State-Sponsored Terrorism

Sophisticated U.S. Arms Flowing to Jihadists

"Fox News is reporting a stunning theft of U.S. arms by jihadist salafists in Libya. This news item will be made much of by critics of Obama on the right. However, military and government blunders, cost overruns, unneeded weapons systems, and general mis-management are par for the course. Of more relevance is the light this sheds on the U.S. arms being shipped into Syria. There are no significant controls that prevent these arms from reaching the most terror-prone and jihadist elements among the Syrian rebels, whose numbers are large in proportion to all the rebels. This decision to ship arms was foolhardy from the get-go, and now it looks even more ill-conceived." Continue reading →

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McCain’s Moderates Join Al-Qaeda

"Now this week the final strategic pillar of McCain and the neocons has come crashing to the ground. Critical elements of the ever-shrinking 'moderate' Free Syrian Army have this week pledged their loyalty to the local al-Qaeda franchise in Syria, which happens to be on the US terror list. How can President Obama, McCain, Lindsay Graham, Samantha Power, John Kerry, and the rest of the neoconservatives and humanitarian interventionists continue to justify sending weapons of war to such people? How is it possible that a 'global war on terror' has morphed into a 'global effort to arm terrorists'? Does it not seem rather insane?" Continue reading →

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Syria rebels fracturing as the Free Syrian Army condemns jihadists

"On Friday, after ISIS seized the northern border town of Azaz, the opposition National Coalition for the first time publicly condemned attacks by jihadists. 'The Coalition condemns the aggressions against the forces of the Syrian revolution and the repeated disregard for the lives of Syrians, and considers that this behaviour runs contrary to the Syrian revolution and the principles it is striving to achieve,' it said, after ISIS seized Azaz on the border with Turkey from FSA hands. Problems between the FSA and ISIS are not only over control, but also about vision. While the FSA is fighting to establish a democratic state in Syria, the aim of ISIS is to create and rule over an Islamic state." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSyria rebels fracturing as the Free Syrian Army condemns jihadists

First Syria rebels armed and trained by CIA ‘on way to battlefield’

"The first cell of Syrian rebels trained and armed by the CIA is making its way to the battlefield, President Barack Obama has reportedly told senators. During a meeting at the White House, the president assured Senator John McCain that after months of delay the US was meeting its commitment to back moderate elements of the opposition. Mr Obama said that a 50-man cell, believed to have been trained by US special forces in Jordan, was making its way across the border into Syria, according to the New York Times. The deployment of the rebel unit seems to be the first tangible measure of support since Mr Obama announced in June that the US would begin providing the opposition with small arms." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFirst Syria rebels armed and trained by CIA ‘on way to battlefield’

Obama waives anti-terrorism provisions to arm Syrian rebels

"The Obama administration waived provisions of a federal law which ban the supply of weapons and money to terrorists. The move is opening doors to supplying Syrian opposition with protection from chemical weapons. The Arms Export Control Act (AECA) allows the US president to waive provisions in Sections 40 and 40A, which forbid providing munitions, credit and licenses to countries supporting acts of terrorism. But those prohibitions can be waived 'if the President determines that the transaction is essential to the national security interests of the United States.'" Continue reading →

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Ron Paul Questions The Double-Dealing Empire

"How can the U.S. be both fighting Al Qaeda, and at the same time aiding them to overthrow Assad in Syria? Well, this isn't the first time that Ron Paul has posed this type of question. Let's rewind back to 1983, when the bogeyman was The Soviet Union. Here's Ron Paul speaking on the House floor, asking an almost identical question: 'Why are we engaged in military action against the Communists in which American lives are being lost when we cannot take the simple action of cutting off the flow of money to the Communists? For decades we have pursued this immoral course of action, asking American men to die fighting an enemy the American government has financed.'" Continue reading →

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Obama admin. sends guns to Syria…without background checks

"Have these rebels, who reportedly have ties to terrorist groups, gone through background checks? Does this transfer of light weapons and munitions to Syrian rebels go against the grain of the United Nations’ Small Arms Trade Treaty, which the president has said he supports and would sign? There have been allegations that the Syrian rebels have strong connections to al Qaeda, the same organization that claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and has been linked to last year’s Benghazi attack, and we’re giving these people weapons? Does it seem that the president is [little] concerned about putting guns in the hands of people whose idea of justice is public execution?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama admin. sends guns to Syria…without background checks

John Kerry Admits Syrian Rebels Could Have Chemical Weapons

"Kerry said UN inspectors must be on the ground no later than November, while the destruction of chemical weapons must be completed by the middle of 2014. 'Providing this framework is fully implemented it can end the threat these weapons pose not only to the Syrian people but also their neighbors,' Kerry said adding that Russian and US teams of experts had reached 'a shared assessment' of the existing stockpile and that Syria must destroy all of its weapons. It was possible that the Syrian rebels have some chemical weapons, he acknowledged." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJohn Kerry Admits Syrian Rebels Could Have Chemical Weapons

U.S. Drones Double Tap, Targeting Rescuers

"The U.S. use of drones in the 'war on terror' includes what is called a 'double tap,' meaning sending a second drone to the same area, in what amounts to targeting rescuers who are responding to the first attack. This isn’t new, not the action nor the reporting. What does it tell us, that 'double tapping' continues, about the decisions of the Obama administration, and the reactions, or lack thereof, from the U.S. public? Michael Kelly’s conclusion that the fact that double tapping 'is now normalized as a common tactic of the U.S. drone war is stunning' seems accurate to me. But I’m also not stunned that more people aren’t stunned by this 'normalcy.'" Continue reading →

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