“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” — Albert Einstein
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter just went before a Senate Armed Services Committee to wrestle still more billions from the American war chest in support of Middle East regime change. The Barack Obama appointed head of America’s military has presented a supposed comprehensive plan to defeat an enemy that Syria’s Assad and Russia’s air might have already crushed. The real purpose of Carter’s appearance before the Senate last week was to further fund anti-Assad forces, and to further invest in America’s military industrial businesses. United States policy in the Middle East is being unmasked, with inestimable sums of money fueling a perpetual war fire.
The fictitious war on terror America’s leaders milk billions out of, is intended to go on in perpetuity. Worse still, the mission to draw Europe into the fray is intended to make our EU partners further dependent on US military prowess. Barack Obama intendeds to leave his predecessor with an unwinnable war, a war that will break the union of European states permanently. Here’s that story.
America’s Syria Bonfire
The Syrian Civil War began in the spring of 2011 as a latter end-game component of the Arab Spring regime changes across the Middle East. Billed as another “freedom fight” to overthrow a tyrannical regime, the latter events of the conflict have proven the war to be yet another “applied democracy” insurgency, with the intent of reshaping the policies of the entire region. The facts of what happened in Syria are in plain sight, only obscured by controlled media in the west. The United States funded and fuelled an anti-Assad rebellion comprised of al-Qaeda, al-Nusra and other extremists, and more or less created ISIL. Then Washington funneled billions into a farcical effort to destroy terror under the guise ISIS (ISIL), while turning Syria into essentially another Libya. This is widely understood, even by the people of the United States of America. Still the neocons and Washington elite press on, intent on mission 1 still, ready to pour more billions into a bloodbath that is crippling Europe and the region. Carter is lying, and here is the truth.
Using territorial gains of ISIL as the excuse for military intervention in the region, the United States began air missions against the extremist organization in August 2014. Then in September, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held meetings with the ministers of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Denmark and Italy at the NATO Summit in Wales. After the meeting those allies agreed to support “anti-ISIL forces” in Iraq and Syria with supplies and air support. This coalition action was undertaken without the invitation of consent of the legitimate leader of a sovereign nation. This fact is undeniable, and the ensuing regional catastrophe is the result of an illegal act by these nations, even under the United Nations Charter. This too is incontrovertible. As we see today, this war has metastasized into a proxy war in between the United States and Russia. Congress is aware, Brussels is aware; the world knows what is at stake. Now we can move on to dogged pursuit of world conflict by America’s leadership. It is interesting, and a bit positive, that some American politicians seem to understand the disaster Carter’s boss has wrought. Speaking last week, Republican presidential hopeful, Donald Trump said:
“Our actions in Iraq, Libya and Syria have helped unleash ISIS. We’re in a war against radical Islam, but President Obama won’t even name the enemy, and unless you name the enemy, you will never ever solve the problem.”
Illegitimacy versus Legitimacy
11 October 2015, basically one year after the US led coalition achieved nothing against ISIL, Russian president Vladimir Putin made a statement on the mission of the Russia/Syria/Iran coalition arrayed against ISIL and insurgents. He told an audience “the military operation had been thoroughly prepared in advance”, and he further defined Russia′s goal in Syria as, “stabilizing the legitimate power in Syria and creating the conditions for political compromise.” A year of coalition airstrikes, billions spent either aiding jihadists against Assad, or bombing “sand” in the deserts of Iraq and Syria, and the NATO coalition achieved nothing. Five months into the Russian air support mission, Putin pulled out his largest air forces contingent, and the Syrian Army takes back Palmyra. US PR strategies cannot mask the truth of Syria. The goal has been to undo Assad all along.
With Turkey and Saudi Arabia implicated in assisting the Assad regime overthrow, and with a supposed ceasefire in effect, the United States leadership still presses to arm Assad’s enemies. But the real cataclysm has less to do with arming al-Qaeda, and more to do with cementing Europe’s allegiance to America. It was at about this time a report surfaced that cast a huge shadow over the CENTCOM and the US led policing of the world.
