http://news.antiwar.com/2012/12/11/obama-us-officially-recognizes-syrian-opposition-coalition/

Obama: US Officially Recognizes ‘Syrian Opposition Coalition’

The Coalition is a US-orchestrated exile group with no legitimacy among the real Syrian opposition

by John Glaser, December 11, 2012

President Barack Obama on Tuesday declared that the US officially recognizes the Syrian Opposition Coalition as the sole “legitimate representative” of its country’s people.

“We’ve made a decision that the Syrian Opposition Coalition is now inclusive enough, is reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population that we consider them the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in opposition to the Assad regime,” Obama said, paving the way for the greater US support.

“Obviously, with that recognition comes responsibilities,” Obama said in an interview Tuesday with ABC News. “To make sure that they organize themselves effectively, that they are representative of all the parties, that they commit themselves to a political transition that respects women’s rights and minority rights.”

The Associated Press misleadingly reported that Obama announced US recognition of “Syria’s main opposition group.” But that seriously mischaracterizes the so-called Syrian Opposition Coalition.

The group was formed as a US initiative and was officially acknowledged after a US-orchestrated conference in Qatar in November.

The Coalition is supposed to be made up of Syrian dissidents and opposition groups from across the spectrum. But it is largely another exile group without strong roots inside the country, and vehemently rejected by the armed rebel groups fighting the Assad regime on the ground in Syria.

Other Western governments, like Britain and France, have already formally recognized the Coalition.

The Obama administration’s announcement came immediately after the State Department’s decision to officially designate one of Syria’s foremost rebel groups, Jabhat al-Nusra, a group tied to hundreds of suicide bombings and al-Qaeda in Iraq, as a terrorist organization.

That decision was met with ardent backlash from more than 100 rebel groups on the ground inside Syria, who signed a petition expressing solidarity with al-Nusra and promoting the slogan “No to American intervention, for we are all Jabhat al-Nusra.”

“It has united a broad spectrum of the opposition — from Islamist fighters to liberal and nonviolent activists who fervently oppose them — in anger and exasperation with the United States,” reports The New York Times.

So as the US announced its recognition of a detached, pro-Western, unrepresentative exile group as the legitimate leader of the Syrian people, the great bulk of the actual Syrian opposition – both armed and civilian – threw their support behind a notorious jihadist group with ties to the same fighters that battled US troops in Iraq.

and....

http://www.infowars.com/us-recognizes-unelected-terrorists-as-syrian-representatives/

US Recognizes Unelected Terrorists as Syrian “Representatives”

Tony Cartalucci
Infowars.com
Dec 12, 2012

As expected, after a long pause of feigned “consideration,” the US has recognized the militants it has been arming, funding, aiding logistically and supporting diplomatically since as early as 2007, as the “legitimate representatives of the Syrian people,” with the added caveat, “in opposition to the Assad regime.” The Wall Street Journal would report that US President Barack Obama’s announcement actually read:

“The Syrian National Coalition for Revolutionary and Opposition Forces is reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population that we consider them the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in opposition to the Assad regime.”

The bizarre, uncertain wording sends a message of both uncertainty and resounding illegitimacy, indicating that the US itself recognizes the true nature of the so-called “Syrian” opposition is apparent to an increasing number of people both in public office and across the public, and that a certain degree of rhetorical distance must be kept.

The overt, extremist nature of the militants operating in Syria has become increasingly difficult for the West to paper over. Torrents of videos and confirmed reports documenting militant atrocities, including several involving the machine gunning of bound prisoners, and a particularly gruesome video of a child handed a sword by militants to hack off the heads of bound men wearing civilian clothing, has confirmed the worst fears expressed by geopolitical analysts and foreign governments around the world – that the Syrian opposition is in fact Al Qaeda.

So damning is the evidence, that President Obama was forced to finally acknowledge this, stating:

There is a small element of those who oppose the Assad regime that are affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq…and we are going to make clear to distinguish between those elements of the opposition.

The Wall Street Journal, in their article, “U.S. Recognizes Syria’s Main Rebel Group,” would also report:

The Obama administration on Tuesday for the first time released intelligence directly tying a powerful Syrian rebel group to commanders of al Qaeda in Iraq. U.S. officials formally sanctioned the Syrian militia, called Jabhat al-Nusra—freezing any assets it may have in the U.S. and barring Americans from doing business with it—because of fears it is gaining disproportionate power among the rebel groups seeking to overthrow Mr. Assad.

Despite this announcement, such sanctions are symbolic and selectively enforced. Also on such lists was theMujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK), and currently the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which officially merged with Al Qaeda in 2007, according to the US Army’s West Point Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) report, “Al-Qa’ida’s Foreign Fighters in Iraq.” Yet in 2011, NATO had armed, funded, and provided air support for LIFG during the premeditated overthrow of the Libyan government.

