Military Blogger Alleges U.S. Now Aids ISIS to Oust Assad
by Eric Zuesse
A highly informed anonymous military blogger, who goes by the name of “bernhard” and blogs at his widely followed “Moon of Alabama” website, is alleging, in a post October 12th (“The ’Salafist Principality’ — ISIS Paid Off To Leave Mosul And To Take Deir Ezzor?”), that the Obama Administration has negotiated with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, and with Saudi Prince Salman (who is the decision-maker in Saudi military matters), to provide safe passage into the large Syrian city of Deir Es Zor, for the ISIS jihadists who have been occupying the city of Mosul in Iraq.
On September 17th, U.S. and UK jets had bombed the compound of Syrian government troops who were fighting to oust jihadists from that City, and 62 Syrian soldiers were killed, and over a hundred were injured, in that U.S.-led bombing attack. Subsequently, Syria brought more troops to that location and retook control there, but if and when the ISIS jihadists from Mosul take control there, the forces of Bashar al-Assad will be beaten not by U.S. bombs, this time, but by ISIS jihadists.
“Bernhard” cites a tweet on the morning of October 12th from the celebrated Syrian historian and journalist Nizar Nayouf, reporting (“berhard” calls it a ‘rumor’ because Nayouf relies upon ’Sources in London’): “Breaking news: Sources in #London say: #US_Arabia concluded an agreement to let #ISIS leave #Mosul secretly & safely to #Syria.” However, Nayouf was a democracy-activist whom the Assad regime imprisoned in 1991 and released on the date of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Syria on 6 May 2001; so, any prejudices that Nayouf might have would be against not for Assad, and for not against the forces (such as Obama and the Sauds) who are trying to overthrow Assad. Only time can tell whether or not ISIS from Mosul will show up in Deir Es Zor, but Nayouf is reporting that that’s the deal.
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
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“Erdogan’s trouble at home and abroad are not some foreign plots against him…” Do others here agree with that comment by MOA? I don’t. It’s only partly true, in my opinion. Furthermore, I would just make the observation that those (some Kurds, terrorists, anyone) who chooses uncle Sam as a dance partner is inviting rape. We’ve seen that many times and I don’t even have to give even a partial list. You all know it. You may get treated nice for a while, but in the end the head of the vicious, wild beast of corporatocracy is just like the lesser heads within that evil entity. It’s vicious, unprincipled, false to agreements and only sees law and order as a means to achieve dominance. It will turn on friend or foe. Indeed, Betrayal is it’s main characteristic. And that’s how the lawless, deceitful tyrants come to be in positions of power in this dark world. They break rules and agreements.
If Eric, who would know better than I, says that a anonymous blogger who is highly informed and in the military, has some worthwhile things to say, I believe it. But I have to say, after perusing the Moon Over Alabama website, that normally I would pretty quickly move on when I saw posts that were not only anonymous, but not even labelled ‘anonymous’. I see that some have ‘b’ attached. And I see much activity, which indicates that others find the site useful. I’ve bookmarked it, but I wish we could have a little more transparency. No, I don’t want others to voluntarily hand themselves over to the (proudly) great Satan, uncle Sam, for torture. But posts that don’t even have ‘Anonymous’ attached (and an explanation anywhere for such anonymity) puts me off.
Remember also that the US has been supporting al Nusra in its military operations in Syria.
In early 2015, Saudi Arabia and Turkey met to overcome political differences. They agreed to back jihadist militia groups al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham in a new military command called the Army of Conquest. And it was this group that captured the Syrian town of Idlib on March 24 2015.
Charles Lister, a senior analyst at Brookings Institution Doha and a recognized terrorism expert, blew the whistle on the key detail — that US personnel in an ‘operations room’ control centre in Turkey had been ‘facilitating’ the Idlib success by the Army of Conquest.
This despite the fact that al Nusra had rejected US overtures to distance itself from al Qaeda and had instead publicly affirmed its loyalty to them.
So there you have it. The US was previously bombing al Nusra but after it was reconstituted as the Army of Conquest and given Turkish and Saudi blessing then the US was on board to help it defeat Assad.
That’s the US military providing direct military assistance to al Nusra, listed by the Australian government as a banned terrorist organization.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2015/05/its-official-the-us-collaborates-with-al-qaeda.html
The US military, CIA and Saudi Arabia have continued that assistance to al Nusra (currently surrounded in Aleppo) by way of weapons supplies.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2015/10/syria-obama-officially-throws-the-towel-unofficially-though-.html
So the US military has been assisting both ISIS and al Nusra.
