We have the makings of a full scale disaster in Syria and Obama is facilitating it. ANother Islamist regime will be installed In Damascus with dire consequences fo r non Muslims in the region. And don;t for a moment think that an Islamist regime in Syria will not eventually reconcile with Iran and Hezbollah.
by Barry Rubin
In his article “The Revolt of Islam in Syria” (Jerusalem Post, December 12), Jonathan Spyer — senior fellow at the GLORIA Center — points out compelling information about the new Western-backed leadership in Syria.
The bottom line: if this is Syria’s new government, then Syria now has an Islamist regime.
This is happening with the knowledge and collaboration of the Obama administration and a number of European governments. It is a catastrophe, and one that’s taking place due to the deliberate decisions of President Barack Obama and other Western leaders. Even if one rationalizes the Islamist takeover in Egypt as due to internal events, this one is U.S.-made.
[.......]
The new regime, recognized by the United States and most European countries as the legitimate leadership of the Syrian people, is the Syrian National Coalition, which has also established a military council.Spyer’s detailed evidence for these arguments — much of which comes from raw wire service reports, for which praise is due to Reuters in this case — is undeniable. And if we know about these things, there is no doubt that the highest level of the U.S. government does as well.
Why is this happening? Because Obama and others believe that they can moderate the Muslim Brotherhood and this will tame the Salafists, despite massive evidence to the contrary. This is going to be the biggest foreign policy blunder of the last century, and the cost for it will be high. It should be stressed: such a strategy is totally unnecessary; the alternatives have been ignored; and the real moderates are being betrayed.
Here is some of the proof for these assertions:
– “The founder of the Free Syrian Army, former Syrian Air Force Colonel Riad Asaad, is notably absent [from the leadership]. General Mustafa al-Sheikh, the first of his rank to defect to the rebels, is also not there. Sheikh is known for his fierce opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood. Hussein Haj Ali, the highest ranking officer to defect so far, was similarly absent.” These men are all anti-Islamists.
– “A Reuters report on the new joint military council calculated that the Muslim Brotherhood and their allies account for about two-thirds of the 263 men who met in Antalya and formed the new body. Salafi commanders are also there.” In other words, the Islamists will get the overwhelming share of weapons provided under U.S. sponsorship, Turkish oversight, and Qatari and Saudi financing. And the United States has not objected to the arming of Salafist super-extremists as long as they aren’t affiliated to al-Qaeda.
[.......]
– “The domination by the Muslim Brotherhood of the new military council mirrors the movement’s leading position in the new civilian leadership body — the Syrian National Coalition. The leader of this coalition is Ahmed Mouaz al-Khatib, former Imam of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.
“Khatib is closely associated with the Damascus Branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The leader of the new coalition has a long history of anti-Semitic, anti-Western, and anti-Shia remarks. (He praised Saddam Hussein, for example, for “terrifying the Jews” and wrote an article asking if Facebook was an “American-Israeli intelligence website.”) He is also an admirer of the Qatar-based Muslim Brotherhood preacher Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
– “Within the body headed by Khatib, the Muslim Brotherhood dominated Syrian National Council controls around 27 of the 65 seats on the executive body of the new coalition. There are also Islamists and fellow travelers among the non-SNC delegates. The Brotherhood is by far the best organized single body within the coalition. [........]
Let me add two other points:
– The U.S. government backed the previous opposition “leadership,” the Syrian National Council, which was formed as a result of American initiative operating through Islamist Turkey. [........] Only when the council had clearly failed — and despite the fact that months earlier several moderates had resigned complaining about Brotherhood domination — did the U.S. government change strategy to organizing a new, yet also Muslim Brotherhood-dominated group.
– American intelligence agents in southern Turkey supervise the handover of weapons to the rebels. They make no attempt to stop arms from going to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists while they make no attempt to funnel the guns to moderates. The only restriction is that they not go to al-Qaeda-affiliated Salafists.
One day, those guns will be used to commit unspeakable atrocities against Christians and other minority groups just as they will be used to install an Islamist regime and to kill or intimidate its opponents.
How has the United States handled this threat?
Well, it declared one Salafi group off-limits, because it is linked to al-Qaeda. That’s it.
As Spyer points out, there has been and still is an alternative: for the West to back non-Islamist leaders, including liberals, Arab nationalists, and Kurdish nationalist forces. Such a strategy was not pursued either in Egypt or in Tunisia.
