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<b><big><big>How the west created the Islamic State</big></big></b><b><big><big>…with
a little help from our friends<br>
<br>
</big></big></b><b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://medium.com/@NafeezAhmed/how-the-west-created-the-islamic-state-dbfa6f83bc1f">https://medium.com/@NafeezAhmed/how-the-west-created-the-islamic-state-dbfa6f83bc1f</a></small></small></b><b><big><big><br>
</big></big></b>
<h3 name="752b" class="graf--h3">Part 1 – OUR TERRORISTS</h3>
<blockquote name="198c" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“This is an organisation that has an
apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision which will eventually
have to be defeated,” <em class="markup--em
markup--blockquote-em">Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US
Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon press conference in
August.</em></blockquote>
<p name="368c" class="graf--p">Military action is necessary to halt
the spread of the ISIS/IS “cancer,” said President Obama.
Yesterday, in his much anticipated address, he called for expanded
airstrikes across Iraq and Syria, and new measures to arm and
train Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces.</p>
<blockquote name="3e25" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“The only way to defeat [IS] is to
stand firm and to send a very straightforward message,”<em
class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em"> declared Prime
Minister Cameron.</em> “A country like ours will not be cowed by
these barbaric killers.”</blockquote>
<p name="89ce" class="graf--p">Missing from the chorus of outrage,
however, has been any acknowledgement of the integral role of
covert US and British regional military intelligence strategy in
empowering and even directly sponsoring the very same virulent
Islamist militants in Iraq, Syria and beyond, that went on to
break away from al-Qaeda and form ‘ISIS’, the Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria, or now simply, the Islamic State (IS).</p>
<p name="1fde" class="graf--p">Since 2003, Anglo-American power has
secretly and openly coordinated direct and indirect support for
Islamist terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda across the Middle
East and North Africa. This ill-conceived patchwork geostrategy is
a legacy of the persistent influence of neoconservative ideology,
motivated by longstanding but often contradictory ambitions to
dominate regional oil resources, defend an expansionist Israel,
and in pursuit of these, re-draw the map of the Middle East.</p>
<p name="6fa8" class="graf--p">Now despite Pentagon denials that
there will be boots on the ground – and Obama’s insistence that
this would not be another “Iraq war” – local Kurdish military and
intelligence sources confirm that US and German <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/02/are-american-troops-already-fighting-on-the-front-lines-in-iraq.html"
data-href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/02/are-american-troops-already-fighting-on-the-front-lines-in-iraq.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">special
operations forces</a> are already “on the ground here. They are
helping to support us in the attack.” US airstrikes on ISIS
positions and arms supplies to the Kurds have also been
accompanied by British RAF reconnaissance flights over the region
and <a target="_blank"
href="http://news.yahoo.com/britain-arming-iraqi-kurds-machine-guns-fight-140021897.html"
data-href="http://news.yahoo.com/britain-arming-iraqi-kurds-machine-guns-fight-140021897.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">UK
weapons shipments</a> to Kurdish peshmerga forces.</p>
<h4 name="2c52" class="graf--h4"><strong class="markup--strong
markup--h4-strong">Divide and rule in Iraq</strong></h4>
<blockquote name="f067" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“It’s not that we don’t want the
Salafis to throw bombs,” <em class="markup--em
markup--blockquote-em">said one </em><a target="_blank"
href="http://newint.org/features/2009/10/01/blowback-extended-version/"
data-href="http://newint.org/features/2009/10/01/blowback-extended-version/"
class="markup--anchor markup--blockquote-anchor" rel="nofollow"><em
class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">US government defense
consultant</em></a><em class="markup--em
markup--blockquote-em"> in 2007.</em> “It’s who they throw them
at – Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they
continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.”</blockquote>
<p name="7dd2" class="graf--p">Early during the 2003 invasion and
occupation of Iraq, the US covertly supplied arms to al-Qaeda
affiliated insurgents even while ostensibly supporting an emerging
Shi’a-dominated administration.</p>
<p name="883d" class="graf--p">Pakistani defense sources interviewed
by <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GB15Ak02.html"
data-href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GB15Ak02.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Asia
Times</a> in February 2005 confirmed that insurgents described
as “former Ba’ath party” loyalists – who were being <a
target="_blank"
href="http://rawstory.com/news/2005/CAUGHT_RED__0923.html"
data-href="http://rawstory.com/news/2005/CAUGHT_RED__0923.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">recruited
and trained</a> by “al-Qaeda in Iraq” under the leadership of
the late Abu Musab Zarqawi – were being supplied
Pakistan-manufactured weapons by the US. The arms shipments
included rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, ammunition,
rockets and other light weaponry. These arms “could not be
destined for the Iraqi security forces because US arms would be
given to them”, a source told Syed Saleem Shahzad – the Times’
Pakistan bureau chief who, “known for his <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/09/19/the-journalist-and-the-spies"
data-href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/09/19/the-journalist-and-the-spies"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">exposes
of the Pakistani military</a>” according to the New Yorker, was
murdered in 2011. Rather, the US is playing a double-game to “head
off” the threat of a “Shi’ite clergy-driven religious movement,”
said the Pakistani defense source.</p>
<p name="975a" class="graf--p">This was not the only way US strategy
aided the rise of Zarqawi, a bin Laden mentee and brainchild of
the extremist ideology that would later spawn ‘ISIS.’</p>
<p name="5efa" class="graf--p">According to a little-known November
report for the <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2005/0511_jsou-report-05-5.pdf"
data-href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2005/0511_jsou-report-05-5.pdf"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">US Joint
Special Operations University</a> (JSOU) and Strategic Studies
Department, <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Dividing Our
Enemies</em>, post-invasion Iraq was “an interesting case study
of fanning discontent among enemies, leading to ‘red-against-red’
[enemy-against-enemy] firefights.”</p>
<p name="95eb" class="graf--p">While counterinsurgency on the one
hand requires US forces to “ameliorate harsh or deprived living
conditions of the indigenous populations” to publicly win local
hearts and minds:</p>
<blockquote name="277d" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“… the reverse side of this coin is
one less discussed. <strong class="markup--strong
markup--blockquote-strong">It involves no effort to win over
those caught in the crossfire of insurgent and counterinsurgent
warfare, whether by bullet or broadcast</strong>. On the
contrary, this underside of the counterinsurgency coin is
calculated to <strong class="markup--strong
