigade (Liwa’ Sultan Murad)
Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, (Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki) [This “approved” group proudly beheaded a male child]
Mujahideen Army/Army of Holy Warriors (Jaish al-Mujahideen)
Revolutionaries of al-Sham Brigades (Kata’eb Thuwar al-Sham)
1st Regiment (Al-Fauj al-Awwal)
Ahmed al-Abdo Martyrs’ Force (Quwwat al-Shaheed Ahmad al-Abdo)
Al-Rahman Legion (Faylaq al-Rahman)
Martyrs of Islam Brigade (Liwa’ Shuhadah al-Islam)
Yarmouk Army (Jaish al-Yarmouk)
Lions of Sunnah Division (Forqat Usood al-Sunnah)
the 18th March Division (Forqat 18 Adhar)
Southern Tawhid Brigade (Liwa’ Tawhid al-Junoub)
Hamza Division (Forqat al-Hamza)
1st Artillery Regiment (Al-Fauj al-Awwal Madfa’a)
Syria Revolutionaries Front – Southern Sector (Jabhat Thuwar Souriya)
The First Corps (Faylaq al-Awwal)
The Dawn of Unity Division (Forqat Fajr al-Tawhid)
Salah al-Din Division (Forqat Salah al-Din)
Omari Brigades (Tajammu Alwiyat al-Omari)
Unity Battalions of Horan Brigade (Liwa’ Tawhid Kata’eb Horan)
Youth of Sunnah Brigade (Liwa’ Shabbab al-Sunnah)
Moataz Billah Brigade (Liwa’ Moataz Billah)
Sword of al-Sham Brigades (Alwiyat Saif al-Sham)
Dawn of Islam Division (Forqat Fajr al-Islam)
Supporters of Sunnah Brigade (Liwa’ Ansar al-Sunnah)
Horan Column Division (Forqat Amoud Horan)
Emigrants and Supporters Brigade (Liwa’ Muhajireen wal Ansar)
Military Council in Quneitra and the Golan
United Sham Front (Jabhat al-Sham Muwahidda)
69th Special Forces Division (Forqat 69 Quwwat al-Khassa)
11th Special Forces Division (Forqat 11 Quwwat al-Khassa)
Partisans of Islam Front (Jabhat Ansar al-Islam)
Al-Furqan Brigades (Alwiyat al-Furqan)”
……………………………….. Added: US taxpayers are forced to be accessories to US genocides and are lied to about Syria. The truth is that US is extremely wrong and Putin and Assad are right:
If people in Bhutan or Bolivia misunderstand Syria, however, that has no real effect. Our ignorance is more dangerous, because we act on it. The United States has the power to decree the death of nations. In Syria, it is: “Fight Assad, Russia, and Iran! Join with our Turkish, Saudi, and Kurdish friends to support peace!” This is appallingly distant from reality. It is also likely to prolong the war and condemn more Syrians to suffering and death.”
Feb. 18, 2016, “The media are misleading the public on Syria," Boston Globe, Stephen Kinzer, opinion
“Coverage of the Syrian war will be remembered as one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the American press. Reporting about carnage in the ancient city of Aleppo [Feb. 2016] is the latest reason why.
For three years, violent militants have run Aleppo.Their rule began with a wave of repression. They posted notices warning residents:
“Don’t send your children to school. If you do, we will get the backpack and you will get the coffin.”Then they destroyed factories, hoping that unemployed workers would have no recourse other than to become fighters. They trucked looted machinery to Turkey and sold it.
This month, people in Aleppo have finally seen glimmers of hope. The Syrian army and its allies have been pushing militants [Islamic terrorists] out of the city. Last week they reclaimed the main power plant. Regular electricity may soon be restored. The militants’ hold on the city could be ending.
Militants, true to form, are wreaking havoc as they are pushed out of the city by Russian and Syrian Army forces. “Turkish-Saudi backed ‘moderate rebels’ showered the residential neighborhoods of Aleppo with unguided rockets and gas jars,” one Aleppo resident wrote on social media. The Beirut-based analyst Marwa Osma asked, “The Syrian Arab Army, which is led by President Bashar Assad, is the only force on the ground, along with their allies, who are fighting ISIS— so you want to weaken the only system that is fighting ISIS?”
This does not fit with Washington’s narrative. As a result, much of the American press is reporting the opposite of what is actually happening. Many news reports suggest that Aleppo has been a “liberated zone” for three years but is now being pulled back into misery.
