From Anthrax to Iraq

Corbett Report
October 25, 2016




SHOW NOTES AND MP3: https://www.corbettreport.com/?p=20220

Robbie Martin of AVeryHeavyAgenda.com joins us to talk about his research into the anthrax attacks of 2001. We discuss how false information claiming an Iraqi link to the attacks was sowed via the mainstream media and how the story largely disappeared when the anthrax traced back to the US government's own bioweapons labs. We also update the case and talk about some of the legitimate suspects in the attacks.

THE US MOSQUE OBAMA HAS CHOSEN FOR HIS FIRST PRESIDENTIAL VISIT HAS DEEP EXTREMIST TIES

Daily Caller
January 31, 2016

The Baltimore mosque President Obama has chosen as the first U.S.-based mosque to visit during his presidency has deep ties to extremist elements, including to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The White House announced on Saturday that Obama will visit the Islamic Society of Baltimore (ISB) on Wednesday. He has visited several mosques overseas as president but has resisted visiting one in the homeland. The purpose of the trip, according to the White House, is to “celebrate the contributions Muslim Americans make to our nation and reaffirm the importance of religious freedom to our way of life.”

But ISB is a curious choice for Obama’s first domestic visit.

The mosque is a member of a network of mosques controlled by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), a Muslim civil rights group named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation terror case. Several executives with that organization were convicted of sending money to aid the terrorist group Hamas.

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ISIS, the Mahdi, and the New World Order

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!! News
Mark Matheny
June 17, 2015

Mark Matheny explains ISIS' role in the coming time of the Beast's reign on earth....

American troops battle ISIS for first time as they see off attempted attack by militants on Iraqi base

Daily Mail
December 18, 2014

A number of militants have been killed in Islamic State's very first battle with U.S. ground troops after the extremists attempted to overrun an Iraqi military base.

The militants attacked Ein al-Asad military base on Sunday where more than 100 U.S. military support troops are based.

Despite launching the surprise attack just after midnight, ISIS's offensive was swiftly repelled when U.S. troops and F18 jets joined in the skirmish in support of the Iraqi Army.

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A US Navy Seal team secures the airfield at Ein al-Asad base during a visit by former president George W Bush

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US military experts arrived at Ein al-Asad airbase (pictured) last month to help train and support Iraqi forces

Facing both Iraqi and US troops supported by F18 jets, an unknown number of ISIS attackers were killed during the two hour firefight before being forced to retreat.

Ein al-Asad came under repeated attack by ISIS troops in October, however, now bolstered by the U.S. assistance, it poses a much more formidable target.

ISLAMIC STATE TRAINING PILOTS TO FLY IN THREE JETS

Reuters
October 17, 2014

Matheny's Note: Wow, ISIS now has jets too... what's next - Aircraft Carriers?? This is insane....

Iraqi pilots who have joined Islamic State in Syria are training members of the group to fly in three captured fighter jets, a group monitoring the war said on Friday, saying it was the first time that the militant group had taken to the air.

The group, which has seized land in Syria and Iraq, has been flying the planes over the captured al-Jarrah military airport east of Aleppo, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the report and U.S. Central Command said it was not aware of Islamic State flying jets in Syria.

Read the entire article 

Crisis imported from abroad to Mideast: Analyst Webster Tarpley

Press TV

October 17, 2014

A political commentator says the ongoing deadly crisis in Syria and Iraq is to blame on foreign governments for their support of militants operating in the two Middle Eastern nations, Press TV reports.

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“I think … the crisis in Syria and Iraq has always been an insurrection fomented from abroad in recent years. [The crises] are not indigenous, but were imported into the country for reasons of imperialism,” Webster Griffin Tarpley, an author and historian in Washington, told Press TV in an interview on Saturday.

Tarpley referred to Turkey as the first country that has supplied the ISIL with “weapons, money and recruits,” saying, “Turks are not tightly enforcing their border. They are letting the ISIS (ISIL) come and go, and other terrorist groups are also coming and going. So this will be the first place to start and they have to close the border.”

The political commentator named “Saudi Arabia, Qatar, [Persian] Gulf states, [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council and Arab monarchies” as the main sources of financial support for the ISIL terrorists.

Webster Tarpley

Regarding the recruitment of militants in Syria, Tarpley blamed the United States for having trained "thousands" of militants to fight against the government of Syria.

The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, control large parts of Syria's northern territory.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. According to reports, the United States and its regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey - are supporting the militants operating inside the country.