markup--blockquote-strong">exploit or create divisions among
adversaries</strong> for the purpose of fomenting enemy-on-enemy
deadly encounters.”</blockquote>
<p name="36a3" class="graf--p">In other words, US forces will pursue
public legitimacy through conventional social welfare while
simultaneously delegitimising local enemies by escalating
intra-insurgent violence, knowing full-well that doing so will in
turn escalate the number of innocent civilians “caught in the
crossfire.” The idea is that violence covertly calibrated by <a
target="_blank"
href="http://themester.indiana.edu/themester2011/events/ahmed.pdf"
data-href="http://themester.indiana.edu/themester2011/events/ahmed.pdf"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">US
special operations</a> will not only weaken enemies through
in-fighting but turn the population against them.</p>
<p name="2162" class="graf--p">In this case, the ‘enemy’ consisted
of jihadists, Ba’athists, and peaceful Sufis, who were in a
majority but, like the militants, also opposed the US military
presence and therefore needed to be influenced. The JSOU report
referred to events in late 2004 in Fallujah where “US
psychological warfare (PSYOP) specialists” undertook to “set
insurgents battling insurgents.” This involved actually promoting
Zarqawi’s ideology, ironically, to defeat it: “The PSYOP warriors
crafted programs to exploit Zarqawi’s murderous activities – and
to disseminate them through meetings, radio and television
broadcasts, handouts, newspaper stories, political cartoons, and
posters – thereby diminishing his folk-hero image,” and
encouraging the different factions to pick each other off. “By
tapping into the Fallujans’ revulsion and antagonism to the
Zarqawi jihadis the Joint PSYOP Task Force did its ‘best to foster
a rift between Sunni groups.’”</p>
<p name="a614" class="graf--p">Yet as noted by Dahr Jamail, one of
the few unembedded investigative reporters in Iraq after the war,
the proliferation of propaganda linking the acceleration of
suicide bombings to the persona of Zarqawi was not matched by
meaningful evidence. His own search to substantiate the myriad
claims attributing the insurgency to Zarqawi beyond anonymous US
intelligence sources encountered only an “<a target="_blank"
href="http://thefallujahproject.org/home/node/69"
data-href="http://thefallujahproject.org/home/node/69"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">eerie
blankness</a>”.</p>
<p name="cf15" class="graf--p">The US military operation in
Fallujah, largely justified on the claim that Zarqawi’s militant
forces had occupied the city, used white phosphorous, cluster
bombs, and indiscriminate air strikes to pulverise 36,000 of
Fallujah’s 50,000 homes, killing nearly a thousand civilians,
terrorising 300,000 inhabitants to flee, and culminating in a
disproportionate increase in birth defects, cancer and infant
mortality due to the devastating environmental consequences of the
war.</p>
<p name="c639" class="graf--p">To this day, Fallujah has suffered
from being largely cut-off from wider Iraq, its infrastructure
largely unworkable with water and sewage systems still in
disrepair, and its citizens subject to sectarian discrimination
and persecution by Iraqi government backed Shi’a militia and
police. “Thousands of bereaved and homeless Falluja families have
a new reason to hate the US and its allies,” observed <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/apr/27/iraq.iraq5"
data-href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/apr/27/iraq.iraq5"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">The
Guardian</a> in 2005. Thus, did the US occupation <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/isis-a-short-history/376030/"
data-href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/isis-a-short-history/376030/"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">plant the
seeds</a> from which Zarqawi’s legacy would coalesce into the
Frankenstein monster that calls itself “the Islamic State.”</p>
<h4 name="f5dd" class="graf--h4"><strong class="markup--strong
markup--h4-strong">Bankrolling al-Qaeda in Syria</strong></h4>
<p name="9856" class="graf--p">According to former French foreign
minister <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeyRwFHR8WY"
data-href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeyRwFHR8WY"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Roland
Dumas</a>, Britain had planned covert action in Syria as early
as 2009: “I was in England two years before the violence in Syria
on other business,” he told French television: “I met with top
British officials, who confessed to me that they were preparing
something in Syria. This was in Britain not in America. Britain
was preparing gunmen to invade Syria.”</p>
<p name="3d48" class="graf--p">Leaked emails from the <a
target="_blank"
href="http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/syria-spooks-wikileaks-military/5502"
data-href="http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/syria-spooks-wikileaks-military/5502"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">private
intelligence firm Stratfor</a>, including notes from <a
target="_blank"
href="https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1671459_insight-military-intervention-in-syria-post-withdrawal.html"
data-href="https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1671459_insight-military-intervention-in-syria-post-withdrawal.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">a meeting
with Pentagon officials</a>, confirmed that as of 2011, US and
UK special forces training of Syrian opposition forces was well
underway. The goal was to elicit the “collapse” of Assad’s regime
“from within.”</p>
<p name="11d3" class="graf--p">Since then, the role of the <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/14/america-s-allies-are-funding-isis.html"
data-href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/14/america-s-allies-are-funding-isis.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Gulf
states</a> – namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab
Emirates, and Jordan (as well as NATO member Turkey) – in
officially and unofficially <a
href="https://medium.com/p/dbfa6f83bc1f/financing"
data-href="https://medium.com/p/dbfa6f83bc1f/financing"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor">financing</a> and
coordinating the <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.dw.de/who-finances-isis/a-17720149"
data-href="http://www.dw.de/who-finances-isis/a-17720149"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">most
virulent elements</a> amongst Syria’s rebels under the tutelage
of US military intelligence is no secret. Yet the conventional
wisdom is that the funneling of support to Islamist extremists in
the rebel movement affiliated to al-Qaeda has been a colossal and
regrettable error.</p>
<p name="62ff" class="graf--p">The reality is very different. The
empowerment of the Islamist factions within the ‘Free Syrian Army’
(FSA) was a foregone conclusion of the strategy.</p>
<p name="9c64" class="graf--p">In its drive to depose Col. Qaddafi
in Libya, NATO had previously allied itself with rebels affiliated
to the al-Qaeda faction, the Islamic Fighting Group. The resulting
Libyan regime backed by the US was in turn <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-syria-heavy-weapons-jihadists-2012-10"
data-href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-syria-heavy-weapons-jihadists-2012-10"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">liaising
with FSA leaders</a> in Istanbul to provide money and heavy
weapons for the anti-Assad insurgency. The State Department even
hired an al-Qaeda affiliated Libyan militia group to provide <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/benghazi-consulate-protected-alqaida/2013/05/02/id/502565/"