Americans are being told that the virtuous course in Syria is to fight the Assad regime and its Russian and Iranian partners. We are supposed to hope that a righteous coalition of Americans, Turks, Saudis, Kurds, and the “moderate opposition” will win.
This is convoluted nonsense, but Americans cannot be blamed for believing it. We have almost no real information about the combatants, their goals, or their tactics. Much blame for this lies with our media.
Under intense financial pressure, most American newspapers, magazines, and broadcast networks have drastically reduced their corps of foreign correspondents. Much important news about the world now comes from reporters based in Washington. In that environment, access and credibility depend on acceptance of official paradigms. Reporters who cover Syria check with the Pentagon, the State Department, the White House, and think tank “experts.” After a spin on that soiled carousel, they feel they have covered all sides of the story. This form of stenography produces the pabulum that passes for news about Syria.
Inevitably, this kind of disinformation has bled into the [2016] American presidential campaign. At the recent debate in Milwaukee, Hillary Clinton claimed that United Nations peace efforts in Syria were based on “an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva.”
The precise opposite is true. In 2012 Secretary of State Clinton joined Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Israel in a successful effort to kill Kofi Annan’s UN peace plan because it would have accommodated Iran and kept Assad in power, at least temporarily. No one on the Milwaukee stage knew enough to challenge her.
Politicians may be forgiven for distorting their past actions. Governments may also be excused for promoting whatever narrative they believe best suits them. Journalism, however, is supposed to remain apart from the power elite and its inbred mendacity. In this crisis it has failed miserably.
Americans are said to be ignorant of the world. We are, but so are people in other countries. If people in Bhutan or Bolivia misunderstand Syria, however, that has no real effect. Our ignorance is more dangerous, because we act on it. The United States has the power to decree the death of nations. In Syria, it is: “Fight Assad, Russia, and Iran! Join with our Turkish, Saudi, and Kurdish friends to support peace!” This is appallingly distant from reality. It is also likely to prolong the war and condemn more Syrians to suffering and death.”
“Stephen Kinzer is a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. Follow him on Twitter @stephenkinzer.”
Added: Saudi Wahhabist head slicers are a beloved US ally. US elites love to talk about their “allies.” Fine. Since the US Global Genocide Machine and its “allies” are a special group, they won’t mind being disconnected from “non-allies,” ie, US taxpayers. It should be obvious we no longer agree to be accessories to global mass murder, starvation, and premature death. We never voted to be slaves of a global mafia but the world assumes we’ve accepted our bondage and treats us accordingly. We see now that the US starves us just like they starve millions in the nations they target for death. In the end, everyone in the world will be crippled except them. The US must be broken up to end the US death machine.
12/12/2013, “Why Is Saudi Arabia Buying 15,000 U.S. Anti-Tank Missiles for a War It Will Never Fight? Hint: Syria.“ Foreign Policy, David Kenner
“No one is expecting a tank invasion of Saudi Arabia anytime soon, but the [Wahhabi Islamic] kingdom just put in a huge order for U.S.-made anti-tank missiles that has Saudi-watchers scratching their heads and wondering whether the deal is related to Riyadh’s support for the Syrian [Islamic terrorist] rebels.
The proposed weapons deal, which the Pentagon notified Congress of in early December, would provide Riyadh with more than 15,000 Raytheon anti-tank missiles at a cost of over $1 billion. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance report, Saudi Arabia’s total stockpile this year amounted to slightly more than 4,000 anti-tank missiles. In the past decade, the Pentagon has notified Congress of only one other sale of anti-tank missiles to Saudi Arabia — a 2009 deal that shipped roughly 5,000 missiles to the kingdom.
“It’s a very large number of missiles, including the most advanced version of the TOWs [tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided missiles],” said Jeffrey White, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former intelligence analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency. “The problem is: What’s the threat?”…
One Saudi ally could desperately use anti-tank weapons–the Syrian [Islamic terrorist] rebels.In the past, Riyadh has been happy to oblige: It previously purchased anti-tank weapons from Croatia and funneled them to [Islamic terrorist] anti-Assad fighters, and it is now training and arming Syrian [terrorist] rebels in Jordan. Charles Lister, a London-based terrorism and insurgency analyst, said that rebels have also received as many as 100 Chinese HJ-8 anti-tank missiles from across the border with Jordan — and indeed, many videos show Syrian [terrorist] rebels using this weapon against [Syrian president] Bashar al-Assad’s tanks.”…
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