[Peace-discuss] Islamic State was born in NATO camps

[David Johnson via Peace-discuss]

  Islamic State was born in NATO camps

<http://rt.com/op-edge/authors/andre-vltchek/>

Andre Vltchek is a novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He 
has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries.

Get short URL <http://rt.com/op-edge/191620-nato-isis-camps-turkey-syria/>
Published time: September 29, 2014 20:11
Entrance to Apaydin camp (Photo by Andre Vltchek)

Entrance to Apaydin camp (Photo by Andre Vltchek)

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Tags

Arms <http://rt.com/tags/arms/>, Army <http://rt.com/tags/army/>, 
Clashes <http://rt.com/tags/clashes/>, Conflict 
<http://rt.com/tags/conflict/>, Human rights 
<http://rt.com/tags/human-rights/>, Iraq <http://rt.com/tags/iraq/>, 
Middle East <http://rt.com/tags/middle-east/>, Military 
<http://rt.com/tags/military/>, NATO <http://rt.com/tags/nato/>, 
Politics <http://rt.com/tags/politics/>, Syria 
<http://rt.com/tags/syria/>, Turkey <http://rt.com/tags/turkey/>, UK 
<http://rt.com/tags/uk/>, USA <http://rt.com/tags/usa/>, Violence 
<http://rt.com/tags/violence/>, War <http://rt.com/tags/war/>

The West and its client states in the Middle East are now bombing 
Islamic State (ISIS) positions in Syria, killing both militants and 
civilians, violating countless international laws and treaties.

Oil installations inside Syria are in flames; the West /“informed”/ 
Damascus that the bombing campaign could take three years, as if it 
would be the sole owner of the Middle East.

The fact that it is done with no international endorsement is by now not 
surprising anybody.

There is nothing standing on the way of this campaign; no air force is 
defending Syrian territory, no surface-to-air-missiles are fired.

Yet, the US and the UK make no secret that this is not just a campaign 
to debilitate ISIS positions. The US is openly declaring alliance with 
the /“moderate opposition forces”/ inside Syria, which essentially means 
those forces that are fighting to overthrow the government of President 
Assad.

Damascus’ plea for a broader coalition to fight ISIS is being ignored. 
No wonder – for years Islamic State (or ISIS) was actually an integrated 
part of the /“opposition movement”/ supported, trained and financed by 
the West and its regional allies.


    Hezbollah is already fighting IS

The excuse or justification, for the latest attacks against Syria, is 
simple. British Prime Minister David Cameron told lawmakers: /"This is 
not a threat on the far side of the world. Left unchecked, we will face 
a terrorist caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean."/

By this, he was perhaps referring to that short Syrian Mediterranean 
coastline dotted with the cities like Latakia and Tartus, but also, most 
likely, to the entire Lebanon, which, according to a regional analyst, 
Michael Jansen, /“...is already the third battlefront in the war against 
the Islamic State (IS) and, like embattled Syria and Iraq, it has 
neither the political unity needed, nor the material means to fight its 
battle.”/

It is enough to read Daily Security Information Reports by UNSIOC in 
Lebanon to see how serious the situation really is. There are incursions 
from Syrian soil by the militants, kidnappings and constant arrests.

But most of the people in the region would definitely disagree with both 
Mr. Obama and Mr. Cameron about on whose shoulders rests the 
responsibility for this disastrous state of things.

Apaydin Camp (Photo by Andre Vltchek)

Apaydin Camp (Photo by Andre Vltchek)

Outspoken leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, spelled out his 
take on the situation, in Lebanon, on September 23, 2014:

/“We are against American military intervention and an international 
coalition in Syria, whether that [action] is against the Syrian regime 
or Daesh (ISIS)... Under the false pretext of fighting terrorism the 
U.S. seeks to take control of the region...”/

Hezbollah is actually already fighting ISIS, but, despite its great 
popularity in Lebanon and in the region, and its inclusiveness and great 
social projects (or maybe because of them), the organization is on the 
list of terrorist groups, at least in the US and in several European 
countries.