data-href="http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/benghazi-consulate-protected-alqaida/2013/05/02/id/502565/"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">security</a>
for the US embassy in Benghazi – although they had links with the
very people that attacked the embassy.</p>
<p name="e6db" class="graf--p">Last year, CNN confirmed that CIA
officials operating secretly out of the Benghazi embassy were
being forced to take extra <a target="_blank"
href="http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/01/exclusive-dozens-of-cia-operatives-on-the-ground-during-benghazi-attack/?hpt=hp_t4"
data-href="http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/01/exclusive-dozens-of-cia-operatives-on-the-ground-during-benghazi-attack/?hpt=hp_t4"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">polygraph
tests</a> to keep under wraps what US Congressman suspect was a
covert operation “to move surface-to-air missiles out of Libya,
through Turkey, and into the hands of Syrian rebels.”</p>
<p name="4c84" class="graf--p">With their <a target="_blank"
href="http://world.time.com/2012/09/18/syrias-secular-and-islamist-rebels-who-are-the-saudis-and-the-qataris-arming/"
data-href="http://world.time.com/2012/09/18/syrias-secular-and-islamist-rebels-who-are-the-saudis-and-the-qataris-arming/"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">command
and control centre</a> based in Istanbul, Turkey, military
supplies from Saudi Arabia and Qatar in particular were
transported by Turkish intelligence to the border for rebel
acquisition. <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-Syrian-rebel-forces-trained-by-West-are-moving-towards-Damascus-324033"
data-href="http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-Syrian-rebel-forces-trained-by-West-are-moving-towards-Damascus-324033"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">CIA
operatives along with Israeli and Jordanian commandos</a> were
also training FSA rebels on the Jordanian-Syrian border with
anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. In addition, other <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/08/west-training-syrian-rebels-jordan"
data-href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/08/west-training-syrian-rebels-jordan"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">reports</a>
show that British and French military were also involved in these
secret training programmes. It appears that the same FSA rebels
receiving this elite training went straight into ISIS – last month
one ISIS commander, <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/18/the-terrorists-fighting-us-now-we-just-finished-training-them/"
data-href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/18/the-terrorists-fighting-us-now-we-just-finished-training-them/"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Abu Yusaf</a>,
said, “Many of the FSA people who the west has trained are
actually joining us.”</p>
<p name="3fa3" class="graf--p"><a target="_blank"
href="http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/syrian-rebels-get-arms-and-advice-through-secret-command-centre-in-amman#full"
data-href="http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/syrian-rebels-get-arms-and-advice-through-secret-command-centre-in-amman#full"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">The
National</a> thus confirmed the existence of another command and
control centre in Amman, Jordan, “staffed by western and Arab
military officials,” which “channels vehicles, sniper rifles,
mortars, heavy machine guns, small arms and ammunition to Free
Syrian Army units.” Rebel and opposition sources described the
weapons bridge as “a well-run operation staffed by high-ranking
military officials from 14 countries, including the US, European
nations and Arabian Gulf states, the latter providing the bulk of
materiel and financial support to rebel factions.”</p>
<p name="932f" class="graf--p">The FSA sources interviewed by The
National went to pains to deny that any al-Qaeda affiliated
factions were involved in the control centre, or would receive any
weapons support. But this is difficult to believe given that
“Saudi and Qatari-supplied weapons” were being funneled through to
the rebels via Amman, to their favoured factions.</p>
<p name="0201" class="graf--p">Classified <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/world/middleeast/jihadists-receiving-most-arms-sent-to-syrian-rebels.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0"
data-href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/world/middleeast/jihadists-receiving-most-arms-sent-to-syrian-rebels.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">assessments</a>
of the military assistance supplied by US allies Saudi Arabia and
Qatar obtained by the New York Times showed that “most of the arms
shipped at the behest of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to supply Syrian
rebel groups… are going to hardline Islamic jihadists, and not the
more secular opposition groups that the West wants to bolster.”</p>
<p name="3e2c" class="graf--p">Lest there be any doubt as to the
extent to which all this covert military assistance coordinated by
the US has gone to support al-Qaeda affiliated factions in the
FSA, it is worth noting that earlier this year, the Israeli
military intelligence website <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.debka.com/article/23808/Syrian-rebels-allowed-to-attack-Latakia-from-Turkish-soil-under-Turkish-air-cover-Iran-raises-Cain-in-Ankara"
data-href="http://www.debka.com/article/23808/Syrian-rebels-allowed-to-attack-Latakia-from-Turkish-soil-under-Turkish-air-cover-Iran-raises-Cain-in-Ankara"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Debkafile</a>
– run by two veteran correspondents who covered the Middle East
for 23 years for The Economist – reported that: “Turkey is giving
Syrian rebel forces, including the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra
Front, passage through its territory to attack the northwestern
Syrian coastal area around Latakia.”</p>
<p name="52c4" class="graf--p">In August, <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.debka.com/article/24223/Israeli-forces-caught-up-in-Al-Qaeda%E2%80%99s-complex-toils-in-both-Golan-and-Gaza-"
data-href="http://www.debka.com/article/24223/Israeli-forces-caught-up-in-Al-Qaeda%E2%80%99s-complex-toils-in-both-Golan-and-Gaza-"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Debkafile</a>
reported that “The US, Jordan and Israel are quietly backing the
mixed bag of some 30 Syrian rebel factions”, some of which had
just “seized control of the Syrian side of the Quneitra crossing,
the only transit point between Israeli and Syrian Golan.” However,
Debkafile noted, “al-Qaeda elements have permeated all those
factions.” Israel has provided limited support to these rebels in
the form of “medical care,” as well as “arms, intelligence and
food…</p>
<blockquote name="eb08" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“Israel acted as a member, along with
the US and Jordan, of a support system for rebel groups fighting
in southern Syria. Their efforts are coordinated through a
war-room which the Pentagon established last year near Amman. The
US, Jordanian and Israeli officers manning the facility determine
in consultation which rebel factions are provided with
reinforcements from the special training camps run for Syrian
rebels in Jordan, and which will receive arms. All three
governments understand perfectly that, notwithstanding all their
precautions, some of their military assistance is bound to
percolate to al-Qaeda’s Syrian arm, Jabhat Al-Nusra, which is
fighting in rebel ranks. Neither Washington or Jerusalem or Amman
would be comfortable in admitting they are arming al-Qaeda’s Nusra
Front in southern Syria.”</blockquote>
<p name="ab4d" class="graf--p">This support also went to ISIS.
