US Officially Arming Extremists in Syria
Denied no longer, US officials admit US-Saudi cash & logistical support arming terrorists in Syria.
by Tony Cartalucci
May 16, 2012 – Recently reported in “Brookings Announces Next Move in Syria: War,” it was stated that “by the US policy think-tank Brookings Institution’s own admission, the Kofi Annan six-point peace plan in Syria was merely a ploy to buy time to reorganize NATO’s ineffective terrorist proxies and provide them the pretext necessary for establishing NATO protected safe havens from which to carry out their terrorism from.” It was also examined in detail, how in 2007, US, Saudi, and Israeli officials admitted they were creating a militant front of extremists for the sole purpose of causing the destabilization of Syria we see today, and ultimately overthrowing the Syrian government. It was noted how these extremist militants had direct ties to Al Qaeda.
Now it is fully admitted that weapons, cash, and logistical support is indeed being provided to terrorist forces in Syria by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Gulf States. This, despite a current UN ceasefire the West has continuously berated the Syrian government for violating, indicates that indeed reorganizing, rearming, and redeploying NATO’s terrorist proxies is complete, and another round of destructive violence has begun.
In the Washington Post’s article, “Syrian rebels get influx of arms with gulf neighbors’ money, U.S. coordination,” not only is this admitted, but claims made by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have been confirmed that Syria’s historically violent Muslim Brotherhood, stated in 2007 by Seymour Hersh as being a direct proxy of US-Saudi-Israeli funding and support, is also directly arming and funding contingents of extremists committing acts of terror across Syria.
Areas across Syria that have until now been portrayed as centers for “pro-democracy” protests, racked by violence depicted as “repression” by Syrian troops, are now admitted by the Washington Post to be areas where “material is being stockpiled.” This includes the flashpoint city of Idlib on the Turkish-Syrian border, in the suburbs of Damascus, and along Syria’s border with Lebanon. And again, in 2007, Seymour Hersh revealed that the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia had planned to array extremists along Syria’s border to commit the very violence now being admitted by the Post today.
The Washington Post openly admits that these weapons, supplies, cash and support, provided by the US and Saudi Arabia are directly responsible for the increased violence in Syria, in the midst of a ceasefire the West has attempted to disingenuously use to defame the Syrian government, hamper its ability to restore order, and indeed, rearm, reorganize, and redeploy their terrorist proxies to begin another attempt at violent foreign-backed regime change:
“The effect of the new arms appeared evident in Monday’s clash between opposition and government forces over control of the rebel-held city of Rastan, near Homs. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebel forces who overran a government base had killed 23 Syrian soldiers.” -Washington Post, May 16, 2012
The Post also admitted that Washington, again, in the midst of a UN ceasefire, was attempting to trigger yet more violence, this time in areas controlled by Syria’s Kurds who have remained out of the predominately foreign-backed conflict.
Paradoxically, the US and Gulf State military support being funneled into Syria to purposefully flare violence in the midst of a UN ceasefire, is continuing even after the Pentagon has admitted Al Qaeda is present and active in Syria, this after terrorist groups claimed responsibility for a series of bombings that have killed mostly civilians.
And in the midst of this admitted attempt to increase violence and chaos, the Washington Post also declared that NATO-member Turkey would be pressured to invoke Article IV of the NATO Charter, allowing NATO to militarily intervene to “stop” violence they openly admit they are creating. Unlike previous conflicts – the US’ admission is not a hamhanded obfuscation of the their intentions, but an open declaration of intent to provoke a war of aggression – a Nuremberg offense for all involved. In fact, direct parallels between Adolf Hitler’s September 1938 campaign of destabilization in Czechoslovakia, and NATO’s current destabilization of Syria have been made by noted geopolitical analysts.