According to the United Nations, more than 190,000 people have been killed and millions displaced due to the turmoil that has gripped Syria for over three years.

YH/KA/SS

Iraqi Prime Minister Speaks Up for Persecuted Christians

The Blaze
July 22, 2014

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister on Sunday condemned the Islamic State extremist group’s actions targeting Christians in territory it controls, saying they reveal the threat the jihadists pose to the minority community’s “centuries-old heritage.”

The comments from Nouri al-Maliki come a day after the expiration of a deadline imposed by the Islamic State group calling on Christians in the militant-held city of Mosul to convert to Islam, pay a tax of face death. Most Christians opted to flee to the nearby self-rule Kurdish region or other areas protected by Kurdish security forces.

FILE – In this Monday, June 23, 2014 file photo, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Baghdad. Iraq’s Shiite prime minister on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 rejected calls to form an interim “national salvation government” that critics say would allow the country’s squabbling sects to quickly present a unified front in the face of a growing threat by Sunni militants who have seized several cities this month. (AP Photo/Brendan Smialowski, Pool, File)

“What is being done by the Daesh terrorist gang against our Christian citizens in Ninevah province, and their aggression against the churches and houses of worship in the areas under their control reveals beyond any doubt the extremist criminal and terrorist nature of this group,” al-Maliki said in a statement released by his office, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

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Tarpley discusses duplicitous US role regarding ISIS in Iraq

Tarpley.Net
July 4, 2014


Webster Tarpley on Press TV
More US duplicity on ISIS: NATO/Saudi-Backed "Caliphate" is portrayed by State Department as apocalyptic, but no real countermeasures until Maliki quits -- fraud is obvious -- and are US troops there to defend Iraq's legal government, or to organize a pro-Allawi coup d'etat?

Video Purportedly Shows Islamic State (ISIS) Leader

WSJ Digital
July 6, 2014

A video released online Saturday allegedly shows the self-appointed leader of the Islamic State jihadist group, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, speaking at a Mosul mosque. The man in the video bears a strong resemblance to known images of Mr. Baghdadi, though the authenticity of the video, as well as the location and time at which it was shot, still remain unclear.

“Color Revolutions”: US State Department Document Confirms Regime Change Agenda in the Middle East

Matheny's Note: I mentioned the subjugation of Africa and the Middle East as part of a U.S. agenda, in an article I wrote titled Iran: The Next Pawn in 'The Grand Chessboard' of the New World Order. From brzezinski's book, 'The Grand Chessboard',he reveals this objective:

"How America 'manages' Eurasia is critical. A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world's three most advanced and economically productive regions. A mere glance at the map also suggests that control over Eurasia would almost automatically entail Africa's subordination, rendering the Western Hemisphere and Oceania geopolitically peripheral to the world's central continent. About 75 per cent of the world's people live in Eurasia, and most of the world's physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil. Eurasia accounts for about three-fourths of the world's known energy resources." (p.31)

*** 

Global Research
July 1, 2014

The Obama Administration has been pursuing a policy of covert support for the Muslim Brotherhood and other insurgent movements in the Middle East since 2010.  MEB has obtained a just-released U.S. State Department document through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that confirms the Obama Administration’s pro-active campaign for regime change throughout the Middle East and North Africa region.

The October 22, 2010 document, titled “Middle East Partnership Initiative: Overview,” spells out an elaborate structure of State Department programs aimed at directly building “civil society” organizations, particularly non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to alter the internal politics of the targeted countries in favor of U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives.

The five-page document, while using diplomatic language, makes clear that the goal is promoting and steering political change in the targeted countries:

“The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) is a regional program that empowers citizens in the Middle East and North Africa to develop more pluralistic, participatory, and prosperous societies.  As the figures in this overview illustrate, MEPI has evolved from its origins in 2002 into a flexible, region-wide tool for direct support to indigenous civil society that mainstreams that support into the daily business of USG diplomacy in the region.  MEPI engages all the countries of the NEA region except Iran.  In the seven of NEA’s eighteen countries and territories with USAID missions, country-level discussions and communication between MEPI and USAID in Washington ensure that programming efforts are integrated and complementary.”

In a section of the document titled “How MEPI Works,” three core elements of the program were spelled out:  region-wide and multi-country programming, local grants, and country-specific projects.  The objectives of the region-wide and multi-country programming were described as:

“builds networks of reformers to learn from and support one another, and to catalyze progressive change in the region.”  The local grants “provide direct support to indigenous civic groups, and now represent more than half of MEPI’s projects.”