Although the latter was originally founded in Iraq in October
2006, by 2013 the group had significantly expanded its operations
in Syria working alongside al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra until February
2014, when ISIS was formally denounced by al-Qaeda. Even so,
experts on the region’s Islamist groups point out that the <a
target="_blank"
href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2014/09/06/We-re-forgetting-something-ghastly-about-al-Nusra-Front.html"
data-href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2014/09/06/We-re-forgetting-something-ghastly-about-al-Nusra-Front.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">alleged
rift</a> between al-Nusra and ISIS, while real, is not as
fraught as one might hope, constituting a mere difference in
tactics rather than fundamental ideology.</p>
<p name="75e3" class="graf--p">Officially, the US government’s
financial support for the FSA goes through the Washington DC
entity, the Syrian Support Group (SSG), <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/world/middleeast/syrian-group-in-united-states-seeks-to-arm-rebels-against-assad.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&pagewanted=all&"
data-href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/world/middleeast/syrian-group-in-united-states-seeks-to-arm-rebels-against-assad.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&pagewanted=all&"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Syrian
Support Group (SSG</a>) which was incorporated in April 2012.
The SSG is licensed via the US Treasury Department to “export,
re-export, sell, or supply to the Free Syrian Army (‘FSA’)
financial, communications, logistical, and other services
otherwise prohibited by Executive Order 13582 in order to support
the FSA.”</p>
<p name="a1ca" class="graf--p">In mid-2013, the Obama administration
intensified its support to the rebels with a new <a
target="_blank"
href="http://m.europe.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324188604578543820387158806?mobile=y"
data-href="http://m.europe.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324188604578543820387158806?mobile=y"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">classified
executive order</a> reversing its previous policy limiting US
direct support to only nonlethal equipment. As before, the order
would aim to supply weapons strictly to “moderate” forces in the
FSA.</p>
<p name="7d42" class="graf--p">Except the government’s vetting
procedures to block Islamist extremists from receiving US weapons
have never worked.</p>
<p name="7053" class="graf--p">A year later, <a target="_blank"
href="http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/syrian-rebel-aid-handwritten-receipts"
data-href="http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/syrian-rebel-aid-handwritten-receipts"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Mother
Jones</a> found that the US government has “little oversight
over whether US supplies are falling prey to corruption – or into
the hands of extremists,” and relies “on too much good faith.” The
US government keeps track of rebels receiving assistance purely
through “handwritten receipts provided by rebel commanders in the
field,” and the judgement of its allies. Countries supporting the
rebels – the very same which have empowered al-Qaeda affiliated
Islamists – “are doing audits of the delivery of lethal and
nonlethal supplies.”</p>
<p name="1075" class="graf--p">Thus, with the Gulf states still
calling the shots on the ground, it is no surprise that by
September last year, eleven prominent rebel groups distanced
themselves from the ‘moderate’ opposition leadership and <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/world/middleeast/syria-crisis.html?ref=world&_r=1&"
data-href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/world/middleeast/syria-crisis.html?ref=world&_r=1&"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">allied
themselves</a> with al-Qaeda.</p>
<p name="db5d" class="graf--p">By the SSG’s own conservative
estimate, as much as 15% of rebel fighters are Islamists
affiliated to al-Qaeda, either through the Jabhut al-Nusra
faction, or its breakaway group ISIS. But privately, <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/extremist-element-among-syrian-rebels-growing-worry-f8C11115141"
data-href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/extremist-element-among-syrian-rebels-growing-worry-f8C11115141"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Pentagon
officials</a> estimate that “more than 50%” of the FSA is
comprised of Islamist extremists, and according to rebel sources
neither FSA chief Gen Salim Idris nor his senior aides engage in
much vetting, decisions about which are made typically by local
commanders.</p>
<p name="5158" class="graf--p graf--empty"><br>
</p>
<h3 name="0d46" class="graf--h3">Part 2 – THE LONG WAR</h3>
<h4 name="ba2e" class="graf--h4"><strong class="markup--strong
markup--h4-strong">Follow the money</strong></h4>
<p name="f817" class="graf--p">Media reports following ISIS’
conquest of much of northern and central Iraq this summer have
painted the group as the world’s most super-efficient,
self-financed, terrorist organisation that has been able to
consolidate itself exclusively through extensive looting of Iraq’s
banks and funds from black market oil sales. Much of this
narrative, however, has derived from dubious sources, and
overlooked disturbing details.</p>
<p name="6604" class="graf--p">One senior anonymous intelligence
source told Guardian correspondent <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/15/iraq-isis-arrest-jihadists-wealth-power"
data-href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/15/iraq-isis-arrest-jihadists-wealth-power"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Martin
Chulov</a>, for instance, that over 160 computer flash sticks
obtained from an ISIS hideout revealed information on ISIS’
finances that was completely new to the intelligence community.</p>
<p name="61ec" class="graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“Before
Mosul, their total cash and assets were $875m [£515m],” said the
official on the funds obtained largely via “massive cashflows from
the oilfields of eastern Syria, which it had commandeered in late
2012.” Afterwards, “with the money they robbed from banks and the
value of the military supplies they looted, they could add another
$1.5bn to that.” The thrust of the narrative coming from
intelligence sources was simple: “They had done this all
themselves. There was no state actor at all behind them, which we
had long known. They don’t need one.”</p>
<blockquote name="5ab4" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“ISIS’ half-a-billion-dollar bank
heist makes it world’s richest terror group,” <em
class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">claimed the Telegraph,
adding that the figure did not include additional stolen gold
bullion, and millions more grabbed from banks</em> “across the
region.”</blockquote>
<p name="12c7" class="graf--p">This story of ISIS’ stupendous bank
looting spree across Iraq made global headlines but turned out to
be <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-never-stole-430-million-from-banks-2014-7"
data-href="http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-never-stole-430-million-from-banks-2014-7"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">disinformation</a>.