Recall: Russia bombed ISIS and other Syrian jihadists all through 2015-16. In 2015 the Russians delivered 148 airstrikes within just one week against various jihadists in Syria while it took 13 months for the US and its allies to achieve similar results. But the most significant detail came in late Oct 2015. US fighter aircraft went from flying 4.2 (largely non-critical) daily airstrikes on ISIS in predominately eastern Syria down to none at all in the last week of October.
This total cessation of US air attacks on east Syria allowed the Islamic State to move hundreds of fighters and heavy equipment like tanks and cannons from its stronghold in Raqqa city to the west of Syria. At the same time Jabhat al-Nusra brought hundreds of fighters from other fronts south-eastward for its part of the attack. It is difficult to believe that these were just unrelated coincidences of that they went unnoticed by US satellites. The only reasonable interpretation is that the US military allowed this to happen.
These air attack mission details have been confirmed from figures published by the US military (and have been emulated by Australian air force records).
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2015/10/us-stopped-syria-air-strikes-while-nusra-and-is-prepared-attack-on-government-supply-route.html
http://www.warpowersreform.org.au/what-exactly-is-australias-policy-in-syria/
So the US military and intelligence has already been supporting ISIS.
Recall: At the G20 Summit in Nov 2015 Putin provided irrefutable reconnaissance and satellite photos of ISIS oil convoys snaking their way across Syria to Turkish border crossings. German media had previously published intelligence photos of these daily convoys which had been running unmolested by US fighter aircraft for two years — all this while the US was supposedly attacking ISIS. Russia had already been bombing these convoys and the US was publicly shamed into following suit.
That was in Nov 2015 and Western media was forced to investigate. There was already considerable evidence of complicity between the Turkish President and his son in these oil trades, evidence from international experts and opposing Turkish politicians.
As an example, the ABC’s Anne Barker published an article on 7 Dec 2015 entitled “Is Turkey buying oil smuggled by Islamic State?” It contained credible claims from multiple sources that Turkey was actively complicit in the illicit sale of ISIS oil.
US Intelligence knew all about ISIS oil convoys for nearly two years yet chose to ignore them. Some critics might suggest that the US is in league with ISIS.
Further, Ahmet Sait Yayla was Chief of the Counter-Terrorism and Operations Division of Turkish National Police between 2010 and 2012 and then Chief of the Public Order and Crime Prevention Division until 2014. He has now come out and said that Turkey and Pres.Erdogan have been active supporters of ISIS for many years.
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/former-turkish-counter-terror-chief-exposes-governments-support-for-isis-d12238698f52#.n2o46inib
Why shouldn’t we believe that the US military is also in bed with ISIS?
“Alleges”? What a joke! The World already knows that the US supports ISIS, Al Queda and their “moderate” affiliates. Yes I said “Moderate”. Have you ever heard of a moderate terrorist? No? Well neither have I. The US is a gross hypocrite and has betrayed Western civilization.
Of course the new Hiroshima provides the pretext for all post-9/11 US foreign wars but what US planners – whether in State,Pentagon,CIA or WH or some combination(( i would defy anyone to get inside that matrix with any real facts,whilst of course deductions become essential tools where facts are part of a Black Operation,much to the annoyance of many perfectionists/conformists/orthodox historians)- did not foresee was Russias acceptance of the Syrian SOS call, as the barbarians massed at the city gates. Seared by the outcome of the UN resolution over Libya( where the Foreign Office Report opens many truths, and may yet open some eyes) neither Russia nor China were or are ready to see US imperialism ride roughshod again with their proxy terrorists over yet another nation on their list for their bloody gift of democracy! Therefore as Moon has outlined in many blogs the US has had to revert to Plan B as well as making up policy on the hoof with so much of the difficulty of interpretation arising from inter-departmental struggles within the US and revert to Balkanisation and blocking up E Syria and fighting as costy a war of retreat as they are able,using media clamours for ceasefires to resupply and rearm the various terrorist groups they sponsor and rebrand in the hope that audiences/readers will forget precisely what they are- so now we have al Sham ( maybe arising even from an in-joke within some corridor of Washington) alias al Nusrah alias al Qaida holed up in Aleppo and refusing UN invitations to leave…… the cleaning-out of the savages is necessarily brutal and costly in Army lives;the media is there