[News] Obama does Syriana

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*Obama does Syriana*
Pepe Escobar

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NH03Ak04.html

It took Reuters quite a while to be allowed to report that US President 
Barack Obama had approved an intelligence finding [1] letting the 
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) loose in its support for the 
weaponized "rebels" fighting for regime change in Syria.

By now even fishermen in Fiji knew about this "secret" (not to mention 
that everyone and his neighbor across Latin America knows a thing or two 
about the CIA's regime change adventures). Reuters cautiously describes 
the support as "circumscribed". That's code for "leading from behind".

Whenever the CIA wants to leak something it uses a faithful scribe, such 
as David Ignatius from the Washington Post. Already on July 18 Ignatius 
was reproducing his briefing, [2] according to which "the CIA has been 
working with the Syrian opposition for several weeks under a non-lethal 
directive ... Scores of Israeli intelligence officers are also operating 
along Syria's border, though they are keeping a low profile."

How lovely. How low profile do you get along Syria's borders? An 
Instagram surrounded by a bunch of grinning truck drivers?

As for the Mossad's "low profile", the spin in Tel Aviv is that Israel 
is able to "control" the swarm of hardcore Wahhabis and Salafi-jihadis 
now infesting Syria. Even if that is manifest nonsense, one juicy point 
is clear; Israel is in bed with al-Qaeda-style Islamists.

What this means is that the Not Exactly Free Syrian Army (FSA), crammed 
with Muslim Brotherhood diehards and infiltrated by Salafi-jihadis, is 
following the agenda not only of their financiers and weaponizers - the 
House of Saud and Qatar - but also Tel Aviv, alongside Washington and 
its trademark poodles London and Paris. So this is not just a proxy war 
- it's a multiple, concentric proxy war.

*Meet the triangle of death*
Tel Aviv's agenda is clear; a weakened Syrian government, an 
overextended army in disarray, sectarian hatred all around and a 
relentless slouching towards balkanization. The ultimate goal; not only 
the Lebanonization, but the Somalization of Syria and environs.

Turkey's agenda remains incredibly murky - apart from the wishful 
thinking of post-Assad Syria becoming a mild, civilized version of the 
AKP reign in Ankara (it won't happen).

As reported by ATol for months now, North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
(NATO) until a while ago was running a command and control center in 
Iskenderun, in Hathay province. Recently, it was finally leaked to 
Reuters the news of a joint Turkey-Qatar-Saudi Arabia "secret" base in 
Adana, 100 kilometers from the Syrian border. Adana happens to be the 
home of Incirlik, the immense NATO base. A local ATol source for weeks 
has been reporting of frantic cargo movements at Incirlik.

It was Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Saud who 
requested, in person, for the base to be set up, to Ankara's delight.

Ankara-Riyadh-Doha; talk about a triangle of death. Yet the spin from 
Qatar is once again of the "leading from behind" variety. Turkey is 
doing the military heavy lifting; the CIA is "hands off"; and Qatar is 
just taking pictures like an innocent tourist (while directing 
operations via its military intelligence). The heavy-duty guys are all 
unspecified "middlemen".

Obama has not authorized a drone war - yet - and the CIA may not be 
weaponizing the "rebels"; that's the "triangle of death's" business. An 
inflation of Russian rocket-propelled grenades bought in the black 
market has been responsible for recent "rebel" surges in Damascus and 
Aleppo. Now an inflation of shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles and 
surface-to-air missiles is to be expected; NBC News has already reported 
about a "gift" of nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles to the FSA - 
delivered via, where else, Turkey.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia are taking no prisoners. No one in Washington 
seems to be looking back to post-jihad Afghanistan before making a 
decision. By the way, this is the 1980s Afghan jihad all over again - 
with Saudi Arabia and Qatar playing the role of Pakistan, the FSA as the 
glorious mujahideen "freedom fighters" and Obama as Ronald Reagan; the 
only element missing is Obama approving a "memorandum of notification" 
to his initial intelligence finding, authorizing Washington to weaponize 
the freedom fighters and introducing a swarm of drones.

Now that's the recipe for a certified 2013 Hollywood blockbuster.

Riyadh, for its part, is forcing Jordan's King Playstation to install a 
buffer zone in his territory for the over 100 gangs that comprise the 
FSA - as revealed by the Saudi-financed al-Quds al-Arabi. And guess who 
was the henchman forcing the deal? No less than vanishing Saudi intel 
chief Prince Bandar, who may or may not have been killed in a bomb 
attack two weeks ago (see Where is Prince Bandar? 
<http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NH02Ak03.html>, Asia Times Online, 
August 2, 2012).

*The Grim Reaper wins* It's worth repeating till the Grim Reaper comes 
to collect; spectacular blowback looms large.

The prolonged siege of Aleppo is at hand. The NATO-Gulf Cooperation 
Council "secret base" in Turkey, plus free-for-all weaponizing, are 
empowering an extremely nasty mix of unemployed, semi-illiterate young 
Sunni Syrians, sectarian born to kill army defectors, assorted criminals 
and multinational Salafi-jihadis. This video [3] shows everything one 
needs to know about the FSA. And this [4] shows what kind of "democracy" 
they are aiming for.

Saudi Wahhabis want a hardcore Sunni Islamist Syria - complete with 
Christians, Allawites, Druzes and Kurds as third-rate citizens (or prime 
candidates for beheading). Qataris want a Muslim Brotherhood protectorate.

The Obama administration's foreign policy makers must be on (lousy) 
crack. Just because they are engaged on an all-out war against not only 
Iran, but also Shi'ites all around, how could they possibly bet on a 
Somalization of Syria profiting Wahhabi intolerance? A grinning Grim 
Reaper awaits in the wings.

/*Notes:*/
1. Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret US support for Syrian rebels 
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/01/us-usa-syria-obama-order-idUSBRE8701OK20120801>, 
Reuters, August 1, 2012
2.Looking for a Syrian endgame 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-syria-approaches-the-tipping-point/2012/07/18/gJQAFoCvtW_story.html>, 
Washington Post, July 19, 2012
3. See here <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Pjk1sYEjuU&feature=share>.
4. Free Syrian Army issues military-led transition plan, AFP, July 30, 2012


/*Pepe Escobar* is the author of/ Globalistan: How the Globalized World 
is Dissolving into Liquid War 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0978813820/simpleproduction/ref=nosim> 
(Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during 
the surge 
<http://www.amazon.com/Red-Zone-Blues-snapshot-Baghdad/dp/0978813898>. 
His most recent book is Obama does Globalistan 
<http://www.amazon.com/Obama-Does-Globalistan-Pepe-Escobar/dp/1934840831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233698286&sr=8-1> 
(Nimble Books, 2009).

/He may be reached at/ pepeasia at yahoo.com
-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863-9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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