Senior Iraqi officials and bankers confirmed that banks in Iraq,
including Mosul where ISIS supposedly stole $430 million, had
faced no assault, remain open, and are guarded by their own
private security forces.</p>
<p name="f0de" class="graf--p">How did the story come about? One of
its prime sources was Iraqi parliamentarian <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.salon.com/2014/07/21/long_slide_into_the_abyss_cheneys_old_pal_ahmad_chalabi_is_back/"
data-href="http://www.salon.com/2014/07/21/long_slide_into_the_abyss_cheneys_old_pal_ahmad_chalabi_is_back/"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Ahmed
Chalabi</a> – the same man who under the wing of his ‘Iraqi
National Congress’ peddled false intelligence about Saddam’s <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/ahmed-chalabi-discredited-wmd-figure-floated-iraq-pm-n148436"
data-href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/ahmed-chalabi-discredited-wmd-figure-floated-iraq-pm-n148436"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">weapons
of mass destruction</a> and ties to al-Qaeda.</p>
<p name="4729" class="graf--p">In June, Chalabi met with the US
ambassador to Iraq, Robert Beecroft, and Brett McGurk, the State
Department’s deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq and
Iran. According to sources cited by <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/aramroston/ahmad-chalabi-conned-america-into-war-now-aims-to-lead-i#29jksvi"
data-href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/aramroston/ahmad-chalabi-conned-america-into-war-now-aims-to-lead-i#29jksvi"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Buzzfeed</a>
in June, Beecroft “has been meeting Chalabi for months and has
dined at his mansion in Baghdad.”</p>
<h4 name="2d80" class="graf--h4"><strong class="markup--strong
markup--h4-strong">Follow the oil</strong></h4>
<p name="5295" class="graf--p">But while ISIS has clearly obtained
funding from donors in the Gulf states, many of its fighters
having broken away from the more traditional al-Qaeda affiliated
groups like Jabhut al-Nusra, it has also successfully leveraged
its control over Syrian and Iraqi oil fields.</p>
<p name="a98b" class="graf--p">In January, the <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/world/middleeast/rebels-in-syria-claim-control-of-resources.html"
data-href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/world/middleeast/rebels-in-syria-claim-control-of-resources.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">New York
Times</a> reported that “Islamist rebels and extremist groups
have seized control of most of Syria’s oil and gas resources”,
bolstering “the fortunes of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria,
or ISIS, and the Nusra Front, both of which are offshoots of
al-Qaeda.” Al-Qaeda affiliated rebels had “seized control of the
oil and gas fields scattered across the country’s north and east,”
while more moderate “Western-backed rebel groups do not appear to
be involved in the oil trade, in large part because they have not
taken over any oil fields.”</p>
<p name="4d77" class="graf--p">Yet the west had directly aided these
Islamist groups in their efforts to operationalise Syria’s oil
fields. In April 2013, for instance, the Times noted that al-Qaeda
rebels had taken over key regions of Syria: “Nusra’s hand is felt
most strongly in Aleppo”, where the al-Qaeda affiliate had
established in coordination with other rebel groups <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.aymennjawad.org/13420/jabhat-al-nusra-aleppo"
data-href="http://www.aymennjawad.org/13420/jabhat-al-nusra-aleppo"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">including
ISIS</a> “a Shariah Commission” running “a police force and an
Islamic court that hands down sentences that have included
lashings.” Al-Qaeda fighters also “control the power plant and
distribute flour to keep the city’s bakeries running.”
Additionally, they “have seized government oil fields” in
provinces of Deir al-Zour and Hasaka, and now make a “profit from
the crude they produce.”</p>
<p name="2c09" class="graf--p">Lost in the fog of media hype was the
disconcerting fact that these al-Qaeda rebel bread and oil
operations in Aleppo, Deir al-Zour and Hasaka were directly and
indirectly supported by the US and the European Union (EU). One
account by the <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-feeds-syrians-but-secretly/2013/04/14/bfbc0ba6-a3b3-11e2-bd52-614156372695_story.html"
data-href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-feeds-syrians-but-secretly/2013/04/14/bfbc0ba6-a3b3-11e2-bd52-614156372695_story.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Washington
Post</a> for instance refers to a stealth mission in Aleppo “to
deliver food and other aid to needy Syrians – all of it paid for
by the US government,” including the supply of flour. “The bakery
is fully supplied with flour paid for by the United States,” the
Post continues, noting that local consumers, however, “credited
Jabhat al-Nusra – a rebel group the United States has designated a
terrorist organisation because of its ties to al-Qaeda – with
providing flour to the region, though he admitted he wasn’t sure
where it comes from.”</p>
<p name="4f46" class="graf--p">And in the same month that al-Qaeda’s
control of Syria’s main oil regions in Deir al-Zour and Hasaka was
confirmed, the <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22254996"
data-href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22254996"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">EU voted
to ease an oil embargo</a> on Syria to allow oil to be sold on
international markets from these very al-Qaeda controlled oil
fields. European companies would be permitted to buy crude oil and
petroleum products from these areas, although transactions would
be approved by the Syrian National Coalition. Due to damaged
infrastructure, oil would be trucked by road to Turkey where the
nearest refineries are located.</p>
<blockquote name="2e21" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“The logical conclusion from this
craziness is that Europe will be funding al-Qaeda,” <em
class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">said </em><a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/19/eu-syria-oil-jihadist-al-qaida"
data-href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/19/eu-syria-oil-jihadist-al-qaida"
class="markup--anchor markup--blockquote-anchor" rel="nofollow"><em
class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">Joshua Landis</em></a><em
class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em"> , a Syria expert at
the University of Oklahoma</em>.</blockquote>
<p name="17f4" class="graf--p">Just two months later, a former
senior staffer at the Syria Support Group in DC, David Falt,
leaked internal SSG <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10215068/Wests-main-aid-group-for-Syrian-rebels-collapses-into-disarray.html"
data-href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10215068/Wests-main-aid-group-for-Syrian-rebels-collapses-into-disarray.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">emails</a>
confirming that the group was “obsessed” with brokering “jackpot”
oil deals on behalf of the FSA for Syria’s rebel-run oil regions.</p>
<blockquote name="b275" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“The idea they could raise hundreds
of millions from the sale of the oil came to dominate the work of
the SSG to the point no real attention was paid to the nature of
the conflict,” <em class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">said
Falt, referring in particular to SSG’s director Brian Neill
Sayers, who before his SSG role worked with NATO’s Operations
Division. Their aim was to raise money for the rebels by selling
the rights to Syrian oil.</em></blockquote>
<h4 name="f5c8" class="graf--h4"><strong class="markup--strong
markup--h4-strong">Tacit complicity in IS oil smuggling</strong></h4>
<p name="4c01" class="graf--p">Even as al-Qaeda fighters
increasingly decide to join up with IS, the ad hoc black market
oil production and export infrastructure established by the
Islamist groups in Syria has continued to function with, it seems,
the tacit support of regional and western powers.</p>
<p name="1c77" class="graf--p">According to Ali <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ar/business/2014/06/turkey-syria-isis-selling-smuggled-oil.html"
data-href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ar/business/2014/06/turkey-syria-isis-selling-smuggled-oil.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Ediboglu</a>,
a Turkish MP for the border province of Hatay, IS is selling the
bulk of its oil from regions in Syria and Mosul in Iraq through
Turkey, with the tacit consent of Turkish authorities: “They have
laid pipes from villages near the Turkish border at Hatay. Similar
pipes exist also at [the Turkish border regions of] Kilis, Urfa
and Gaziantep. They transfer the oil to Turkey and parlay it into
cash. They take the oil from the refineries at zero cost. Using
primitive means, they refine the oil in areas close to the Turkish
border and then sell it via Turkey. This is worth $800 million.”