espcially to feed the frenzy but is nowhere else,just as it departed Libya in a huge hurry.The White Helmets do what they are paid to do and Ann Clwyd has a hernia. Russia may now agree to a cease-fire this Sat but now only so that it itself and the SAA can prepare to more fully end the terrorist insurrection possibly with Chinese help forthcoming..No more favours to Western hawks and it no longer cares about Western propaganda rightly dismissing Boris Johnson as a perverse lightweight political personality. Yet ,sadly as able as she is Emily Thornberry hasnt yet configured the broader canvas and Stop the War still is asking if maybe there has been terrorism sometime,somewhere which doesnt fit the blowback equation…. Moon takes us beyond all the myopia and seeks a broader perception of conflicting hegemons and their strategies.He must necessarily use deduction-the MSM doesnt trade in hard facts,with only Minzer ( Boston Globe) and Peter Odone dissenting though neither will look at Machiavellian terror. Is he correct over Mosul? It seems likely. Is he on-the-ball over Deir Ezzor and why the USAF has killed both Syrian soldiers in an unfortunate accident lasting over 60 mins,followed by a Daesh attack, and has since bombed the bridges preventing anti-aircraft missiles from being easily brought in….. ? He certainly appears to have a strong case and stronger still if the vital geographical importance of DE is understood as a key settlement, as are Ar Raqqah and indeed Aleppo,within the construction of Chinas huge Silk Road economic belt where a minimum investment of $100 billion is marked down. Moon is challenging,perceptive and insightful. Few would know he exists were it not for the Off-Guardian.
is boris johnson being paid in American Dollars to chorus US deployment of UK Troops in Syria in another of Wall St/ Big Oil`s Pipeline Wars?
This seems like a rather ominous sign, the golden demagogue, Boris Johnson seems to be hinting that the time has come for the West to listen to its’ concience and finally ‘do something’ about Aleppo, even if this ‘something’ might mean open conflict with Russia. Or is it all merely bluster a lot of hot air bursting out of his second favourite orifice that signifies next to nothing?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/13/boris-johnson-military-options-against-syrian-regime-being-considered
Facebook won’t allow re-posting. Is this verification of the article’s accuracy>
Avaaz has just renewed their petition from last year to create a no fly zone for Syria, exactly what the Neocons have wanted all along. However there is a counter petition to persuade them to cancel their petition. Would you want to help promote this? Here is the link:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Avaaz_Stop_Avaazs_Neocon_no_fly_zone_for_Syria_petition/
Bernhard is not a military blogger. Moon of Alabama is a political/international affairs blog. He was in the German army, certainly, as part of obligatory military service, I think. Its main feature is original thinking, and excellent research.
Hi Laguerre,
To be fair bernard does appear to be very well informed about military affairs and often posts about them. He also comments on the blog Sic Semper Tyrannis as “b”.
He doesn’t have any unpublished sources. I’ve been reading it since pretty much the beginning.
The real ‘Axis of Evil,’ the USA, Israel and Saudi Arabia are getting the kind of press they don’t want or need.
When you read stories in the alternative press, never the MSM, that Israel has been providing medical care for ISIS thugs in the Golan Heights; that SA is supplying them with money and weapons and that the USA has/is been supplying the ‘moderate’ head choppers with new Toyota 4WD pickups, political cover, weapons and air support, it doesn’t take much intelligence to follow the dots and figure out what’s going on.
Without the 9/11 False Flag, all of these insane ME wars would not be possible, hence the new ‘Pearl Harbor’ which enraged Americans enough to demand not justice, but vengeance for that horrific deed. But the real 9/11 perps control the media, Congress, the WH and the fraudulent FED, which has been using the 9/11 scare to do another ‘controlled demolition’ of the US economy, engaging in the largest transfer of wealth in history to the richest 1%, while trashing the economy, which will lead to another implosion, which is just around the corner.
The real 9/11 perps aren’t going to relinquish that power and wealth, and set themselves up for prosecution, even if that means starting a nuclear world war with Russia to cover their tracks.
Sound crazy? Maybe, but does what is going on in the ME and Wall Street sound sane?
Greg Bacon, wish I could give you multiple thumbs up. Nice summing up of what is going on right under our noses. The most egregious conspiracy theory is the 9/11 government fairy tale and pretty much everything that has occurred preceding and following it.
Reblogged this on EU: Ramshackle Empire.
Excelent article. Unfortunately blocked/censored by Facebook.