It appears that the West is making sure that Lebanon remains 
defenseless, even as it appears likely that ISIS could soon intensify 
its attacks or to make a decisive dash across the border, from Syrian 
territory. Weapons from France had not been delivered yet, partially 
because France /“worries”/ that they could be used against Israel. The 
US is blocking any purchase of Russian weapons by Lebanon (Defense 
Minister of Lebanon, Ms. Nouhad Mashnouk visited Moscow trying to secure 
delivery of Russian-made arms), because of /“the tension between the 
West and Russia over Ukraine.”/


    Region ruined, West controls the game

The situation is extremely complex but what is clear is that the West is 
pressing all the control buttons in the /“game.”/

It helped to create and to strengthen /“Syrian opposition,” including 
its most radical elements like Islamic State. The goal was to depose 
President Assad. Now when the ISIS went “out of control,”/ and began 
gaining territory in both Iraq and Syria, their brutality and military 
success are used as justification for direct intervention in Syria.

It is becoming clear that no matter what, President Assad would never be 
allowed to win; even if (and perhaps especially if) he is supported by 
the majority of the Syrian people.

As a result of actions taken by the West, both Iraq and Syria are now 
fully destabilized, or more precisely, they are in ruins.

Hidden camera Jordan - Syrian border (Photo by Andre Vltchek)

Hidden camera Jordan - Syrian border (Photo by Andre Vltchek)

Lebanon does not even have fully functioning government or sound 
military, and may be swept away by the destructive tide.

The region is now literally flooded with millions of refugees.

And the West is once again pounding the area with Tomahawk missiles and 
bombs. Several pro-Western Arab regimes that are co-responsible for the 
situation in Syria and Iraq - Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and 
the United Arab Emirates - have joined the /“campaign,”/ by offering 
their jets. This way, there is some illusion of legitimacy - their 
handlers in Washington can trumpet to the world that /“they are not in 
it alone.”/

While the /“threat of terrorism”/ and /“danger to the region and its 
people”/ are quoted as the main justifications for the military action, 
there is really very little logic in those arguments, and many citizens 
of the Middle East now simply believe that the West is aiming at the 
overthrowing of the government of Syrian President Assad, at creating an 
independent, oil-rich, and pro-Western Kurdish state, and possibly even 
at igniting conflict with neighboring Iran.

It is also understood that things could get resolved without the Western 
bombing campaign; through the channels that the US and EU would never 
use: governments in Damascus and Teheran would have to stop being pushed 
into the corner. In fact, Syria and Lebanon would have to be allowed to 
rearm and to be allowed to fight their own enemies. And Iran would have 
to be encouraged to join the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).

On 21 September 2014, AP reported:/“Syria's parliament speaker said 
Sunday that the US should work with Damascus to battle the Islamic State 
extremist group rather than allying with nations which he accused of 
supporting terrorism. Speaker Jihad Laham was apparently referring to 
Saudi Arabia and other countries backing rebels trying to overthrow 
Syrian President Bashar Assad.”/

But the West is not aiming at resolving the crises. It is pushing and 
fighting for full domination of the region.

It is playing chess with both white and black pieces. In between are 
tens of millions of people, and entire nations. Every move terminates 
countless lives.

Barricaded government building in Beirut (Photo by Andre Vltchek)

Barricaded government building in Beirut (Photo by Andre Vltchek)


    Create them, use them, fight them

ISIS did not fall from the sky. They were armed, financed and trained in 
the refugee camps built for /“Syrian refugees,”/ in Turkey and Jordan. 
Both countries are staunch allies of the West; Turkey is on top of it a 
member of NATO.

Several regional reporters, including Turkish investigative journalist 
Huseyin Guler and Ulusal’s TV documentary filmmaker Serkan Koc, 
identified the camps as training facilities, particularly Apaydin in the 
vicinity of Hatay, near the Turkish border.