Images: The “Henry Jackson Society” and the “Brookings Institution” are just two of many similar “think-tanks” with identical members and identical corporate sponsors. These are the authors of NATO’s increasingly long list of war crimes, including those authorized by US President George W. Bush, now officially a convicted war criminal. While Bush’s conviction currently lacks a realistic means of arresting and sentencing him, if we know the corporations and institutions that craft the policies used by Bush to commit his crimes, we the people, ourselves, can start by “imposing sanctions” on these special interests with boycotts. (click images to enlarge)
A historical conviction handed down by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission, finding former-US President George W. Bush guilty of war crimes, sets a precedent to be used against those committing war crimes today, and of course a model to be expanded upon, including methods and official calls to impose sanctions on organizations and institutions supporting leaders committing war crimes, including both the policy think tanks engineering the war crimes and boycotting and banning the corporations and institutions funding these think-tanks. This does not require an act by the UN, or your national government. You can begin boycotting these corporations today and thus begin undermining the authority and impunity from which they operate.
The OKC Bombing Revisited [video]
Down The Rabbit Hole W/ Popeye
April 20, 2012
LISTEN TO THE FULL LENGTH INTERVIEW HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6oSi0TM0N8
Filmmakers James Lane & Holland Vandennieuwenhof join Popeye for two hours to discuss their movie A NOBLE LIE, about the OKC bombing and the massive amount of evidence that shows it was a false flag terror attack pulled off by a rouge element in the federal government to bring about a police state. At the end of the show Popeye and Holland recorded almost an extra hour of audio available only on the full length YT archive.
Bomb Damage Analysis of Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building: http://www.federaljack.com/?p=174485
Wahhabis – Salafists – Sheik Imran Hosein [video]
108morris108
May 18, 2012
(These are the movements that are forming the violence and commonly associated with Saudia Arabia and Qatar in the Arab Spring – Morris)
From Wikipedia
Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab (1703 — 22 June 1792)[2] (Arabic: محمد بن عبد الوهاب) was an Arabian Islamic theologian and founder of the Salafi movement[3] whose pact with Muhammad bin Saud helped to establish the first Saudi state[4] and began a dynastic alliance and power-sharing arrangement between their families which continues to the present day. The descendants of Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab, the Al ash-Sheikh, have historically led the ulama in the Saudi state,[6] dominating the state’s clerical institutions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_ibn_Abd_al-Wahhab
Guns Drawn on Journalists, Car Raided at NATO [video]
We Are Change
May 20, 2012
Luke Rudkowksi, Tim Pool, Jeoff Shively, Dustin & Jess were driving home after covering a NATO protest in Chicago only to have their car raided by police.
The Smell of War Wherever You Go – Hawazen Iraqi Refugee – Reports on Lebanon [video]
108morris108
May 18, 2012
The Imperialist plans to change the borders of Arab countries is playing out. Sectarian divide is a tool.
Hawazen informs us of many details on the fighting in Northern Lebanon. It is in fact a spill over from Syria.
Terrorists creating buffer zone in Lebanon: Syria UN envoy [video]
Press TV
May 20, 2012
Late last month a ship loaded with arms was intercepted in the Northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. Following this, several other cases of attempted arms smuggling in Lebanon and specifically near the border with Syria have been uncovered. This has been accompanied by the emergence of armed Salafists in Northern Lebanon, together with the arrest of individuals charged with affiliation to armed terrorist groups.
Chicago Militarized for NATO; What Can Activists Expect?
DDees.com
by Stephen Lendman, Contributor
Activist Post
May 19, 2012
Ready or not, NATO has officially arrived on May 19 and 20. Chicago’s in virtual lockdown. Residents feel occupied. Building occupants got special instructions.
This writer’s residence advised “leaving town between May 18 – 22.” Otherwise limit city travel. Have essentials on hand, including food and water. Consider working at home. Avoid certain parts of the city. Observe curfew and other mandates.
No large deliveries will be allowed. Special precautions are being taken. Visitors must have verifying photo IDs. Vehicular restrictions will be enforced. Portions of the building will be locked and inaccessible. Avoid large gatherings if at all possible. Stay close to home.
In early May, CBS local affiliate Channel 2 reported that “the government is informing small plane pilots that if they enter (a restricted) no-fly zone during the summit, they might be shot down.”
“This is no joke,” the report continued. “It will be enforced from May 19 to May 21.”