So when Syria gets an anti-Western, anti-Semitic, and anti-democratic (aside from holding elections) regime, don’t be surprised. You can read it in the surprised and grudging admissions of the Western mass media a year or two after this regime takes power, or you can know about it right now.
This outcome might have been inevitable anyway — but I don’t think that’s true. A vigorous policy of supplying non- and anti-Islamist forces while doing nothing to help the Brotherhood and Salafist militias, plus the formation of a non-Islamist dominated political grouping that would receive Western aid could have produced a very different result.
But Western policy, and especially Obama administration policy, is now putting into power yet another anti-Western regime that will oppress its own people and put a high priority on trying to wipe out Israel.
Read the rest - Proof of a Scandal: U.S. Policy is Making Syria into an Anti-Western, Antisemitic Islamist State
Tags: Barry Rubin
They may reconcile with Iran, but only after they have destroyed Hizballah and taken over the Sunni countries.
so does the ME go up in one big bang, or do they have and endless series of smaller conflicts?
“Obama administration policy, is now putting into power yet another anti-Western regime that will oppress its own people and put a high priority on trying to wipe out Israel.”
wait are talking foreign or domestic?
I’ve got people in a big building 75 miles away from me determined to raise my taxes, fuck up my health care, and take away my first, second, fourth, fifth, tenth and fourteenth amendment rights. Fuck Syria -- I don’t care. Not right now, anyway. Priorities…
Mike C. wrote:
Thanks for letting me know.
I go on the assumption that people should be aware of what is going on in the world.
brookly red wrote:
Probably the smaller conflicts.
Mike C. wrote:
Have you told the leaders of the GOP? Them along with the Democrats want to get us involved in Syria?
Would you oppose intervention in Syria?
@ Speranza:
Smaller conflicts for now. Once the Caliphate is established, all bets are off.
@ Speranza:
@ Rodan:
there is the rub, I don’t see the Caliphate being established as long as they are busy killing each other.
Not to worry, subLt. John F. Kerry will make it all OK.
Just ask him, he will for sure tell the truth.
brookly red wrote:
Actually the MB/AQ are very close to their goals. They control Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Tunisia, Libya, North Mali and soon Syria.
taxfreekiller wrote:
This is a nightmare for you. Kerry as Sec of State!
:lol
Didn’t Nietzschte say “Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster; and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes into you.” It seems our current people in DC have been staring into the abyss for WAY too long…
Well look at it this way, if the commie Democrats and their CO2 rats get the AGW deal done by the U.N. no country will have enough energy from oil and gas to run planes and tanks. All well be back to some pre-industrial method of war.
like that stupid shit done dirt cheap by dumb ass commie cult members
Rodan wrote:
Turkey is worrisome, the rest combined can’t even feed them selves.
@ MikeA:
DC is the problem!
Kerry is so bad and so inept, so full of himself he has it in himself to bring the whole of the commie cult to its knees just by the sheer force of his stupid lies and fraud.
Go, John show U.S. what ya got….!@ Rodan:
@ brookly red:
They can’t, but Afghanistan under the Taliban wasn’t doing a very good job of feeding everybody, but they were still able to provide a base for al Qaeda to launch 9-11. That is the real danger of a MB “Caliphate”. They’ll provide lots of oppertunities for young Jihadis to get in on their 72 virgins. And enough people believe that nonsense to make them supremely dangerous. To say nothing of what happens if Pakistan falls or the Iranians get nukes.
Related:
Well, I, for one, would give Baby Assad a hearty “well-done” if he used some of his gas weapons on meetings such as those described above.
Later, the fact Obama did the Kerry deal will be the final fact to show clear how 100% dumb Obama in fact is and has been.
Kerry is the true case of “you can not fix stupid”.
Rodan wrote:
you got that right…with any foreign policy in shambles, I don’t trust BO at all, zero…mayhem and death follow that guy around like stink on shit…the only ounce of ‘support’ we give anybody is Israel, and BO won’t even do that…a lot of people are gonna die in the ME and I just can’t give a crap…it’s inevitable, what’s the point in choosing sides?…malaigned politics
@ taxfreekiller:
Kerry is a traitor.
Iron Fist wrote:
well I never said it was not in the best interest of the west to keep the young jihadis busy killing each other
@ heysoos:
Obama, The Democrats and the GOP. All are enablers of the Muslim Brotherhood.
