Here’s the final proof that our foreign policy of global meddling has gone off the deep end: the two Syrian factions we are subsidizing are now battling one another. The latest iteration of the “moderate” Islamist jihadists we’ve been backing recently engaged in a pitched battle with the Kurdish “People’s Protection Units” (YPG). Both are recipients of US tax dollars and the Kurds have the luxury of US “advisors” embedded in their ranks.
In effect, one branch of our gargantuan national security bureaucracy is conducting a proxy war against another branch – and if that doesn’t underscore how irrational and out of control our foreign policy mandarins are, then I don’t know what will.
The civil war in Syria, which was started by Islamists, and actively encouraged by longstanding US efforts to overthrow strongman Bashar al-Assad, has no “good guys.” The Islamists — gathered together in a bewildering and ever-shifting array of alliances and “united fronts” — are head-chopping totalitarians who want to create an Islamic state: their only difference with the ISIS-inspired “Islamic State” is over tactics, and which gang of thugs gets to be kings-of-the-mountain. They are supposedly fighting ISIS, but most of their efforts seem to be directed at toppling Assad and destroying the last secular outposts in Syria.
And the Kurds are no angels, either. In spite of their lionization by the left-leaning media, the YPG is the Syrian branch of a terrorist organization known as the Kurdish Workers Party, which has carried out deadly attacks on civilian targets in Turkey. Furthermore, they are not exactly liberal democrats: they ruthlessly suppress any and all internal opposition, forcing noncombatants to join their ranks, recruiting child soldiers, and kidnapping and murdering Arab activists. Territory under their control is subject to the ethnic cleansing of non-Kurdish residents, especially Arabs.
Why are we backing any of these groups?
The ostensible reason is the necessity of fighting our never-ending “war on terrorism,” and yet we are protecting if not actively backing the very terrorist group whose attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon inaugurated this dark chapter in our history: Al Qaeda.
This is incredibly hard for ordinary Americans to process: indeed, it seems completely unbelievable. And yet it’s true, as this report from the Washington Post on the progress of efforts to initiate a ceasefire in the Syrian civil war makes all too clear:
“One of the many problems to be overcome is a differing definition of what
constitutes a terrorist group. In addition to the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra,
al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, Russia and Syria have labeled the entire opposition
as terrorists.
“Jabhat al-Nusra, whose forces are intermingled
with moderate rebel groups in the northwest near the Turkish border, is particularly
problematic. Russia was said to have rejected a U.S. proposal to leave Jabhat
al-Nusra off-limits to bombing as part of a cease-fire, at least temporarily,
until the groups can be sorted out.
Don’t be fooled: “Jabhat al-Nusra” is just another name for the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda.
So why is our government protecting the crazed terrorists who brought down the World Trade Center?
The reason is because the “Free Syrian Army,” the “vetted” sock puppets of Washington, aren’t any good at fighting: they have suffered a series of defections to more effective jihadist groups, namely ISIS and al-Nusra. And since the United States isn’t that interested in fighting ISIS to begin with – and is, instead, focused on bringing down Assad – they have effectively joined in a united front with Osama bin Laden’s heirs.
The original purpose of our “war on terrorism” – the destruction of Islamist radicalism and the eradication of al-Qaeda – is now turned on its head. Instead of fighting them, we are fighting alongside them.
This is a direct result of the policy pursued by Hillary Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State: it was Mrs. Clinton, in tandem with then CIA director David Petraeus, who argued for an all out effort to overthrow Assad using the Islamists as a battering ram. President Obama resisted, but – having turned his foreign policy over to the Clintonians early on – he adopted a watered-down version of this misguided Machiavellianism, with results that are all too apparent in the current imbroglio.
With Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Israel all pouncing like vultures on prostrate Syria, and Russia intervening to prop up Damascus, the potential for World War III has never been greater. Syria is the Balkans of the Middle East, with every neighboring country plotting and scheming to take advantage of its weakness – and we are right in the middle of it.
We have no legitimate reason for intervening in Syria’s civil war: let the Russians take care of ISIS – which they are doing far more effectively than we are, in spite of the Western media’s propagandistic talking points which aver that Putin is only attacking the US-backed opposition. The Russians are wiping ISIS out, thus depriving the War Party in Washington of their pretext for US intervention. And standing behind the “get Assad” campaign is the Israel lobby, which, as usual, is eager to have the US do Bibi’s dirty work for him by taking out yet another enemy of the Zionist project.
Our policy of backing Syrian jihadists – the very same gang that attacked us on 9/11 – is nothing less than treason. It hasn’t backfired domestically on this administration solely because the American people just haven’t been informed of it. That’s why we need your help.
Antiwar.com’s mission is to educate Americans about the crimes our government is committing in our name. And when they find out that we’re backing those who murdered over 3,000 people on September 11, 2001, their anger will sweep the warlords of Washington into the Potomac. That day may not be very far off: there are many indications that Americans are waking up to the treason in their midst. But we can’t depend on the “mainstream” media to participate in that awakening: they are owned by the War Party, literally.
That’s why Antiwar.com is so important, especially now – as the Syrian crisis veers out of control. But we can’t continue to educate the American people without your support – your financial as well as moral support. The War Party has dozens of “thinktanks” and lobbying groups with multi-millions to spend: they churn out war propaganda 24/7. We, on the other hand, only have … you.
We need your help to keep going – before those war clouds looming on the horizon start spurting thunderbolts. So please – make your tax-deductible donation today – before it’s too late.
NOTES IN THE MARGIN
You can check out my Twitter feed by going here. But please note that my tweets are sometimes deliberately provocative, often made in jest, and largely consist of me thinking out loud.
I’ve written a couple of books, which you might want to peruse. Here is the link for buying the second edition of my 1993 book, Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement, with an Introduction by Prof. George W. Carey, a Foreword by Patrick J. Buchanan, and critical essays by Scott Richert and David Gordon (ISI Books, 2008).
You can buy An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard (Prometheus Books, 2000), my biography of the great libertarian thinker, here.
