Does Trump Lie to Say ‘We Have Defeated ISIS in Syria’?

ERIC ZUESSE

At 11:52AM on Wednesday, December 19th, CBS News headlined "White House orders Pentagon to pull troops from Syria immediately”and reported that, “Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a veteran of the US Air Force who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and now serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said it's ‘simply not true’ [which Trump, had said there, that] ISIS is defeated in Syria.” CBS News didn’t indicate which political Party Kinzinger represents, but he is a Republican, and he represents the rural Illinois 16th Congressional District, where Donald Trump had beaten Hillary Clinton by a 17% margin in 2016. So, Kinzinger is an anti-Trump Republican on this matter. He’s credible about that, not partisan about it. 

Who is telling the truth, Trump’s “We have defeated ISIS in Syria” or Kinzinger’s contrary, and what explains the contradiction between the accounts by Trump and Kinzinger?

As the CBS News report says, “Two weeks ago, Special Envoy Brett McGurk said the end of ISIS will be a long-term initiative, and "nobody is declaring mission accomplished.” CBS's report, however, fails to note that McGurk is an Obama appointee and has been consistently dedicated to America’s defeating Russia and replacing the leadership in all nations that are allied with (or even friendly toward) Russia, including, most especially, Syria and Iran.

At a deeper level, the question is: Which nations are primarily the cause of the considerable reduction in ISIS forces in Syria? If ISIS has been defeated in Syria, then, nonetheless, is it true for Trump to claim, “We have defeated ISIS in Syria,” or is the United States not even the main force which has done that?

On 30 September 2015, CNN headlined “Russia launches first airstrikes in Syria” and reported that, “Claiming to target ISIS, Russia conducted its first airstrikes in Syria, while US officials expressed serious doubts Wednesday about what the true intentions behind the move may be.” The next day, on October 1st, PBS bannered "Mike Morell, former deputy director of the CIA, talks about why Russia deployed airstrikes in Syria”, and Morell, who had always been speaking and writing against Russia and against any Government that is at all allied with Russia, said: "President Putin believes that if President Assad were to depart the scene, there would be even more instability in Syria and, with that greater instability, ISIS would have more running room, and you could actually end up with ISIS in Damascus. So that is the primary reason he's doing what he is doing. Now, the question is why doesn’t he just attack [only] ISIS then because President Assad is under attack from a variety of different groups? ISIS is one, al-Nusra [Al Qaeda in Syria] is one, and the moderate opposition is another. So in order to prop up Assad to keep him in control, to make sure you don’t have more instability, he wants to attack all of those groups, right. But his fundamental focus is on ISIS.” But, then, he argued for US President Barack Obama’s position, against Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria: “If we were to have a transition from Assad to another government that everybody can agree on, then we’re actually going to have more stability in Syria. And I think the President probably argued that as long as Assad is around, he is a magnet for fighters to join ISIS, to join al-Nusra to fight Assad. And you can’t ultimately defeat ISIS and defeat al-Nusra without getting rid of President Assad in the process.” So: Morell acknowledged that Putin’s main target was ISIS, but Morell said that Obama was correct to oppose Russia’s bombing campaign there, because “you can't ultimately defeat ISIS and defeat al-Nusra without getting rid of President Assad in the process.” Then, he said, of Putin, “this guy is a thug. This guy is a bully.” But he said that, unfortunately, America must deal with that “bully”: “"first thing we have to convince the Russians of is that you can’t successfully deal with ISIS and al-Nusra without Assad going away. We have to be able to convince them of that. We really believe that. We really believe that. We really believe that he is a magnet for drawing people to ISIS and to al-Nusra.” He was saying that Assad had caused ISIS, which was trying to overthrow and replace him.

Then, on 9 October 2015, investigative journalist Tony Cartalucci bannered “The Mystery of ISIS’ Toyota Army Solved” and he documented that ISIS had gotten its Toyota pickup trucks from the US-backed Free Syrian Army, whom Obama called moderate rebels. Whether the FSA had ever had those trucks wasn’t known.