@ lobo91:
I saw that. The resignations were bogus.
Alberta Oil Peon wrote:
with the Russians watching his back he just might…
Rodan wrote:
they are so outta control they don’t even bother to lie right anymore.
brookly red wrote:
Let them kill each other. It is the ultimate win-win.
None of this is a foreign policy “blunder.”
It’s all intentional.
@ 1389AD:
Nope this is the goal of the Democrats and the Nation Builders in the GOP. The Democrat Party and the national GOP are just enablers of the Caliphate.
@ brookly red:
Yeah, Obama is really pretty powerless here unless he wants to go mano a mano with the Ruskies. There is nothing there to justify us taking that step, but if Obama really wants to destroy the US nothing will do it as quick as losing a World War.
@ Iron Fist:
He said he would stand with the Muslims. He has kept his word.
This is who Obama with help from the national GOP want to put in power in Syria.
Interview with Official of Jabhat Al-Nusra, Syria’s Islamist Militia Group
Nice guys.
Speranza wrote:
Excellent progress to report in that regard. Top Palestinian terrorist killed in Syria.
I do keep aware of what is going on, guys. On a whole variety of fronts. But right now, the charging enemy is only a couple of meters away, so this isn’t the time for me to look for sniping targets across the valley, if you get my drift.
Once your rights are gone in this country, it doesn’t really matter what happens anywhere else, IMHO. There’s a low but non-zero probability that things could get ugly faster than expected.
@ huckfunn:
He was killed by al-Qaeda. Ironies of ironies!
@ Mike C.:
exactly
Rodan wrote:
it will be sad when the palies realize the rest of the caliphate could care less about them.
Mike C. wrote:
it is already worse than most people think…
@ brookly red:
Yeah that will be the big surprise.
Mike C. wrote:
That’ll epend on what Obama and the Congress do on gun control. They have to kno whow ugly things will get if they go forward with something radical. All the people who are setting records buying guns right now aren’t buying them just to turn them over because Dear Leader tells them to.
Rodan wrote:
There was an article last week (JPost I believe) that said Hamas is about to take a run at overthrowing Fatah in the West Bank. Should be a fun one to watch.
@ Iron Fist:
Don’t tell Obama that.
He won, after all.
//
lobo91 wrote:
@ brookly red:
The people have already spoken. And incidentaly, the liberal gun-grabbers have achieved one of their top goals -- it is essentially no longer possible to buy an “assault weapon”, high-capacity magazines, or most common ammo for semi-auto rifles. It’s all sold out.
@ huckfunn:
Hamas will wait until Syria, Lebanon and Jordan fall. Once that happens, the Caliphate can assist them.
Iron Fist wrote:
/unless of course they are all being bought by Holder and going to Mexico…
@ Iron Fist:
Don’t be surprise if we don’t hear anymore about gun control in a few weeks.
Rodan wrote:
Saudis are buying lots of German tanks…
Mike C. wrote:
You can bet that the companies manufacturing those mags will be running wide open until their stocks are replenished. Also, Cabela’s is showing all bulk 9mm as “back orderable”.
Assad seeking asylum in Venezuela. Via WZ.
@ Rodan:
That would be preferrable, from my perspective. That is definately a possibility. Before the Newtown thing, Reid said there was no chance of getting a floor vote on an “Assault Weapons” ban. Feinstein thinks she has momentum, but the last time the Donks went that far they lost control of both houses of Congress. Obama thinks he has the GOP over a barrel with th eFiscal Cliff, and he may unless he fucks it up by pushing for gun controls that a substantial majority of the population doesn’t want. It took the Democrats twelve years to recover from the 1994 Assault Weapons ban, and then they only held the House for 4 years before ObamaCare tipped it. Obama could pull a losing hand out of this and still not get the gun control through. If the GOP is so far gone that they’d allow anything through the House, we are well and truly done in America. The GOP may be the stupid party, but they aren’t that stupid. If Obama tries to demagog guns, he’ll lose the Senate in addition to the House in 2014.
@ huckfunn:
I’m good on all the ammo I have weapons to shoot. I can wait this panic out. Assuming the end doesn’t come immediately, of course.
@ huckfunn:
Syria will now be another emirate in the Caliphate. The Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda will have won a huge victory.