US Has Knowingly Supported Al Qaeda for Years

Based in Benghazi, elements of LIFG were behind the attack on a US consulate and the death of US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. They are also confirmed to be sending fighters and weapons through NATO-member Turkey where they stage before engaging in combat operations inside Syria.

In November 2011, the Telegraph in their article, “Leading Libyan Islamist met Free Syrian Army opposition group,” would mention LIFG by name when they reported:

Abdulhakim Belhadj, head of the Tripoli Military Council and the former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, “met with Free Syrian Army leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey,” said a military official working with Mr Belhadj. “Mustafa Abdul Jalil (the interim Libyan president) sent him there.”

Another Telegraph article, “Libya’s new rulers offer weapons to Syrian rebels,” would admit:

Syrian rebels held secret talks with Libya’s new authorities on Friday, aiming to secure weapons and money for their insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

At the meeting, which was held in Istanbul and included Turkish officials, the Syrians requested “assistance” from the Libyan representatives and were offered arms, and potentially volunteers.

“There is something being planned to send weapons and even Libyan fighters to Syria,” said a Libyan source, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There is a military intervention on the way. Within a few weeks you will see.”

Later that month, some 600 Libyan terrorists would be reported to have entered Syria to begin combat operations and have been flooding into the country ever since.

Clearly they are not “secretly” organizing hundreds of fighters under the nose of the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and “sneaking” through NATO member states into Syria. They are doing with NATO-backing, with NATOadmittedly providing support for militants along Turkey’s border with Syria, utilizing the very same regional Al Qaeda networks identified by the US military during the US occupation of Iraq – which also explains where Jabhat al-Nusra is coming from.

Further undermining US claims that they have identified and are attempting to separate from the “opposition,” sectarian extremists, are admissions made as early as 2007 that US foreign policy explicitly sought to utilize these very sectarian extremists to violently overthrow the Syrian government. Indeed, in 2007, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh published an article titled, “The Redirection” for the New Yorker, within which US, Saudi, and Lebanese officials described their conspiracy.

In the report it specifically stated:

“To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.” -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)

Hersh’s report would continue by stating:

“the Saudi government, with Washington’s approval, would provide funds and logistical aid to weaken the government of President Bashir Assad, of Syria. The Israelis believe that putting such pressure on the Assad government will make it more conciliatory and open to negotiations.” -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)

The link between extremist groups and Saudi funding was also mentioned in the report, and reflects evidence presented by the West Point CTC indicating that the majority of fighters and funding behind the sectarian violence in Iraq, came from Saudi Arabia. Hersh’s report specifically states:

“…[Saudi Arabia's] Bandar and other Saudis have assured the White House that “they will keep a very close eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was ‘We’ve created this movement, and we can control it.’ It’s not that we don’t want the Salafis to throw bombs; it’s whothey throw them at—Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.” -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)

The report reads like a prophecy, fulfilled verbatim during the events of the last 2 years. The Wall Street Journal report openly states that the Syrian conflict is turning into a proxy war with Iran, just as was planned in 2007. The feigned ignorance, surprise and attempts to mitigate terror groups the US purposefully created in the first place, is merely for public consumption. Bands of sectarian extremists destroying Syria was the stated plan for years, a plan now coming into fruition.

Wall Street Journal Admits Syria’s Minorities are Fighting for Lives – SNC Leader Admits He Seeks an “Islamic State”

And even as US President Obama attempts to assure the public and the international community that the West is sorting out the extremists, the Wall Street Journal admits that militias are forming across Syria – assembled by Syria’s large minorities to protect themselves from what is clearly a sectarian assault – not a pro-democracy movement. In describing the militias, the Wall Street Journal reports:

Many come from Syria’s religious minorities, mostly the Shiite offshoot Alawite sect to which the president’s family belongs, as well Christians and Druze, who increasingly see themselves in a battle against a mainly Sunni rebel insurgency.

Of course, the Wall Street Journal attempts to portray the militias as mercenaries in the service of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, despite admitting the sectarian nature of the opposition and admitting that Al Qaeda is confirmed to be operating inside of Syria.

The sectarian nature of the bloodbath the US was engineering in 2007 was also mentioned in Seymour Hersh’s “The Redirection.” Foreshadowing was given by a former CIA officer based in Lebanon who stated:

“Robert Baer, a former longtime C.I.A. agent in Lebanon, has been a severe critic of Hezbollah and has warned of its links to Iranian-sponsored terrorism. But now, he told me, “we’ve got Sunni Arabs preparing for cataclysmic conflict, and we will need somebody to protect the Christians in Lebanon. It used to be the French and the United States who would do it, and now it’s going to be Nasrallah and the Shiites” -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)

Clearly, the Christians in Syria would also need protection.