He also noted that the extent of this and related operations
indicates official Turkish complicity. “Fighters from Europe,
Russia, Asian countries and Chechnya are going in large numbers
both to Syria and Iraq, crossing from Turkish territory. There is
information that at least 1,000 Turkish nationals are helping
those foreign fighters sneak into Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. The
National Intelligence Organization (MIT) is allegedly involved.
None of this can be happening without MIT’s knowledge.”</p>
<p name="7c8f" class="graf--p">Similarly, there is evidence that
authorities in the Kurdish region of Iraq are also turning a blind
eye to IS oil smuggling. In July, <a target="_blank"
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/12505-official-isis-is-selling-iraqi-oil"
data-href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/12505-official-isis-is-selling-iraqi-oil"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Iraqi
officials</a> said that IS had begun selling oil extracted from
in the northern province of Salahuddin. One official pointed out
that “the Kurdish peshmerga forces stopped the sale of oil at
first, but later allowed tankers to transfer and sell oil.”</p>
<p name="8a33" class="graf--p">State of Law coalition MP Alia
Nasseef also accused the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of
secretly trading oil with IS: “What is happening shows the extent
of the massive conspiracy against Iraq by Kurdish politicians… The
[illegal] sale of Iraqi oil to ISIS or anyone else is something
that would not surprise us.” Although Kurdish officials have
roundly rejected these accusations, <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail?code=cotn%3AGKP.L&display=discussion&threshold=0&action=detail&id=11338779"
data-href="http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail?code=cotn%3AGKP.L&display=discussion&threshold=0&action=detail&id=11338779"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">informed
sources</a> told the Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat that Iraqi
crude captured by ISIS was “being sold to Kurdish traders in the
border regions straddling Iraq, Iran and Syria, and was being
shipped to Pakistan where it was being sold ‘for less than half
its original price.’”</p>
<p name="ce05" class="graf--p">An <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.aawsat.net/2014/08/article55335732"
data-href="http://www.aawsat.net/2014/08/article55335732"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">official
statement</a> in August from Iraq’s Oil Ministry warned that any
oil not sanctioned by Baghdad could include crude smuggled
illegally from IS:</p>
<blockquote name="9e21" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“International purchasers [of crude
oil] and other market participants should be aware that any oil
exports made without the authorisation of the Ministry of Oil may
contain crude oil originating from fields under the control of
[ISIS].”</blockquote>
<p name="ee46" class="graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“Countries
like Turkey have turned a blind eye to the practice” of IS oil
smuggling, said <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.albawaba.com/business/isis-oil-sales-598772"
data-href="http://www.albawaba.com/business/isis-oil-sales-598772"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Luay
al-Khateeb</a>, a fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, “and
international pressure should be mounted to close down black
markets in its southern region.” So far there has been no such
pressure. Meanwhile, IS oil smuggling continues, with observers <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/as-turkey-turned-blind-eye-isis-took-advantage/"
data-href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/as-turkey-turned-blind-eye-isis-took-advantage/"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">inside
and outside Turkey</a> noting that the Turkish government is
tacitly allowing IS to flourish as it prefers the rebels to the
Assad regime.</p>
<p name="8b9a" class="graf--p">According to former Iraqi oil
minister Isam al-Jalabi, “Turkey is the biggest winner from the
Islamic State’s oil smuggling trade.” Both traders and oil firms
are involved, he said, with the low prices allowing for “massive”
profits for the countries facilitating the smuggling.</p>
<h4 name="47f9" class="graf--h4"><strong class="markup--strong
markup--h4-strong">Buying ISIS oil?</strong></h4>
<p name="22a2" class="graf--p">Early last month, a tanker carrying
over a million barrels in crude oil from northern Iraq’s Kurdish
region arrived at the Texas Gulf of Mexico. The oil had been
refined in the Iraqi Kurdish region before being pumped through a
new pipeline from the KRG area ending up at Ceyhan, Turkey, where
it was then loaded onto the tanker for shipping to the US.
Baghdad’s efforts to stop the oil sale on the basis of its having
national jurisdiction were rebuffed by <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.internationalenergylawyers.com/iraq-fails-to-seize-kurdish-crude-oil-bound-for-texas/"
data-href="http://www.internationalenergylawyers.com/iraq-fails-to-seize-kurdish-crude-oil-bound-for-texas/"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">American
courts</a>.</p>
<p name="603f" class="graf--p">In early September, the European
Union’s ambassador to Iraq, Jana Hybášková, told the <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184823#.VA8Gv0u4lSU"
data-href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184823#.VA8Gv0u4lSU"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">EU
Foreign Affairs Committee</a> that “several EU member states
have bought oil from the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS)
terrorist organisation that has been brutally conquering large
portions of Iraq and Syria,” according to Israel National News.