@ Mike C.:
ADDENDUM -- “Good” being a personal and relative thing, of course. I know plenty of people that would consider my pile of ammo to be essentially completely out.
huckfunn wrote:
Weird how he can articulate what McCain, Lindsay et al can’t
Iron Fist wrote:
since all his other plans depend on disarmament I can’t see him not trying.
@ Iron Fist:
Gun Rights is probably the only thing keeping the GOP together at this point. I think Obama is just doing rhetoric on gun control. I would not be shock if we stop hearing about it by January.
Funny, no one wants to address mental illness which is the real culprit.
BTW Gun violence has declined for 20 years. It’s an invented issue.
@ waldensianspirit:
McCain and the national GOP support the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda. It’s a truth too many Republicans do not want to address.
Mike C. wrote:
I’m running low on .40 range ammo, personally.
Social Security Ran $47.8B Deficit in FY 2012; Disabled Workers Hit New Record in December: 8,827,795
ht drudge. The system is crmubling
@ Rodan:
Accidental deaths of children with guns are almost non-existent now, too, but they still bring them up all the time, primarily because they don’t want to have to give the NRA any credit.
@ waldensianspirit:
Don’t tell the Dems that. They keep claiming that Social Security is solvent for another 75 years.
Of course, they apparently believe in unicorns, too.
@ lobo91:
The NRA has done a great job addressing gun safety. Funny that the same people who bug out over the Newton shooting don’t say crap about the killing of kids in inner city areas. This whole thing is an invented issue and the Left is trying to take advantage over a tragedy.
Rodan wrote:
now think about that for a moment, why would liberals want to address mental illness? Hmmmm?
@ brookly red:
Yeah, I wonder!
waldensianspirit wrote:
you know the more I think about this cliff thing the better it sounds… OK taxes are going to go up, that is a given, but automatic cuts to federal spending? I fail to see a problem (other than military but we will survive)
The people voted for bigger government, let the taxes go up to pay for it.
We need a national sales tax that floats to cover the deficit.
That would make 65% of Americans Tea Partiers.
hey, this is interesting… don’t know if it’s good or not but interesting.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/12/25/Chicago-Tribune-Six-Other-Papers-Drop-Associated-Press
@ brookly red:
I saw that earlier today. I think it depends on who they replace the AP with. It doesn’t take a big conspiracy to control our media. Control AP and Reuters, and you own 75% of it, and more than that of the national media. Local media gets out local stories that don’t fit the narrative, but they stay local without AP or Reuters coverage most of the time.
@ Iron Fist:
They’re going with Reuters American Content. To save 5 million dollars
More on why the gun controllers’ dreams won’t come true. The money quote:
That still may not keep Obama from doing something by Executive Order, but then those same Democrats who would have voted “No” may hand him his first veto over-ride. We’ll see how this plays out, but the longer they delay, the more likely it is nothing will happen. They were always relying on the emotion of the moment to over-ride people’s common-sense on the gun issue.
@ waldensianspirit:
So no real change to the narrative, so they will Continue to lose market share. They need to look at the smashing success that is Fox News, their own increasingly small piece of th emedia pie, and get a clue. If we can retain our First Amendment Freedoms, it is only a matter of time before someone who can read a balance sheet makes this observation, and print media changes likecable news has.
@ Iron Fist:
Print media is on its deathbed, at least with regard to newspapers and news magazines. They make money through advertising revenue, not subscriptions, and there are much more effective places for businesses to spend their advertising dollars today.
lobo91 wrote:
Ouch. Bad timing there. Well, give 2-3 weeks and try LuckyGunner.
On second thought, go order from them now. I see they have Federal 180 gr. FMJ for 38.2 cents/round in 1000 round lots. But only 10 units left. Then all they have is some high dollar HP rounds in 20 count boxes.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/12/26/PSY-Christmas-Show-Bombs
Oops:
@ Mike C.:
Cripes -- they have 1 (count them, 1) type of 5.56 and all of 2 types of 9mm on hand. Damn.
@ lobo91:
Also where and from whom did they acquire it
@ Mike C.:
It’s tough on reloading too, good luck finding small pistol primers anywhere.
(my stash is OK I think, but I worry about the structural integrity of the flooring…)
/galt
CynicalConservative wrote:
Mike C. wrote:
Midway USA has a few choices in .223 (nothing in 5.56x45 NATO) and 52 in 9mm on hand.