And while the US attempts to reassure the world that the brood of terrorists it is cultivating and has now officially recognized as the “representatives of the Syrian people” is “pro-democratic” in nature, the very leader the US recently handpicked in Doha, Qatar to lead the new opposition coalition, Moaz al-Khatib, has admitted in an Al Jazeera interview that he seeks to establish an “Islamic state” across currently secular Syria.

Modeled after the increasingly despotic Muslim Brotherhood regime led by Mohammed Morsi, who is currentlyhiring rape gangs to help disperse protesters opposed to his expanding dictatorship, al-Khatib’s vision of Syria’s future is one even many Syrian Sunnis reject.

To declare this violent minority, augmented by foreign terrorists couching the establishment of a brutal faux-theocracy behind the paper-thin veneer of “democracy,” as the “representatives of the Syrian people” is not a “a big step” as President Obama declared. Instead, it is a step as illegitimate and morally bankrupt as it is desperate. It is a stumble forward – and one that threatens to trip up anyone within arms reach of America as it takes it.

http://www.infowars.com/syrian-rebels-pledge-allegiance-to-al-qaeda-group-that-killed-u-s-troops/

Syrian Rebels Pledge Allegiance to Al-Qaeda Group That Killed U.S. Troops

Petition Demands Obama Stop Supporting Terrorists in Syria

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
December 11, 2012

A new petition posted on the ‘We The People’ section of the WhiteHouse.gov website demands that the Obama administration cease all funding and support for terrorists and extremist rebels in Syria, as news emerges of 29 different Syrian rebel groups pledging allegiance to the Al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front, a group responsible for killing U.S. troops in Iraq and one that is currently the primary fighting force in the NATO-backed bid to topple President Bashar Al-Assad.

Entitled Cease All Funding and Support for Al-Qaeda Terrorists and Extremist Rebels in Syria, the petition states;

Hillary Clinton has admitted that Al-Qaeda is supporting the Syrian rebels, who are backed by the Obama administration with $200 million dollars in aid. According to McClatchy Newspapers one of these groups, Al Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, is now conducting “the heaviest frontline fighting” in Syria and has been responsible for terrorist attacks. Impartial observers such as Dr. Jacques Beres say the majority of rebels in Syria are foreign extremists whose goal is to impose Sharia law. These rebels have also been filmed burning U.S. flags and chanting anti-American slogans. Funding terrorists is a crime under the National Defense Authorization Act. Such activity has had disastrous consequences in the past, such as 9/11. We demand all support direct or indirect to cease immediately.

Petitions posted on the WhiteHouse.gov website have to obtain a minimum of 25,000 signatures to mandate an official White House response. Only American citizens who register an account are allowed to sign.

The petition is timely given that 29 different Syrian opposition groups this week pledged their allegiance to Al Nusra, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group which, as the New York Times reported on Saturday, “killed numerous American troops in Iraq,” dismissing the notion that Al Nusra is merely is one “bad apple” amongst the rebels. In reality, the United States is backing an uprising that has placed the imposition of Sharia law and the ultimate destruction of the United States at the core of its long term agenda once Assad is deposed.

A recent Syrian rebel quoted by McClatchy Newspapers was overheard to remark, “When we finish with Assad, we will fight the U.S.!” Other militants have appeared in You Tube videos speaking of their desire to see the Al-Qaeda flag fly over the White House once the rebels are victorious across the region.

Syrian rebels have been responsible for a plethora of atrocities, from terrorist attacks and massacres, to forcing people to become suicide bombers, to attacks on Christian churches and making children carry out grisly beheadings of unarmed prisoners.

Somewhat ludicrously, the US State Department today blamed the Assad regime itself, which has been fighting against the Al-Qaeda linked group, for allowing the Nusra Front to gain a foothold in the country.

The United States today announced that it would designate Al Nusra as a terrorist organization and place sanctions against the group. The other opposition groups in Syria who almost universally support Al Nusra and preach the same extremist doctrine are however set to receive more financial support, with direct NATO military intervention on their behalf also “imminent,” according to some sources.

In continuing to fund an uprising that is being led and executed by known terrorists while being supported by their rebel allies, the United States is breaking its own law, the National Defense Authorization Act, which specifically criminalizes support for any “associated forces” of terrorists.

Infowars is encouraging all American citizens to sign this petition and force the Obama administration to at least address the issue of why it is backing Islamic extremists in Syria with taxpayer money given similar disastrous policies in Libya that led to the attack on the Benghazi consulate and the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens.

and think Egypt's MB any different .......

http://www.infowars.com/democracy-in-cairo-muslim-brotherhood-tortures-political-opponents/

Democracy in Cairo: Muslim Brotherhood Tortures Political Opponents

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
December 11, 2012

14 year old boy shows wounds on head and stomach, the latter from a knife.