Then, on 14 October 2015, the Financial Times bannered ”Isis Inc: how oil fuels the jihadi terrorists” and reported that, “Oil is the black gold that funds Isis’ black flag — it fuels its war machine, provides electricity and gives the fanatical jihadis critical leverage against their neighbours. … Selling crude is Isis’ biggest single source of revenue. … While al-Qaeda, the global terrorist network, depended on donations from wealthy foreign sponsors, Isis has derived its financial strength from its status as monopoly producer of an essential commodity consumed in vast quantities throughout the area it controls.”

Then, on 16 November 2015, the New York Times bannered “US Warplanes Strike ISIS Oil Trucks in Syria” and reported that, “United States warplanes for the first time attacked hundreds of trucks on Monday that the extremist group [ISIS] has been using to smuggle the crude oil it has been producing in Syria, American officials said. … Until Monday, the United States refrained from striking the fleet used to transport oil, believed to include more than 1,000 tanker trucks.”

Two days later, on November 18th, the Pentagon said at a press conference, that “This is our first strike against tanker trucks” of ISIS.

Moreover, on November 24th, Zero Hedge bannered “'Get Out Of Your Trucks And Run Away’: US Gives ISIS 45 Minute Warning On Oil Tanker Strikes” and reported that the US Government were doing this oil-tanker-truck bombing only for show, because Russia had actually started the serious effort to conquer ISIS in Syria, and so the US needed to do something, for PR purposes.

Yet, further evidence also exists that the US Government supported ISIS against Syria’s Government: 

On 24 March 2013, the New York Times bannered “Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With Aid From C.I.A.”, and reported that “From offices at secret locations, American intelligence officers have helped the Arab governments shop for weapons,” and that “‘A conservative estimate of the payload of these flights would be 3,500 tons of military equipment,’ said Hugh Griffiths, of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, who monitors illicit arms transfers.” The US Government tried to hide its involvement in this, by doing it through allied “Arab governments,” which were named in this news-report: “Qatar and Saudi Arabia had been shipping military materials via Turkey,” and all four of these Governments (US, Sauds, Turkey, and Qatar) were trying to overthrow Syria’s Government. Then, on 8 September 2014, AFP headlined “Islamic State fighters using US arms: study”, and they reported that the US Government was supplying ISIS. On 1 September 2017, Russian Television reported that the US Government was secretly supplying weapons to ISIS and that an anti-Assad fighter had even quit the CIA-backed New Syrian Army because of that.

US President Barack Obama started the US policy to arm ISIS, and it was continued under the current US President.

There is considerable other evidence that the US Government has invaded, and been occupying, parts of Syria, solely in order to replace Syria’s Government by one that would be controlled by the Saud family, who own Saudi Arabia.

It is definitely a lie for Trump to say: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria.”

A big turn in these events had been the failed 15 July 2015 coup-attempt, to overthrow Turkey’s Government, and which Turkey’s President, Tayyip Erdogan, says was engineered by the Gulen organization headquartered in the US, which is connected to and protected by the CIA. After July 15th, Turkey increasingly has allied with Russia’s Government, against America’s Government.

The present withdrawal of the US Government from Syria is actually due to the success of Vladimir Putin’s and Tayyip Erdogan’s plan (which I described on 10 September 2018, and which they jointly announced a week later, on September 17th) for Turkey to handle the military task of conquering the jihadists in Syria’s Idlib province and of Turkey’s forces then moving eastward to compel the US Government to end its occupation of northeastern Syria — that nation’s crucial oil-producing region. If Russia’s troops, instead of Turkey’s, were to do that task, it would risk bringing on a US-Russia war, but, since Turkey is still in NATO, that danger doesn’t exist when Turkish troops and armor (backed by Russian air-power) do that highly sensitive job.