Under the country-specific aspect of the program, designated officers of the U.S. embassies manage the funding and work as direct liaisons to the various funded local NGOs and other civil society groups.   The “country-specific projects” are tasked “to respond to local developments and local needs, as identified by our embassies, local reformers, and our own field analysis.  Political developments in a country may produce new opportunities or challenges for USG policy goals, and MEPI will shift funds to respond to these needs.”

According to the October 2010 document, the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at every U.S. embassy in the MENA (Middle East/North Africa) is in charge of the MEPI program, giving it a clear high priority.  The document makes clear that the Middle East Partnership Initiative is not coordinated with host governments:

“MEPI works primarily with civil society, through NGO implementers based in the United States and in the region.  MEPI does not provide funds to foreign governments, and does not negotiate bilateral assistance agreements.  As a regional program, MEPI can shift funds across countries and to new issue-areas as needed.”

The document makes clear that special priority, as early as 2010, was given to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain, and that project headquarters in Abu Dhabi and Tunis were overall coordinating centers for the entire regional program.  Within a year of its inception, Libya and Syria were added to the list of countries on the priority list for civil society intervention.

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BREAKING: ISIS Shows Off MASSIVE SCUD Missile in Military Parade

Gateway Pundit
July 1, 2014

ISIS terrorists showed off a captured SCUD missile today in Raqqa, Syria.

Scud is a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The name Scud has been widely used to refer to these missiles and the wide variety of modern variants.

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ISIS Releases New Videos, Claims Own Islamic State

Wall Street Journal Digital
June 29, 2014




ISIS said in an audio recording Sunday that it was establishing a "caliphate" that all Muslims were required to obey. It also renamed itself The Islamic State and released two new videos. Via The Foreign Bureau, WSJ's global news update.

ISIS Declares A Caliphate; Crucifies 9 Syrian Rebels For Being "Too Moderate"

Zero Hedge
June 29, 2014

Erstwhile leader of ISIS, Sheikh Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi has declared himself Caliphate, Amir Al-Mu'minin - Leader of Believers, as militants bear down on Baghdad. This comes as the extremist group demands that all Al-Qaeda and Jihadi branches must now pledge allegiance to ISIS.. if not there are consequences as nine rebels have been crucified for being too 'moderate' or accused of receiving support from Western powers. We suspect this may slow 'demand' for Obama's latest cunning plan to offer 'aid' to only "moderate" terrorists.

ISIS have declared their Caliphate. [...]

Which means...

[...] all Al-Qaeda and Jihadis must pledge allegiance to ISIS

As a reminder, this is how ISIS envisions its Caliphate:

Or fear death for being too moderate... (as RT reports)

Eight rebel fighters have been crucified in Syria by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) because they were considered too moderate, a monitoring group said on Sunday.

The eight men were brutally killed in the town square of Deir Hafar in the east of Aleppo province on June 28 because they were from rebel groups that had fought the jihadists as well as President Bashar Assad’s forces, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, AFP reports.

ISIS then “crucified them in the main square of the village, where their bodies will remain for three days,” the pro-opposition NGO added.

A ninth man was crucified alive in Aleppo province where he was nailed up for eight hours in Al-Bab near the Turkish border as a punishment, although he has reportedly survived the ordeal.

We suspect there will not be too many takers for President Obama's newly unveiled plan to offer "aid" to "moderate" Syrian rebels... Red line?

As Reuters reports, better not hold your hand out for Western support...

The men were accused of being "Sahwa" fighters, the Observatory said, a term ISIL uses to refer to rival combatants whom it accuses of being controlled by Western powers.

Read the entire article 

After winning the border in Iraq, ISIS unites with Syria al Qaeda unit

DW
June 27, 2014

A unit of al Qaeda's Syria branch has pledged loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Iraq‘s premier has ruled out a government of national unity in the face of the campaign by the mostly Sunni militants.

In a region of fractured alliances, the merger announced Wednesday could allow the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to control both sides of the border. The well-financed ISIS had seized Abu Qaim on the Iraqi side of the border earlier this week. Albu Kamal sits just opposite it, in Syria.

After months of clashes between ISIS and al Qaeda's al Nusra Front in Syria, Nusra's Albu Kamal branch "pledged loyalty to ISIS," Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday. "They are rivals, but both groups are jihadist and extremists," Abdel Rahman added. "This move will create tension now with other rebel groups, including Islamists, in the area."

Although both groups began as offshoots of al Qaeda, they became rivals after ISIS became involved in Syria's civil war in 2013. The central leadership of al Qaeda disowned ISIS and proclaimed the Nusra Front as its official affiliate in Syria.