She however “refused to divulge the names of the countries despite
being asked numerous times.”</p>
<p name="ce3d" class="graf--p">A third end-point for the KRG’s crude
this summer, once again shipped via Turkey’s port of Ceyhan, was
Israel’s southwestern port of <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118549/israel-and-kurdistans-alleged-oil-deal-putting-us-notice"
data-href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118549/israel-and-kurdistans-alleged-oil-deal-putting-us-notice"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Ashkelon</a>.
This is hardly news though. In May, <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101676275"
data-href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101676275"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Reuters</a>
revealed that Israeli and US oil refineries had been regularly
purchasing and importing KRG’s disputed oil.</p>
<p name="d4be" class="graf--p">Meanwhile, as this triangle of covert
oil shipments in which ISIS crude appears to be hopelessly
entangled becomes more established, Turkey has increasingly
demanded that the US pursue formal measures to <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/832866de-22fc-11e4-a424-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3CpHtocCw"
data-href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/832866de-22fc-11e4-a424-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3CpHtocCw"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">lift
obstacles</a> to Kurdish oil sales to global markets. The KRG
plans to export as much as 1 million barrels of oil a day by next
year through its <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/08/12/how-far-will-obamas-support-for-the-iraqi-kurds-go/"
data-href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/08/12/how-far-will-obamas-support-for-the-iraqi-kurds-go/"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">pipeline</a>
to Turkey.</p>
<figure name="c9ca" class="graf--figure"><figcaption
class="imageCaption">The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline: Iraqi Kurdistan
alone could hold up to 45 billion barrels of oil, allowing
exports of up to 4 million barrels a day in the next decade if
successfully brought to production</figcaption></figure>
<p name="f942" class="graf--p">Among the many oil and gas firms
active in the KRG capital, Erbil, are ExxonMobil and Chevron. They
are drilling in the region for oil under KRG contracts, though
operations have been halted due to the crisis. No wonder Steve
Coll writes in the <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/oil-erbil"
data-href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/oil-erbil"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">New
Yorker</a> that Obama’s air strikes and arms supplies to the
Kurds – notably not to Baghdad – effectively amount to “the
defense of an undeclared Kurdish oil state whose sources of
geopolitical appeal – as a long-term, non-Russian supplier of oil
and gas to Europe, for example – are best not spoken of in polite
or naïve company.” The Kurds are now busy working to “quadruple”
their <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-22/kurds-said-to-plan-quadrupled-oil-exports-on-pump-breakthrough.html"
data-href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-22/kurds-said-to-plan-quadrupled-oil-exports-on-pump-breakthrough.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">export
capacity</a>, while US policy has increasingly shifted toward <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.aa.com.tr/en/news/380371--us-policy-favours-selling-of-kurdish-oil"
data-href="http://www.aa.com.tr/en/news/380371--us-policy-favours-selling-of-kurdish-oil"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">permitting
Kurdish exports</a> – a development that would have major
ramifications for Iraq’s national territorial integrity.</p>
<p name="a203" class="graf--p">To be sure, as the offensive against
IS ramps up, the Kurds are now selectively cracking down on IS
smuggling efforts – but the measures are too little, too late.</p>
<h4 name="f4be" class="graf--h4"><strong class="markup--strong
markup--h4-strong">A new map</strong></h4>
<p name="e481" class="graf--p">The Third Iraq War has begun. With
it, longstanding neocon dreams to partition Iraq into three along
ethnic and religious lines have been resurrected.</p>
<p name="f4b1" class="graf--p">White House officials now estimate
that the fight against the region’s ‘Islamic State’ will last <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/08/world/middleeast/destroying-isis-may-take-3-years-white-house-says.html?_r=0"
data-href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/08/world/middleeast/destroying-isis-may-take-3-years-white-house-says.html?_r=0"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">years</a>,
and may outlive the Obama administration. But this ‘long war’
vision goes back to nebulous ideas formally presented by late RAND
Corp analyst Laurent Muraweic before the Pentagon’s <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2002/08/the_powerpoint_that_rocked_the_pentagon.html"
data-href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2002/08/the_powerpoint_that_rocked_the_pentagon.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Defense
Policy Board</a> at the invitation of then chairman Richard
Perle. That presentation described Iraq as a “tactical pivot” by
which to transform the wider Middle East.</p>
<p name="2803" class="graf--p">Brian Whitaker, <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/sep/03/worlddispatch.iraq"
data-href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/sep/03/worlddispatch.iraq"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">former
Guardian Middle East editor</a>, rightly noted that the
Perle-RAND strategy drew inspiration from a 1996 paper published
by the Israeli Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political
Studies, co-authored by Perle and other neocons who held top
positions in the post-9/11 Bush administration.</p>
<p name="4cff" class="graf--p">The policy paper advocated a strategy
that bears startling resemblance to the chaos unfolding in the
wake of the expansion of the ‘Islamic State’ – Israel would “shape
its strategic environment” by first securing the removal of Saddam
Hussein. “Jordan and Turkey would form an axis along with Israel
to weaken and ‘roll back’ Syria.” This axis would attempt to
weaken the influence of Lebanon, Syria and Iran by “weaning” off
their Shi’ite populations. To succeed, Israel would need to
engender US support, which would be obtained by Benjamin Netanyahu
formulating the strategy “in language familiar to the Americans by
tapping into themes of American administrations during the cold
war.”</p>
<p name="3a84" class="graf--p">The 2002 Perle-RAND plan was active
in the Bush administration’s strategic thinking on Iraq shortly
before the 2003 war. According to US private intelligence firm <a
target="_blank" href="http://www.profutures.com/article.php/91/"
data-href="http://www.profutures.com/article.php/91/"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Stratfor</a>,
in late 2002, then vice-president Dick Cheney and deputy defense
secretary Paul Wolfowitz had co-authored a scheme under which
central Sunni-majority Iraq would join with Jordan; the northern
Kurdish regions would become an autonomous state; all becoming
separate from the southern Shi’ite region.</p>
<p name="4637" class="graf--p">The strategic advantages of an Iraq
partition, Stratfor argued, focused on US control of oil:</p>