In September, the Defense Department Office of Inspector General announced opening an investigation into allegations intelligence information provided by CENTCOM’s Intelligence Directorate, “falsified, distorted, suppressed, or modified intelligence. In effect, CENTCOM’s effectiveness across the board was called to question, with regard to missions from Afghanistan to Syria and beyond. The US House of Representatives launched the investigation in December of 2015, and promised results early this year. One of the congressmen assigned to lead the inquiry is US Army reserve Lieutenant Colonel, Brad Wenstrup, who is and Ohio representative, who is a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The ensuing report, which the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Mac Thornberry characterized back then as crucial:
“Now there’s an inspector-general investigation — we don’t want to mess that up — but at the same time we’re not going to wait until they conclude. This is a very serious matter that we have an obligation to get into.”
I have contacted each of the congressmen appointed to investigate CENTCOM impropriety, but as of this writing, none have responded. My assessment of congress’ role in all this is that these leaders simply play “good cop-bad cop” as always. The facts indicate these leaders’ only true ideological differences being which Congressional district back home gets the most federal kickback in the form of military spending. Leaving off here for the moment, let’s look at Secretary Carter’s misleading testimony before the people last week.
Binding Europe to Chaos
Looking at the transcript of Ashton Carter’s testimony, we find a Vietnam-like escalation of US military support in this fiasco. Commenting on a 10X amplification of Special Forces troops deployed to Syria, Carter told the Senate:
“[The US military forces] will also serve as a hub to incorporate partner special forces from both European and Gulf partners that will augment our coalition’s counter-ISIL efforts there.”
Supposedly these Special Forces elements are intended to call in the massive might of the US military on the heads of ISIL. But in fact the force additions represent an escalation in involvement, a ramping up toward a wider conflagration. Looking at congressional transcripts and the wording of the so-called Syria Train and Equip authorities given President Barack Obama, it is essential to note the rewording of the program’s objective. The initial documents stated that a purpose of these appropriations was for:
“…defending the Syrian people from attacks by the Syrian regime, facilitating the provision of essential services, and stabilizing territory controlled by the opposition…”
Later documentation, and especially after the so-called “McKeon amendment” (PDF), curtailed the Obama administration’s authority, at least with regard to the stated mission. An imbecilic “Equip and Train” mission still goes forward, only without actually stating that America is trying to overthrow Assad. “Defending against Assad” has become, “Defending the Syrian people from attacks by the Islamic State o of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Reading the transcripts of congressional discussion of this “Equip and Arm” disaster, it also becomes clear the majority of lawmakers in Washington knew of, and approved of, overthrowing the Assad regime. Ash Carter speaking to the Arms Services Committee now, it simply capitalizes the bigger lie to the American people by the majority of American leadership. Complicit are, the president, the US House of Representatives, and the US Senate. I use the world “complicit” for purpose, for the constituents of these leaders has literally no idea what regime change effort in Syria has meant, nor the ramifications of the ongoing proxy war. The American people are misdirected, lied to, and marginalized in any decision making process in Washington. The aforementioned CENTCOM intelligence tampering is as clear as day, ever since Putin’s air forces began televising the destruction of ISIL oil tankers headed to NATO ally Turkey. No US leader in Washington could win a court case stating otherwise. Returning to Carter’s part in this new kind of warfare, it becomes clear that fiction is acceptable in the halls of power in Washington.
Lying Like a Clinton
Carter also deliberately misled Congress with regard to ISIL not making advances after May of 2015. This is illustrated by the fact Assad forces forced ISIL back during the battle of al-Hasakah in August, and with no help from an anemic coalition effort to stop ISIL oil revenues. The coalition was not flying air cover for Assad’s army, after all. Carter makes the Congressional committee believe coalition funding and military operations put a half to ISIL, when it was first the Syrian army, and later Russia’s air campaign which accomplished this. Furthermore, ISIL’s mission objectives are not totally geographical or territorial. Carter mentions nothing of this…. Carter knows this, but his report to Congress misdirects in suggesting ISIL advances were somehow halted by the coalition. The Kobanê Massacre is a good example. In June 223–233 civilians and another 37 Kurdish militia were killed in ISIL suicide attacks. Carter wants Congress to think US billions to fund this internal war are effective at halting terror, when in reality the reverse is true. Trillions of dollars and millions of lives wasted, and Washington still cheers the victories of US policy. But the core of this malignancy is more transparent than most imagine.