In its efforts to create an Islamic state straddling both countries, ISIS has captured swathes of Iraq, beginning June 10 with Mosul, the main northern city. ISIS also controls large parts of eastern Syria, where it has clashed with rival rebels groups and occasionally fought alongside them, complicating the three-year-old insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad.

Omar Abu Leyla, a rebel spokesman in Syria's Deir Ezzor province, warned that "Albu Kamal is a red line." If ISIS fighters cross over from Iraq, he said, the opposition "Free Syrian Army will fight them."

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ISIS RELEASES GLOBAL TAKEOVER MAP

Infowars News
June 27, 2014

ISIS “expansion” plan map posted on Twitter.

ISIS, the Saudi and CIA supported and U.S. military trained terror army, has supposedly posted its five year “expansion” plan on Twitter.

The map shows the al-Qaeda offshoot occupying the entire Middle East, including Israel, the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and, most absurd of all, India. It apparently plans to do this with less than 40 thousand jihadists.

ISIS will probably never get out of Iraq and Syria, but that is beside the point. The idea is to keep the group in the headlines and amp up propaganda designed to feed the war on terror beast. This is done primarily through social media and sensationalistic stories floated by the establishment media. The group has even deployed an Arabic-language Twitter app called The Dawn of Glad Tidings, known as Dawn for short, in the effort to make it seem technologically savvy.

“A rapid stream of ISIS victories, massive amounts of media coverage and millions of breathless tweets have had a powerful combined effect on the group’s image,” writes John Little. “Like LulzSec at it’s height they appear to be unstoppable. And while they are a massively destabilizing force in the region, the general public (and many journalists) should start taking a much more critical view of their propaganda. This five year projection would be a good place to start.”

Side note: LulzSec is an FBI operation designed to take down whistleblowers and dent the rep of Wikileaks.

As for the five year projection: it is beyond absurd. No doubt ISIS will be able to gobble up large areas of Iraq. Iraq was engineered to be a failed state with an ineffective and corrupt militarycontrolled by the United States. The Iraq military is not meant to be a serious military force. It is a facade designed to be a client for the military industrial complex and a black hole exploited by contractors and preferred clients of the Pentagon and the State Department.

Much of North Africa consists of failed states further weakened by the engineered Arab Spring. Libya is now a haven for radical Islamists, including al-Qaeda. Boko Haram operates in Nigeria and the Saharan region is threatened by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Meanwhile, in the Horn of Africa, al-Shabaab, brutal Somalia terror group, dominates.

All of this terrorist activity in Africa has provided a boon to the Pentagon and its Africom mission. In March, 2013 Major General Carter F. Ham told a House Armed Services Committee these groups pose a threat to U.S. national security interests. “However, the real threat to ‘US national security interests’ in Africa is not AQIM, Boko Haram or al-Shabaab, it is China’s demand for natural resources for their growing economy,” writes Timothy Alexander Guzman.

ISIS “ambition,” as the establishment media characterizes the ludicrous five year plan, is derailed when we take a look at South Asia. Hindus and Muslims have fought bloody wars for decades and continue to butcher each other on a regular basis. India has well over a billion Hindus. How exactly less than 40 thousand Muslims plan to conquer this area is not explained.

Another significant obstacle is Iran. More than 93 percent, around 66 million people, are Shia Muslims in Iran. The ISIS Sunni Wahhabists may behead a few Shia Muslims when they can and marginally threaten the Shia population in southern Iraq, but Iran will certainly intervene militarily if ISIS manages to move beyond Baghdad and invade Shia territory. For Shia Muslims, shrines in Najaf and Karbala in southern Iraq are the most revered sites after Mecca and Medina.

Comically, ISIS claims it will jump the Timor Sea from Indonesia – where there are over 200 million Muslims, primarily Sunni – into Australia, a country where the dominant religion is Christianity.

The ISIS map is fantastic propaganda created by the CIA, the U.S. military and NATO. It does not represent reality. It is merely another prop in the ongoing effort to expand the war on terror.

US-Sponsored Terrorism in Iraq and “Constructive Chaos” in the Middle East

Global Research 
June 26, 2014

Iraq is once again front page news. And once again the picture that is presented to us in the Western mainstream media is a mixture of half truths, falsehoods, disinformation and propaganda. The mainstream media will not tell you that the US is supporting both sides in the Iraqi conflict. Washington is overtly supporting the Iraqi Shiite government, while covertly training, arming and funding the Sunni Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Supporting the influx of terrorist brigades in Iraq is an act of foreign aggression. But the mainstream media will tell you that the Obama administration is “concerned” by the actions committed by the terrorists.