Looks like Obama’s primary achievement is increasing business in weapons retail
waldensianspirit wrote:
I’d really like to hear their explanation for why it’s okay for them to violate the law, but not the rest of us. I’m sure it will be something to do with them “not being a threat” to anyone.
Of course, that implies that the rest of us are a threat.
@ lobo91:
Jail time. Make a high-profile example. I’d love to see them try to argue freedom of the press on this one. I wonder if they’ll argue the Second Amendment? I bet his lawyers would if the DC Police had the balls to charge him. That won’t happen, though. As an Elite, he has rightly guaged that he is above the law, though the Conservative Media should scream about that from now until June.
waldensianspirit wrote:
/well he said he was gonna help small business…
@ waldensianspirit:
Obama can now say he has created some jobs…
Fathers disappear from households across America
ht drudge
And in the UK a dad was the tenth frequent Christmas wish
@ lobo91:
Oh, I don’t need to order more right now. Midway is out of anything bigger than CA-sized magazines for Mini-14s, though. Or 10/22s, for that matter. Those factory 25 round mags for the latter are history. They still have factory magazines for LC9s, though, at the normal outrageous price.
I wonder how long this will last?
Norwegian kicker (from Norway
) may be the next big thing in the NFL. Check it out:
Full story here.
@ waldensianspirit:
Father is such an antiquated idea! IN the post-patriarchy Brave New World all children will have two mothers!
@ huckfunn:
He has an incredible sense of 4-D!
@ waldensianspirit:
@ Iron Fist:
The future, once something wonderful is now dreadful. The seasonal singing of “Auld Lang Syne” was always a melancholy lamentation of times passing -- ever more fitting as our future unfolds, no?
“Fundamentally Change America”, indeed.
waldensianspirit wrote:
Yep, and he’s already signed up with a sports agent who will no doubt get him signed to a fat NFL contract.
huckfunn wrote:
I saw that video a couple of weeks ago and was wondering when someone would “show him the money”. Harvard Rugland -- great name!
huckfunn wrote:
I’ll take Split Em Baily anyday…that kid has the sweetest kick and ice water in his veins
@ Iron Fist:
In MD in the wake of the passage of a law that allows gay marriage, the terms husband and wife are no long used on marriage licenses. They are using some gender neutral description like person 1 and person 2.
Not sure how they plan to deal with the obvious maleness of the number 1 versus 2. Someone is sure to have their feeling hurt. /
MacDuff wrote:
Beats the crap out of JaMichael Duh-wayne Williams.
@ citizen_q:
Brave New World. Why are they stopping there? They are presuming only one husband/wife per happy couple. If you are goin got have gay marriage, there is absolutely no logic in limiting marriage to only two people. For one thing, Islam (ever favored) allows a man four wives. I’ve never understood how they squared anti-polygamy laws with freedom of religion, anyway, but it would seem that if you are throwing out all custom monogamy would be one that has to go.
heysoos wrote:
Baily’s done very well, but the Norseman looks like he can consistently score from 60 yards out with about 10 yards to spare.
huckfunn wrote:
who needs a quaterback…
Iron Fist wrote:
No, they’ve set it up to steal every election from now on in.
It doesn’t matter what any of us think any more, unless we are prepared to back it up by force of arms. Up close and personal.
I hear people on this blog talking about how many guns they have, but I am not hearing any talk of any armed insurrection to return the US to constitutional government. That’s what it would take, and it will not happen. There’s no leadership.
If there were one, I would have joined it over a decade ago, during the Kosovo War.
Totalitarianism has arrived.
Turn out the lights, the party’s over.
Remember what some smart people did when they saw that the Berlin Wall was being built?
Get out while you can.
1389AD wrote:
It’s curious that is oft your admonishment. If you are still here, why do you stay?
1389AD wrote:
That’s some pretty loose, irresponsible talk that tars us all. I’d suggest removal. Immediately.
@ MacDuff:
I would 2nd that
Thinly veiled goodamned calls for armed insurrection from goddamned ADMINS? Fuck this place, I’m outta here!
MacDuff wrote:
She is not an admin but a contributor (as am I). The admins here have made it clear they are not anarchists, secessionists, or believers in armed insurrection.
@ Speranza:
@ MacDuff:
@ brookly red:
Don’t read any more into my comment than what I actually said.
See my comment HERE.