This National Defense University Press report tells us all we need to know about Syria, Arab Spring, and the new Cold War on Russia. US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is the subject of a report entitled; “Back to Basics on Hybrid Warfare in Europe: A Lesson from the Balkans.” While you digest the concept of the “deconstruct” of Yugoslavia being seen as a “success” for these psychopaths, I’ll relate key elements of the report.
It will help you to know that there was a Bosnian operation exactly like the one Washington is funding in Syria now. The Bosnian Train and Equip Program is documented in a proud report entitled; “A Lesson in Interagency Integration of Hard and Soft Power, Strategic Perspectives 15 (NDU Press, March 2014).” Cutting through the dogma and philosophy for you here, this was simply a template for regime change enacted by then US President Bill Clinton. Under the auspices of a NATO protective umbrella over Europe, the strategy of “hybrid warfare” is condoned and promoted to “counter Russian aggression”. I do not want to drag the reader too deep into these Draconian strategies, so suffice it to say each successive US administration in the last 70 years has inched eastward toward Moscow. Yugoslavia went under the wheels of democratic progress, as have many of the former Soviet states. Once you read the report, you’ll be aghast at the US strategy being applied in nations around the world. Ash Carter’s, CENTCOM’s, the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch of US government’s makeup is not part of a “hybrid” World War essentially. Quoting from this new war manifesto:
“Hybrid warfare fundamentally involves an integrated mix of previously separate instruments of power, whether military, diplomatic, intelligence, covert, informational, or other capabilities.”
As applies to the Syria situation, we see this “integrated” approach to regime change playing out in each category, most notably the “informational” aspect. CENTCOM tells the world of America’s blasting ISIL to smithereens, when in effect US and coalition planes are protecting what is really going. What Washington wants most of all is Arab Spring to be completed, and to turn the Middle East into the Balkans. Under the thumbs, powerless to do more than complain to, the authority and might of NATO, the Middle East as essentially a surrogate to America. The report reveals more of this madness. The authors applaud “Train and Equip” Bosnia, and use it to show why the Syria version is failing. Dogged, determined, hard headed stupid that is what these “experts” are. Quoting again from think tank lunatics intent on defending Machiavellian polices:
“The (Obama) administration assigned the complex Syria train and equip mission to lead agencies rather than configuring it from the beginning as an integrated interagency effort. It began as a CIA-run covert operation. Then the administration decided to increase the scale and profile of the effort and gave it to the Department of Defense (DOD).”
A Hybrid Total War
Breaking this all down for you, the Bush administration began the Assad overthrow operation back in 2006. Sanctions and other levers were applied, to put the regime under intense pressure. Covert CIA efforts to help anti-Assad elements then grew exponentially, as Iraq and Syrian militants were cooked into an extremist stew. Then Obama took office, and upped the ante using the CIA, the Saudis, Turkey, the Kurds, and with the behind the scenes support of Israel. The news “Weapons of Mass Destruction” lie was concocted, and only Putin and Russia stood in the way of some full scale invasion. Arming and Funding (Train and Equip) took on a massive, half a trillion dollar scale approved by ALL of America’s leadership. And now the same DOD is in charge. The plan has only changed to emulate the Bosnia plan, and the proxy war with Russia goes on full scale. America’s treasury is bankrupt, the American people are left out of the equation, and a new “hybrid” form of World War is underway. Now even European allies are literally being attacked by the United States, though this is less obvious visibly. If you read the documents, and examine the rhetoric, then you’ll see the intent is there. NATO and EU nations bogged down, and with casualties in Syria…. Where do you think this puts NATO and America? Think protection racket.
This morning BBC is reporting that Washington wants peace in Syria. This proves the collusion in between UK’s rulers and the Washington elites running this horror show.
“The United States says it is working on specific initiatives to de-escalate fighting in Syria and revive a nationwide cessation of hostilities.”
The White House and the US Congress are still intent on “Train and Equip”, when it is clear the war on ISIL could end tomorrow. If Barack Obama’s last executive order before leaving the White House in November were to throw al-Qaeda (our sworn enemy) and al-Nusra (more extremist jihadists) under the bus, then Syira, Russia and Iran would decimate ISIL within weeks. Furthermore, if the coalition led by the US had coordinated and assisted Russian air forces rather than trying to shoot them down (Turkey), ISIL would no longer have arms, money, or the moral to continue. Again, this is incontrovertible. This is the reality. This is the truth of Syria and the refugee catastrophe. Think about it.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
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