The fact that Jordan is offering its territory for purposes of 
/“training the opposition”/ is no secret. Earlier this year I worked in 
two refugee camps near the Jordan-Syrian border: an old and overcrowded 
Zaatari Camp and one new one, which is still only partially operational 
– Azraq.

 From testimonies given to me by both refugees and local inhabitants, 
Zaatari Camp has been used as a training facility for /“Syrian 
opposition fighters,”/ for years. In the area, there was a clear 
presence of both Saudi and Qatari cadres.

The AP reported: /“Jordan is… officially denying that any training of 
anti-Assad fighters takes place on its soil, though both Jordanian and 
American officials have acknowledged it does.”/

The National, a daily newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates, 
reported on December 28 2013:

/“A command centre in Amman or "operations room" as Syrian rebels 
describe it, gives military advice to the Free Syrian Army and channels 
weapons to them for their fight against Bashar Al Assad's regime… Rebels 
say there is also a complex, shadowy system of weapons movement, with 
diverse, sometimes parallel, supply routes. The command centre works 
with the FSA and the Supreme Military Council - the FSA high command 
headed by General Selim Idriss and allied with the Syrian National 
Coalition, the opposition political alliance backed by Arab states and 
the West.”/

I investigated the situation on the Turkish-Syrian border, in the 
vicinity of the city of Hatay, on several occasions, for both the 
documentary film I was producing for Venezuelan TV channel TeleSur, and 
for several of my written reports.

The tolerant and multi-cultural city of Hatay has been living in fear 
for years, terrorized by those machinegun-waving bearded jihadi cadres 
who were transplanted there from Saudi Arabia and from the rest of the 
Gulf, in order to train and radicalize Syrian /“opposition fighters.”/

Apayadin Camp is where many of the ISIS fighters have their roots.

Entrance to Incirlik base near Adana (Photo by Andre Vltchek)

Entrance to Incirlik base near Adana (Photo by Andre Vltchek)

Serkan Koc, who has produced several groundbreaking works on the subject 
of the /“Syrian opposition,”/ explained to me in Istanbul:

/“Of course you do realize that those people are not really ‘Syrian 
opposition.’ They are modern-day legionnaires collected from various 
Arab countries, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, paid by Western 
imperialist powers. Some are members of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist 
organizations. Most are militant Sunni Muslims. One could describe them 
as rogue elements hired to fight the Assad government.”/

Some of those legionnaires, including those who belong to Islamic State 
(ISIS) had mutated and began wearing several hats (President Assad was 
warning for months that they would). They are still after President 
Assad whom they mainly hate for being secular, and for belonging to the 
Alawite sect, which is considered to be heretical in some Sunni Muslim 
circles, especially in the most radical ones. But now they are also 
after non-Muslims and non-Arabs, even after the interests of those who 
actually helped them to come to life – the West.

All this is not unlike how al-Qaida was born. It mutated from 
Western-trained and financed Mujahedeen that were first involved in the 
fighting against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) and later 
the Soviet Union.

The West is historically using, even grooming, the most horrendous 
allies, be it Mujahedeen in Afghanistan, the military and religious 
cadres in 1965 Indonesia, fascist military in Chile, Paraguay and 
Argentina, or present-day Ukrainian fascists crews.

/“Syrian opposition”/ is just one of the latest editions. It is clear 
who is benefiting: the military and political establishment of the West, 
which supplies the weapons, destabilizes countries, even entire regions, 
and tries to establish full control over the world.

Then, if and when the situation changes and a former client’s movements 
go gaga, there is always another use for them: they can serve as a 
justification for direct invasions and further militarization of the 
regions and the entire planet.

First you create them, then you use them, and in the end you fight them.

/“The only victims”/ are millions of people who are dying and becoming 
internally displaced in the regions destroyed by these brutal 
imperialist games.

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