Instead of “We have defeated ISIS in Syria,” the truth, from the US Government, would be “We have been defeated in Syria.” However, Putin (and Erdogan, and maybe even Assad) will not be crowing about their victory. Syria’s Government has successfully resisted the US Government’s effort, since 2009, to replace Syria’s Government by one that would be controlled by the Sauds.

ERIC ZUESSE

American writer and investigative historian

Turkey Used as Hatchet Man for US, Israel against Syria: American Analyst

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior American political analyst blamed the Turkish government, especially President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for the suffering of the Syrian people and said  Ankara allowed itself to be used as “the hatchet man for the US and Israel”.

“Every terrorist bomb dropped on some Syrian family’s home, every terrorist bullet fired that found its way into the body of an innocent Syrian child, Turkey’s ruling establishment knew that all of this was the inescapable outcome of its own decision in allowing itself to be used as the hatchet man for the US and Israel,” Mark Glenn, from Idaho, said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency.

“Therefore, Turkey possesses NO credibility in any discussion or debate as to whether or not the protocols which she agreed to implement regarding the ... demilitarized zone around the insurgent-held Idlib are indeed taking place, as she has--by her previous actions, revealed that she cannot be trusted to do the ‘right thing’,” he added.

Glenn is a writer and co-founder of the Crescent and Cross Solidarity Movement, an interfaith forum dedicated to uniting Muslims and Christians against Zionists. He has his own blog The Ugly Truth.

The following is the full text of the interview:

Tasnim: Turkey rejected on Tuesday Syrian government accusations that it is not meeting its obligations under an agreement to create a demilitarized zone around the insurgent-held Idlib region, saying the deal was being implemented as planned. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said in comments reported late on Monday that Turkey appeared unwilling to implement the deal. What is your opinion about the comments and the future of the Idlib province, which with adjacent areas is the last stronghold of insurgents?

Glenn: Of all the players involved in this terrible drama, the one who obviously possesses the most credibility in any debate or discussion concerning steps that have been negotiated amongst the various players in all of this--Syria, Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, and Turkey--in finally bringing an end to all the murder and mayhem are the Syrians themselves, who have been the victim of a merciless, deliberate campaign of mass murder and serial terrorism with the intended end result being regime change. And while countries such as Iran and Russia and entities such as Hezbollah certainly deserve the gratitude they have received, from not only the Syrians, but indeed an entire world that seeks justice for what has been done, nevertheless, it is the Syrians who possess the lion’s share of weight in whatever statements are made concerning what is taking place behind the scenes.

Having said that, what must be remembered is that none of the aforementioned mass murder and serial terrorism inflicted upon the people of Syria would have been possible were it not for the willing, active, and some would even say ENTHUSIASTIC assistance that was provided by Turkey, and especially Erdogan. Every terrorist bomb dropped on some Syrian family’s home, every terrorist bullet fired that found its way into the body of an innocent Syrian child, Turkey’s ruling establishment knew that all of this was the inescapable outcome of its own decision in allowing itself to be used as the hatchet man for the US and Israel. Therefore, Turkey possesses NO credibility in any discussion or debate as to whether or not the protocols which she agreed to implement regarding the aforementioned demilitarized zone around the insurgent-held Idlib are indeed taking place, as she has--by her previous actions, revealed that she cannot be trusted to do the ‘right thing’. Therefore, at this time, we, the members of the ‘jury’, simply do not have the luxury of taking Turkey at her word, and therefore must consign all credibility to Syria, who is the aggrieved victim of Turkey’s previous aggression and war crimes.

Tasnim: A four-way summit on Syria recently ended in Turkey’s Istanbul without any major breakthrough. In a joint communique following their meeting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin called for "an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process" and said conditions needed to be created for the safe and voluntary return of refugees. The comments came as the summit was not attended by any Syrian groups. What do you think about the summit?