The FAA established flight advisory rules. Non-commercial aircraft are prohibited from flying within 10 nautical miles of downtown at altitudes below 18,000 feet.
Restrictions also include an outer perimeter extending 10 – 30 miles around Chicago. All aircraft violating flight restrictions will be intercepted. The advisory states:
The United States Government may use deadly force against the airborne aircraft, if it is determined that the aircraft poses an imminent security threat.
Be advised that noncompliance with the published may result in the use of force.
Violators face criminal penalties. For three days, no-fly zone enforcement extends from Lake County, IN to Lake County, IL. It includes Cook and DePage Counties as well as portions of Lake Michigan.
O’Hare and Midway Airports are affected. So are small suburban ones. Around a dozen overall face restrictions. When Obama arrives, he’ll be well protected downtown. So will other heads of state and their entourages.
Security is extremely tight. F-16s, Blackhawk helicopters, and drones patrol Chicago area skies. Elaborate barricades were erected in preparation.
Police may confront protesters violently. Local residents were warned to stay away. For many, conducting normal activities will be nightmarish. With dozens of motorcades coming, so will traffic.
Secret Service operatives head Operation Red Zone enforcement. They’ll direct federal, state and local law enforcement.
Militarized May Day was dress rehearsal preparation. Police patrolled streets in battle dress. McCormick Place is summit headquarters. Nonetheless, virtually the entire Loop and surrounding areas are locked down.
High police visibility began May 1. Protest groups were briefed. Marches require permits. Strict restrictions apply.
Occupy Chicago, other OWS participants, Veterans against War, immigrants and environmental rights groups, National Nurses United, CANG8, unions, and other organizations marched on May 1 under the slogan:
We are Workers. We are Students. We are Documented. We are Undocumented. We are Occupiers.
They are Detaining Us. They are Shutting Down our Clinics. They are Closing our Schools. They are Taking our Wealth. They are Busting our Unions.
Come May 1st. We are on the March! Join Us!
From May 19 – 21, they’re back.
On Monday, May 14, protesters began “A Week without Capitalism.” Dozens of Catholic Worker movement members demonstrated outside Obama’s campaign headquarters. Several were arrested.
On Tuesday, an anti-capitalist march took place near downtown from 6:30-PM to midnight. A same day Trinity Episcopal Church meeting discussed ways to stop police brutality and help victims recover.
On Wednesday, National Lawyers Guild and StreetMedics representatives held a nonviolence training seminar. Occupy Chicago and Communities United against Foreclosure and Eviction protested downtown. A Daley Plaza rally concluded it.
On Thursday, healthcare demonstrations were held. In addition, a protest march proceeded to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home.
On Friday, National Nurses United and Rage Against the Machine rallied downtown in Daley Plaza. At issue are medical service cuts and demands to tax Wall Street.
A same day Arts to Oppose NATO featured an evening of poetry, songs, information, and resistance against NATO war crimes. David Rovics and Outernational Unplugged participated.
Planned weekend events are numerous. Local groups, students, environmental activists, bikers, Planet over War, and other planned demonstrations will march, hold rallies, and feature local speakers. Participants have been briefed to maintain nonviolence no matter what confronts them.
The Chicago Tribune and Sun Times provide detailed coverage. On May 18, the Tribune headlined “Ready, set: Here comes NATO summit weekend,” saying that Chicagoans are braced for
a little pomp, a little circumstance, a lot of inconvenience, a splash of spring colors, a maze of barricades, street and museum closings, and a loud exercise of that most American of rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Some will take part in planned activities. Others will protest against a laundry list of crimes, abuses, and neglect nonviolently. Until Friday, demonstrations were small.
Through the weekend, the dynamic will change markedly. Tens of thousands on both sides converge on city streets, parks and plazas. Secret Service contingents were out in force. So were state police, National Guard forces, and thousands of Chicago cops.
America’s First Amendment will be sorely tested. It guarantees free expression and assembly rights.
Article I, Section 4 of Illinois’ Constitution affirms “FREEDOM OF SPEECH,” saying:
All persons may speak, write and publish freely, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. In trials for libel, both civil and criminal, the truth, when published with good motives and for justifiable ends, shall be a sufficient defense.