The preferred narrative in the U.S. and most Western mainstream media is that the current situation is due to the U.S “withdrawal” which ended in December 2011 (more than 200 U.S. troops and military advisors remained in Iraq). This portrait of events in which the US withdrawal is to blame for the insurgency does not draw any connection between the U.S. invasion of 2003 and the occupation that ensued. It also ignores the death squads trained by U.S advisors in Iraq in the wake of the invasion and which are at the heart of the current turmoil.

As usual, the mainstream media does not want you to understand what’s going on. Its goal is to shape perceptions and opinions by crafting a view of the world which serves powerful interests. For that matter, they will tell you it’s a civil war.

What is unfolding is a process of “constructive chaos”, engineered by the West.  The destabilization of Iraq and its fragmentation has been planned long ago and is part of the ”Anglo-American-Israeli ‘military road map’ in the Middle East”, as explained in 2006 in the following article:

“This project, which has been in the planning stages for several years, consists in creating an arc of instability, chaos, and violence extending from Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria to Iraq, the Persian Gulf, Iran, and the borders of NATO-garrisoned Afghanistan.

The ‘New Middle East’ project was introduced publicly by Washington and Tel Aviv with the expectation that Lebanon would be the pressure point for realigning the whole Middle East and thereby unleashing the forces of “constructive chaos.” This “constructive chaos” –which generates conditions of violence and warfare throughout the region– would in turn be used so that the United States, Britain, and Israel could redraw the map of the Middle East in accordance with their geo-strategic needs and objectives. …

The redrawing and partition of the Middle East from the Eastern Mediterranean shores of Lebanon and Syria to Anatolia (Asia Minor), Arabia, the Persian Gulf, and the Iranian Plateau responds to broad economic, strategic and military objectives, which are part of a longstanding Anglo-American and Israeli agenda in the region…

A wider war in the Middle East could result in redrawn borders that are strategically advantageous to Anglo-American interests and Israel…

Attempts at intentionally creating animosity between the different ethno-cultural and religious groups of the Middle East have been systematic. In fact, they are part of a carefully designed covert intelligence agenda.

Even more ominous, many Middle Eastern governments, such as that of Saudi Arabia, are assisting Washington in fomenting divisions between Middle Eastern populations. The ultimate objective is to weaken the resistance movement against foreign occupation through a “divide and conquer strategy” which serves Anglo-American and Israeli interests in the broader region.” (Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Plans for Redrawing the Middle East: The Project for a “New Middle East”, November 2006)

Although the divide and conquer strategy is not new, it still works thanks to the media smoke screens and mirrors.

Engineering a civil war is the best way to divide a country into several territories. It worked in the Balkans and it is well documented that ethnic tensions were used and abused in order to destroy Yugoslavia and divide it into seven separate entities.

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Iraqi Christians ordered to Pay Taxes for Protection

The Blaze
June 25, 2014

Christians in a northern Iraqi city are reportedly being ordered to pay a tax in return for protection by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

A Middle Eastern Christian website and a Lebanese daily reported that Christians have been required to pay $250 per individual who works and $500 per couple. If accurate, the tax would fall in line with past Islamist efforts to impose fines on Christians in the region, a Middle East expert told TheBlaze.

In this Sunday, June 15, 2014 photo, Iraqis attend Mass at the Chaldean Church of the Virgin Mary of the Harvest, in al-Qoush, set in the seventh century Saint Hormoz monastery built into a hill overlooking Alqosh, a village of some 6,000 inhabitants about 31 miles north of Mosul, northern Iraq. Dozens of Christian families that fled to this ancient Iraqi village have taken a much-traversed route — many from their minority community have escaped to Alqosh before, in fear for their lives. (AP Photo)

Council of High Commission for Human Rights in Iraq member Salama Al-Khafaji told the Arabic-language Alsumaria News that ISIS had begun imposing the tax, known as “jizya,” on Christians who remained in Mosul after the militant group seized the city earlier this month. The Assyrian International News Agency summarized the report on its English-language website.

Al-Khafaji said ISIS “is imposing on Christians a minimum payment of $250, with amount varying depending on the type of work/profession performed by Christian citizens.”

“The economic situation in Mosul is extremely difficult, and there are no financial resources or job opportunities except for vegetable shops, any other businesses are non-existent. Citizens are at a loss now as to how to make ends meet; how can they pay those amounts to ISIS?” Al-Khafaji asked.