Glenn: Again, based upon past experience, we can assume that Putin’s presence at the summit was the only thing that prevented the 3 other players in this from meeting behind closed doors and plotting the worst. As history has proven conclusively, besides the personal role Turkey played in the humanitarian disaster taking place in Syria, there are the contributions made to all of this by France and Germany as well, due to the subservient posture which both countries maintain towards Israel, the United States and to those organized Jewish/Zionist forces within both countries respectively who maintain a KGB grip over the economies, media, and political processes there.

Keep in mind that the ‘inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process’ resolution which was referenced by the 4 players was in large part made for public consumption. Merkel, Macron and Erdogan are still to this day intent upon seeing regime change take place in Syria, and Putin knows that without Russian, Iranian and Hezbollah military muscle on the ground in Syria helping the besieged government of Bashar Al Assad that the aforementioned 3 players will have their spies and political saboteurs on the ground making sure that any ‘political’ process that takes place will achieve that same regime change which all seek per Israel’s demands. 

Tasnim: Iran, Russia, and Turkey - the three guarantor states of de-escalation zones in Syria - have held several rounds of peace talks in Kazakhstan’s Astana and elsewhere to help end the conflict in the Arab country. The fourth round of those talks in May 2017 produced a memorandum of understanding on de-escalation zones in Syria, sharply reducing fighting in the country. What is your assessment of the parallel talks between the three countries on the Syrian crisis and Tehran’s role in the peace process?

Glenn: As usual, Iran deserves the eternal gratitude, not only from the people of Syria, but indeed, the entire world. Out of the handful of principled players involved in the events of the last half-century, Iran has offered no ‘half measures’ and has stood steadfastly in opposition to the demonic designs which Jewish interests and the West have implemented against the innocent peoples of the Middle East like no other. Where were Jordanian troops in rescuing Syria from the deliberate campaign of murder and political destabilization? Where were Saudi troops? Where were Egyptian troops? Dittos with every single country in the region--Arab or otherwise--who either sat back and watched the massacre taking place while doing nothing or else who offered assistance to that massacre, either actively (as in the Saudis and Turks) or passively.

Having said that, it is completely understandable why for strategic reasons Iran and Russia are attempting (with a certain degree of success) to pull Turkey out of the Western/Zionist sphere of influence and into a more ‘eastern’ neighborhood. As much as Erdogan can be rightly castigated for the assistance he provided in what may rightly be termed the Holocaust of Syria, at the same time it is also without dispute that a gun was put to his head by Israel and the West in the form of incredible political pressures, not the least of which were the various spontaneous ‘uprisings’ that took place suggesting that a Western/Zionist manufactured ‘Turkish Spring’ was in the works.

And, having said that, it is certainly to the benefit--both in the short term and in the long term and not only to Iran, Syria, Russia, but indeed to the entire world--that the budding ‘romance’ with Turkey on the part of those more eastern players continue as the necessary step in removing from Israel and the West a strategically-important forward operating base that has been owned and controlled not only by Western and Zionist money, but as well by the promise of re-constituting the same Ottoman Empire which these same Western/Zionist interests destroyed in the previous century.

World’s Ruthless Strongmen Have Their Hands On The Future

by Irwin Jerome 

Once again, the pathos of human history repeats itself. Another lot of ruthless strong men once more have their bloodied hands on the future and, as a result, like what has happened so many times before in all the wars and violence of the past, the more recent century in particular, a lot more good human beings and innocent non-human beings will soon die as a result and life on Planet Earth will once more suffer, greviously.

Who is responsible for it this time with the so-called Khasoggi Affair that now is the latest cause celibre that’s on everyone’s minds and lips? Is it the Turks, Saudi’s, Americans, Russians, Germans, Chinese, Israelis, Iranians, Syrians? Some so-called ‘Rogue Killers’? What is the real truth that lies behind it all? Who is primarily to blame for the spread of so much misinformation, disinformation and propaganda to suit whatever nefarious ends? Is it: Jamal Khoshoggi, Donald Trump, Tayyip Erdogan, King Salman, crown prince son Mohammed bin Salman, Jared Kushner, Benjamin Netanyahoo, Vladimir Putin? Does it make any difference who it is when the end result is the same?