Section 5 affirms the “RIGHT TO ASSEMBLE AND PETITION,” saying:
The people have the right to assemble in a peaceable manner, to consult for the common good, to make known their opinions to their representatives and to apply for redress of grievances.
Previous global justice, G8, G20, IMF, World Bank, and other protests elsewhere produced serious rights violations. Throughout the weekend, Chicago may replicate them.
During the 1968 Democrat national convention, extreme Chicago police violence confronted anti-war demonstrators. Chilling images still resonate.
A Los Angeles Police Department observer said:
There is no question but that many officers acted without restraint and exerted force beyond that necessary under the circumstances.
The leadership at the point of conflict did little to prevent such conduct and the direct control of officers by first line supervisors was virtually non-existent.
Residents with long memories fear weekend police violence may replicate that type extreme harshness. Played out on national television, millions watched and cringed. Brutality replaced restraint.
Mayor Richard J. Daley ordered police to “shoot to kill arsonists and shoot to maim looters….As long as I am mayor of this city, there’s going to be law and order in Chicago.”
On August 22, an unarmed protester was shot to death. Brutal beatings occurred all week. Journalists as well as protesters were attacked. Many dozens were treated at local hospitals. Hundreds were arrested.
Senator Abe Ribicoff interrupted his George McGovern nominating speech to denounce “Gestapo tactics on the streets of Chicago.” If anti-NATO violence occurs, expect no leading politician to replicate him.
Days after the convention ended, local residents remember Daley’s freudian slip, saying:
The policeman isn’t there to create disorder. The policeman is there to preserve disorder.
Chicago cops specialize in doing it violently. Their reputation is ugly and notorious.
On May 18, Chicago Sun Times columnist Lynn Sweet headlined “Whose drone is it? US Military providing support for Chicago NATO Summit,” saying:
Defense Department spokesman George Little said US military support will help summit security. NORTHCOM will be present, perhaps in force. Details weren’t provided.
Following the Camp David G8 Summit, Obama arrives Saturday night. On Sunday, meetings follow. War, occupation, and other strategies will be discussed. Expect Afghanistan, Syria, and Iran to get considerable attention.
On May 17, a National Lawyers Guild (NLG) press release condemned preemptive police raids and lawless searches, saying that on Thursday,
a preemptive police raid took place at approximately 11:30pm Wednesday in the Bridgeport neighborhood, and instances of harassment on the street, in which Chicago police are unlawfully detaining, searching, and questioning NATO protesters.
The Bridgeport raid was apparently conducted by the Organized Crime Division of the Chicago Police Department and resulted in as many as 8 arrests.
Witnesses said cops burst into a six-unit apartment building violently with no search warrant. Doing so is illegal. They entered an apartment guns drawn. One tenant was tackled in his kitchen. Two were handcuffed for two hours in their living room while police searched their apartment and a neighboring one.
Repeatedly they called one tenant a “Commie faggot.” A search warrant produced four hours later had no judicial authorizing signature. Beer-making supplies and one or more cell phones were seized.
NLG attorney Sarah Gelsomino said:
Preemptive raids like this are a hallmark of National Special Security Events. The Chicago police and other law enforcement agencies should be aware that this behavior will not be tolerated and will result in real consequences for the city.
Expect lawsuits to follow. What’s next is uncertain. Settlements may include monetary payments to plaintiffs.
In another downtown incident, three plainclothes cops lawlessly stopped, handcuffed, searched, detained, and interrogated a NATO protester. No probable cause justified it. The subject refused to answer all questions. Hours later he was released.
NLG got reports of at least 20 other arrests. Some remain in custody. Los Angeles immigrant rights activist Danny Johnson was accused of assaulting a police officer during a protest rally and arrested. Witnesses contradicted police accusations.
Throughout the weekend, NLG staff remain on call to provide legal services for anyone mistreated or arrested. Scores of NLG observers are deployed on streets. They’ll record police misconduct firsthand.
Past experience suggests considerable police violence before summit activities end. Committing it should make NATO participants feel right at home.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/
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