Echoes of Libya: al Qaeda backs Syrian rebels, Arab League vows increased support for uprising

By Madison Ruppert
Editor of End the Lie
February 12, 2012

Ayman al-Zawahiri, widely regarded as al Qaeda’s current number one figure, has called upon the rebels in Syria – who already have strong ties to the West – to continue their campaign against one of the few people on earth continuing to oppose Western hegemony.

A common misconception amongst the Western public is that if you seek to expose the corruption and highly duplicitous nature of the West’s approach to these so-called revolutions, you somehow agree with or are defending the target of the uprising.

This couldn’t be further from the truth, and I do not think that foreign nations should be meddling in the domestic affairs of other countries, especially when such involvement is focused on regime change but this kind of flawed logic allows individuals in the West to be demonized for questioning “popular” uprisings abroad.

The West, especially the United States, has been taking a prominent role in supporting the Syrian opposition for months now – even going as far as to pump propaganda into the country in order to foment unrest – something which has lead Syria to (rightly, I might add) complain about America’s role in the uprising.

Obviously this was exactly the same in the case of Libya where one of the most prominent rebel groups was the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). The LIFG is not only a terrorist organization listed by the United States Department of State, but also implicated by a 2007 West Point Combating Terrorism Center report.

The West Point Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) report found that the most fighters per capita among those who traveled to Iraq to fight American troops were from eastern Libya, specifically the cities of Benghazi and Darnah.

These cities became the breeding ground for the Libyan uprising and at one point in last October, there was an al Qaeda flag flying over the courthouse in Benghazi.

In Libya it was even reported in the establishment news that the rebels not only had ties to terrorist groups like al Qaeda but indeed al Qaeda itself was actually sending fighters directly into the country to help topple Gaddafi.

Of course somehow the Western media is still able to – or at least gives the impression that they are able to – walk away with this information thinking that the uprising is a legitimate and organic movement which should be supported and defended, even though it has the backing of terrorist organizations with intimate ties to Western intelligence.

These al Qaeda stooges always couch their statements in hollow anti-Western rhetoric, but all one must do is look at their actions to see what they are truly after: sustaining a war in the Middle East which is now growing around the world while getting countless Muslims killed, helping strip the American people of our most essential liberties, all while reaping untold profits for the war profiteers.

“Don’t depend on the West and Turkey, which had deals, mutual understanding and sharing with this regime for decades and only began to abandon it after they saw it faltering,” said Ayman al-Zawahiri.

This is completely ridiculous because he is actually telling the Syrian people to carry out the exact operation the West is seeking while trying to seem anti-Western. It would be laughable if it was not taken seriously by so many individuals abroad.

It is also somewhat ridiculous for Zawahiri to be claiming that the Syrian opposition shouldn’t be depending on Turkey after Turkey was accused of helping run armed incursions into Syria, one of which was allegedly thwarted by the Syrian military.

Meanwhile, the Arab League has stepped up their game against Syria, with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal saying that the League has to “give all forms of support” to the Syrian opposition, which very well might be a hint at either military intervention or military aid.

Officials from the Arab League also called for complete stoppage of “all forms of diplomatic cooperation” with the Syrian government along with “tighter economic sanctions” according to Press TV.

France and the United States have also proposed to set up a meeting of the “Friends of Syria” anti-government group in Tunisia in late February, which would just be an extension of the close relationship the West has had with the Syrian opposition for some time now.

Just like in the case of Libya, some American politicians have been quick to jump behind the Syrian rebels, including Republican Senator John McCain who has been a proponent of arming the rebels, just as he was with the Libyan opposition.

Months ago McCain was even calling the Libyan rebels heroes, when these are the same “heroes” that are now torturing people to death and committing atrocities just as bad as or worse than Gaddafi.

The situation in Syria is far from simple, and if you want to truly get a sense of what is going on there you’re going to need to do a lot of reading. I might suggest you start with the following:

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