Truth, with a capital ‘T’, in mankind’s dark, labrinthine, underworld of international politics and intrigue is always an entity too nebulous, too dark, too elusive, too imponderable to discern for the average citizen, let alone the acerbic analyst to ferret out. To get at the heart of whatever contentious world affair caused World War I, WW II, the wars in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, or perhaps will now cause World War III, demands a herculean effort and tenacity (some would call it idiocy) to try to wade through all the propaganda and filter out the lies from whatever nub of truth is to be mined from so much fake news. Just too many layered skins of the onion exist, created by too many nefarious players, to peel back before getting at whatever truth is to be found. The bigger the issue, the more the players, the fatter the onions, and thicker the layers to be peeled back are before any real truthes are revealed. In the end, it’s difficult to ever tell the innocent victims from the key operatives with bloodied hands.

Yet once again the questions, suppositions and hypotheses are everywhere madly flying around to try to explain away all the causes and wherefores of it all. Who is or was Jamal Khashoggi? Was he or is he just another blameless journalist doing his job who has been victimized because of his search for the truth, or is he or was he just another shady operative-player in the dark underworld struggle for oil and whatever other fast disappearing finite natural resources are clamored for, as the world and all of life as we know it slowly continues to die?

Once again this so-called ‘affair’ is a tired reminder, as it was back in the days of the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, that “It’s the Oil, Stupid!” The wars throughout the Middle East likewise have always been about oil. Though while the Western World constantly pays lip service to meeting the standards set by the Paris Accord to lower global warming and protect all of life upon earth, the automobile manufacturers continue to make ever-bigger, more luxurious automobiles that require the consumption of more and more oil while television commercials around the globe, during every major or minor world sports event, brainwash the people to continue to buy them as if there was no tomorrow to the supply of finite natural resources; and, like dutiful Pavlovian dogs, the world’s masses rush out to buy yet the latest technological wonder with all the bells, whistles and wonders of the road. The madness continues with exponential population explosion and its need for more of everything.

Or does the Khoshogii Affair simply have more to do with the dirt that Jamal Khashoggi –who was one of the back room/middle men/dual operatives in Saudi and U.S. intelligence services in the 1980s and 90’s, who befriended Osama bin Laden to persuade him to make peace with the Saudi Royal family? Does the dirt he posseses or possessed on the Saudi Arabia kingdom’s links to al-Qaeda before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and actual involvement in the attack itself, factor into his disapperance? Why WAS the Saudi’s plane the only one allowed to fly through America’s air spaces during the nationwide alert that grounded all other air traffic? Does Khashoggi’s disapearance have anything to do, as well, with the fact that a District Court judge in Manhatten ruled last March that families of 9/11 victims could proceed with their suits against the Saudi government for complicity in the attack? Khashoggi, as someone with intimate knowledge about Osama bin Laden and Turki bin Faisal, a leader within Saudi intelligence services at the time, would have certainly been called as a ‘star witness’ in the upcoming trials in New York. Were that to happen, no one in either the ‘Deep State’ or Saudi kingdom would ever want any of those dots to be connected let alone disclosed. That, indeed, could or would be the spark that perhaps sets off the insanity of yet another World War III just like the previous insane world wars were set off.

Clearly, historically: the Arab oil fairy tale is coming to a close sooner rather than later; a lot of chickens are about to come home to roost, and; a lot of dots about to be connected to too many unpleasant ‘truths’ that may finally reach the light of day. Maybe the Khashoggi Affair will be the final straw that broke the camels back and lead to many world-shaking events, such as the impeacement of President Trump or overthow of the Saudi Empire. At the very least, a lot of heads are going to roll, or beheadings as the case may be, over this.