<blockquote name="3c6b" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“After eliminating Iraq as a
sovereign state, there would be no fear that one day an
anti-American government would come to power in Baghdad, as the
capital would be in Amman [Jordan]. Current and potential US
geopolitical foes Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria would be isolated
from each other, with big chunks of land between them under
control of the pro-US forces.</blockquote>
<blockquote name="008c" class="graf--blockquote">Equally important,
Washington would be able to justify its long-term and heavy
military presence in the region as necessary for the defense of a
young new state asking for US protection – and to secure the
stability of oil markets and supplies. That in turn would help the
United States gain direct control of Iraqi oil and replace Saudi
oil in case of conflict with Riyadh.”</blockquote>
<p name="938e" class="graf--p">The expansion of the ‘Islamic State’
has provided a pretext for the fundamental contours of this
scenario to unfold, with the US and British looking to
re-establish a long-term military presence in Iraq in the name of
the “defense of a young new state.”</p>
<p name="e37c" class="graf--p">In 2006, Cheney’s successor, Joe
Biden, also indicated his support for the ‘<a target="_blank"
href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/joe-biden-iraq-107858.html"
data-href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/joe-biden-iraq-107858.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">soft
partition</a>’ of Iraq along ethno-religious lines – a position
which the co-author of the Biden-Iraq plan, Leslie Gelb of the
Council on Foreign Relations, now argues is “the only solution” to
the current crisis.</p>
<p name="cf38" class="graf--p">Also in 2006, the <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.nafeezahmed.com/2006/08/us-army-contemplates-redrawing-middle.html"
data-href="http://www.nafeezahmed.com/2006/08/us-army-contemplates-redrawing-middle.html"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Armed
Forces Journal</a> published a map of the Middle East with its
borders thoroughly re-drawn, courtesy of Lt. Col. (ret.) Ralph
Peters, who had previously been assigned to the Office of the
Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence where he was responsible
for future warfare. As for the goals of this plan, apart from
“security from terrorism” and “the prospect of democracy”, Peters
also mentioned “access to oil supplies in a region that is
destined to fight itself.”</p>
<p name="1357" class="graf--p">In 2008, the strategy re-surfaced –
once again via <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2008/RAND_MG738.pdf"
data-href="http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2008/RAND_MG738.pdf"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">RAND Corp</a>
– through a report funded by the US Army Training and Doctrine
Command on how to prosecute the ‘long war.’ Among its strategies,
one scenario advocated by the report was ‘Divide and Rule’ which
would involve:</p>
<blockquote name="f9de" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“… exploiting fault lines between the
various Salafi-jihadist groups to turn them against each other and
dissipate their energy on internal conflicts.”</blockquote>
<p name="1112" class="graf--p">Simultaneously, the report suggested
that the US could foster conflict between Salafi-jihadists and
Shi’ite militants by:</p>
<blockquote name="62ef" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“… shoring up the traditional Sunni
regimes… as a way of containing Iranian power and influence in the
Middle East and Persian Gulf.”</blockquote>
<p name="01cb" class="graf--p">One way or another, some semblance of
this plan is in motion. Last week, Israeli foreign minister <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.newsweek.com/israel-tells-us-kurdish-independence-foregone-conclusion-256371"
data-href="http://www.newsweek.com/israel-tells-us-kurdish-independence-foregone-conclusion-256371"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow">Avigdor
Leiberman</a> told US secretary of state John Kerry:</p>
<blockquote name="ba87" class="graf--blockquote
graf--startsWithDoubleQuote">“Iraq is breaking up before our eyes
and it would appear that the creation of an independent Kurdish
state is a foregone conclusion.”</blockquote>
<p name="8acc" class="graf--p">The rise of the ‘Islamic State’ is
not just a direct consequence of this neocon vision, tied as it is
to a dangerous covert operations strategy that has seen al-Qaeda
linked terrorists as a tool to influence local populations – it
has in turn offered a pretext for the launch of a new era of
endless war, the spectre of a prolonged US-led military presence
in the energy-rich Persian Gulf region, and a return to the
dangerous imperial temptation to re-configure the wider regional
order.</p>
<p name="3251" class="graf--p graf--empty"><br>
</p>
<p name="613b" class="graf--p"><a target="_blank"
href="http://www.nafeezahmed.com/"
data-href="http://www.nafeezahmed.com/" class="markup--anchor
markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow"><strong class="markup--strong
markup--p-strong">Nafeez Ahmed</strong></a><strong
class="markup--strong markup--p-strong"> is a bestselling
author, investigative journalist and international security
scholar. He has contributed to two major terrorism
investigations in the US and UK, the 9/11 Commission and the 7/7
Coroner’s Inquest, and has advised the Royal Military Academy
Sandhust, British Foreign Office and US State Department, among
government agencies.</strong></p>
<p name="6649" class="graf--p"><strong class="markup--strong
markup--p-strong">Nafeez is a regular contributor to </strong><a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/nafeez-ahmed"
data-href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/nafeez-ahmed"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow"><strong
class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">The Guardian</strong></a><strong
class="markup--strong markup--p-strong"> where he writes about
the geopolitics of interconnected environmental, energy and
economic crises. He has also written for The Independent, Sydney
Morning Herald, The Age, The Scotsman, Foreign Policy, Prospect,
New Statesman, Le Monde diplomatique, among many others.</strong></p>
<p name="0a46" class="graf--p graf--last"><strong
class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Nafeez’s just released
new novel, </strong><a target="_blank" href="http://zro.pt/"
data-href="http://zro.pt/" class="markup--anchor
markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow"><strong class="markup--strong
markup--p-strong">ZERO POINT</strong></a><strong
class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">, predicted a new war in
Iraq to put down an al-Qaeda insurgency. Follow him on Twitter </strong><a
target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/nafeezahmed"
data-href="https://twitter.com/nafeezahmed"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow"><strong
class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">@nafeezahmed</strong></a><strong
class="markup--strong markup--p-strong"> and </strong><a
target="_blank" href="http://www.facebook.com/DrNafeezAhmed"
data-href="http://www.facebook.com/DrNafeezAhmed"
class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow"><strong
class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Facebook</strong></a><strong
class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">.</strong></p>
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