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The Fall of Iraq - What You Aren't Being Told

Storm Clouds Gathering
June 24, 2014

Iraq is descending into chaos, but not for the reasons you're being fed by the politicians and the mainstream media.
Sources and full transcript: http://scgnews.com/the-fall-of-iraq-w...
Get weekly email updates: http://stormcloudsgathering.com/scgne...

‘IT FELL ON DEAF EARS’: CIA AND MI6 KNEW ABOUT ISIS ASSAULT IN ADVANCE, FAILED TO REACT

RT News
June 24,2014

As Iraq’s western border falls beyond the control of the country’s government, a new report suggests the United States and Britain were warned of a burgeoning insurgency months before militants began gaining territory.

According to a report by the UK-based Telegraph, senior Kurdish intelligence officials said they tried to explain to their allies in the CIA, MI6, and the central Iraqi government that the members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) could represent a great threat to Iraq’s stability, but that those warnings failed to spark any action.

In addition to calling attention to potential territorial gains in Iraq – a new Reuters report states the “entire Western frontier,” comprising borders with Syria and Jordan, is now “beyond government control” – Kurdish officials warned that ISIS is attracting foreign-born Muslims to its cause. Senior Kurdish intelligence officer Rooz Bahjat said that of the 4,000 estimated foreigners fighting alongside ISIS, somewhere between 400 and 450 were born in Britain and convinced to join the insurgency.

These officials also said a formal alliance between ISIS members and ex-Baathists, who held power under Saddam Hussein, was nearly completed, and that it would lead to an attack on Mosul and other cities in northern Iraq.

“We had this information then, and we passed it on to [the British] government and the US government,” Bahjat told the Telegraph. “We knew exactly what strategy they were going to use, we knew the military planners. It fell on deaf ears.”

Although ISIS has now quickly taken control of multiple cities in Iraq, it’s believed that many Sunnis have decided to support the extremist organization over the lack of an inclusive government in central Iraq. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shia-led government has failed to bridge the country’s sectarian divide, leaving many Sunnis feeling as if they have no stake in the country’s future.

As RT reported previously, there have been indications that the US wants Maliki to resign his post so that attempts at Sunni/Shia reconciliation could be made, but there is little evidence to suggest Maliki will go, and the US has not declared this preference publicly. Speaking on the situation last week, President Obama said, “It’s not our job to choose Iraq’s leaders … But I don’t think that there’s any secret that, right now at least, there is deep division between Sunni, Shia and Kurdish leaders.”

During a recent interview with CBS News, Obama stated that ISIS is “a medium- and long-term threat” to US national security, but also cautioned that it is “just one of a number of organizations that we have to stay focused on.”

Speaking with the Telegraph in a separate article, head of Kurdish intelligence Lahur Talabani said it wasn’t simply the 2003 invasion of Iraq that’s responsible for today’s violence, but that the lack of willingness on the part of Western powers to establish a peaceful government in the war’s aftermath is primarily to blame. The Kurds have called for more substantial intervention from the West, to no avail so far.

“I have completely lost hope in America after listening to President Barack Obama,” he said. “I blame him personally for what has happened in Syria, in the Middle East, in Iraq at the moment. I have no hope any more.”

For his part, President Obama has ruled out the return of American troops to Iraq. Last week, he announced that 300 military advisers – in addition to 275 troops meant to safeguard the American embassy in Baghdad – would be sent to help train and support Iraqi troops. The US is reportedly mulling the use of airstrikes and drones at the request of Maliki’s government, but has also expressed reluctance at entering a conflict with no clear political solution.

Initially, the use of airstrikes was also ruled out due to the lack of good intelligence related to ISIS, something analyst Michael Stephens of the Royal United Services Institute think tank believes is the result of policies that placed significantly less emphasis on Iraq.

“Both the Americans and the British had options to upgrade their presence on the ground many months before this happened but seem not to have acted on that,” he said to the Telegraph.

“For one reason or another there was a feeling that Iraq was not an important foreign posting and as a result it was seen as a place where careers go to die rather than a place to build a career. That meant the assets that should have been available to us weren’t really there when this kicked off.”

Iraq's Mahdi Army Forces Hold Rally in Sadr City

WSJ Digital Network
June 22, 2014

Thousands of Mahdi Army fighters loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr took part in a show of force in Sadr City on Saturday. WSJ's Matt Bradley reports from Baghdad.