But then, maybe not, and human life will simply continue to struggle on, like a mortally wounded animal, and endlessly repeat the idiocy that is a very long and sad story of the human race on Planet Earth. Shakesepeare had it right when he wrote King Lear & Macbeth.

Jerome Irwin is a freelance writer and author of “The Wild Gentle Ones; A Turtle Island Odyssey” (www.turtle-island-odyssey.com), a three volume account of his travels as a spiritual sojourner, during the 1960’s, 70’s & 80’s, among Native American & First Nation peoples in North America. It encompasses the Indigenous Spiritual Renaissance & Liberation Movements that emerged throughout North America during the civil rights era. Irwin has authored over the years a number of environmental, political, cultural, spiritual articles with a special focus on Native Americans, First Nations, Australian aboriginals, Israeli, Gazan, Palestinian and Syrian peoples. Irwin also is the publisher of The Wild Gentle Press.

Pompeo meets Saudi king on Khashoggi case

AFP

Turks study 'toxic materials' at Saudi Consulate

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Saudi Arabia’s king and crown prince to discuss the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Tuesday and Turkey’s foreign minister said the envoy would bring information about the case to Ankara.

Khashoggi, a US resident and leading critic of the Saudi crown prince, vanished after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Turkish officials say they believe the Saudi journalist was murdered there and his body removed, which the Saudis strongly deny, Reuters reported.

President Donald Trump, who dispatched Pompeo to Riyadh amid strained ties with the key ally, has speculated that “rogue killers” may be responsible after speaking with King Salman.

Overnight, Turkish crime scene investigators entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, the last place Khashoggi was seen before vanishing, for the first time and searched the premises for over nine hours.

They continued on Tuesday, expanding their search to include the residence of the Saudi consul as well as consulate vehicles, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, speaking to reporters in parliament, raised the possibility that parts of the consulate had been repainted since Khashoggi disappeared. “The investigation is looking into many things such as toxic materials and those materials being removed by painting them over,” he said.

The case has provoked an international outcry against the world’s top oil exporter, with media and business executives pulling out of an investment conference next week.

HSBC CEO John Flint backed out on Tuesday, as did the CEOs of Standard Chartered and Credit Suisse.

During the initial consulate search, CNN reported on Monday that Saudi Arabia was preparing to acknowledge Khashoggi’s death in a botched interrogation, after denying for two weeks any role in his disappearance.

The New York Times, citing a person familiar with the Saudi plans, reported the crown prince had approved an interrogation or abduction of Khashoggi. It said the Saudi government would shield the prince by blaming an intelligence official for the bungled operation.

Cavusoglu said Turkey had “not received a confession” yet from Saudi Arabia over Kashoggi’s disappearance, but added that he expected Pompeo to bring fresh information from Riyadh when he arrives in Turkey.

Turkish authorities have an audio recording indicating that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, a Turkish official and a security source have said, and have shared evidence with countries including Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Some 10 Turkish investigators left the consulate before 5 am (0200 GMT) after searching the premises overnight, and a Turkish prosecutor departed around 1-1/2 hours later, followed shortly after by a Saudi team.

Forensic vehicles took away soil samples as well as a metal door from the garden. A police dog was part of the search team.

“The Turkish crime scene investigators carried out searches in the consulate and took the things deemed necessary,” a senior Turkish official said, after acknowledging the difficulty of collecting evidence 13 days after the alleged incident.

Trump has threatened “severe punishment” if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, but ruled out cancelling arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars. European allies have urged accountability for those responsible.

Many members of the US Congress, which has long had a testy relationship with Saudi Arabia, have issued strong criticism of the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia has said it would retaliate against any pressure or economic sanctions “with greater action,” and Arab allies rallied to support it.

The Saudi riyal, rebounded early after falling to its lowest in two years over fears that foreign investment could shrink. Saudi stock index was down 3 percent in early Tuesday trade before it recouped some losses for a decline of 0.5 percent by 0949 GMT.