The documented intelligence asset the Muslim Brotherhood – a favorite of the Council on Foreign relations and the globalists – has demonstrated it is no better than the regime of Hosni Mubarak and his brutal National Democratic Party.

“Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Morsi captured, detained and beat dozens of his political opponents last week, holding them for hours with their hands bound on the pavement outside the presidential palace while pressuring them to confess that they had accepted money to use violence in protests against him,” writes David Kirkpatrick.

Egyptian activists collected evidence of the abuse and posted it to Twitter and Youtube.

For more details, see this report posted at the Egyptian Independent.

Egypt’s police state was built-up under Sadat (who was on the CIA payroll) and Mubarak. It is now wielded by the Muslim Brotherhood, a long-time British intelligence asset, at the behest of the global elite (the MB’s role as a useful tool was recently confirmed by former British intelligence agent John Coleman).

The so-called Arab Spring has nothing to do with “democracy” or empowering Arabs and Muslims. Foisted on the Arab world by globalist controlled NGOs, the Arab Spring is merely a reshuffling of the deck and an effort to use fanatical Sunni Islam as a control mechanism that will ultimately prove to be more effective at imposing authoritarian rule than anything tried by Mubarak or Sadat.

The CFR point man on the effort to portray the MB and wild-eyed Islamists in Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, and Libya as the new political wave in the Middle East is Ed Husain.

“There’s glee in Washington that traditional American foes are now friends. I understand and support that sentiment,” Husain writes. “Having advocated for over a year for issues-based engagement with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, I was delighted to host a delegation from their Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) for meetings at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and Washington.”

“I think if the Muslim Brotherhood is brought in to a broader coalition but on the condition that it respects the peace treaty toward Israel, that it’s respectful to the west and it respects human rights,” he told Fox News last year.

back to our glorious rebels we have recognized - what could go wrong ?

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/12/11/obama-america-now-recognizes-syrias-opposition-as-the-legitimate-representative-of-the-syria-people/

Obama: America now recognizes Syria’s opposition as the legitimate representative of the Syria people

POSTED AT 9:21 PM ON DECEMBER 11, 2012 BY ALLAHPUNDIT

This is being sold as a morale booster for Syria’s rebels as they press in to Damascus, but it’s really O’s way of justifying deeper U.S. intervention going forward as the country falls to pieces. See, it’s okay to get involved because there are now pro-western moderate Syrian leaders running the show n’ stuff:

“We’ve made a decision that the Syrian Opposition Coalition is now inclusive enough, is reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population that we consider them the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in opposition to the Assad regime,” Obama said…

“Obviously, with that recognition comes responsibilities,” Obama said of the young coalition. “To make sure that they organize themselves effectively, that they are representative of all the parties, [and] that they commit themselves to a political transition that respects women’s rights and minority rights.”…

“Not everybody who’s participating on the ground in fighting Assad are people who we are comfortable with,” Obama told Walters. “There are some who, I think, have adopted an extremist agenda, an anti-U.S. agenda, and we are going to make clear to distinguish between those elements.”

He’s referring at the end there to Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian jihadi group whom the State Departmentdesignated as a terrorist outfit earlier today. That move was a precursor to tonight’s announcement recognizing the Syrian Opposition Council; O needed to preempt the inevitable questions about whether we’re getting in bed with terrorists here by creating some sort of lame narrative in which we’re friends with the “good” rebels while ardently opposed to the “bad.” Fun fact about the SOC: It’s less than a month old, and was obviously cobbled together by western nations and its Arab allies precisely in order to put a face of moderation on the Syrian rebellion. Politically, that makes it much easier for the U.S. and Europe to ramp up aid to the less savory characters battling Assad’s troops in the field. In fact, the Independent reported just last night that plans are in the works to provide air and naval power to the rebels as they make their final push to the capital (and beyond) to try to finish Assad off. That’s what this is really about. The west is now convinced that the rebels’ battlefield momentum is irreversible, which means it’s time to make friends with them and to do what we can to make the terrible end to the war as quick and decisive as possible. The longer the battle for Damascus drags on, the more desperate Assad and his troops are likely to get, which potentially means chemical warfare and lord knows what else. If the U.S. and Europe act now, maybethey’ll earn some goodwill and a bit of leverage with whatever nightmarish regime succeeds Assad. That won’t keep the Islamists out of power but maybe it’ll convince them to hand over some of the remnants of Assad’s chemical arsenal.

A few obvious questions. One: Are we sure the rebels are on the brink of bringing down Assad? They may dislodge him from power over most of the country, but not all of it. CSM:

The most likely option, however, and one that appears already to be under way, is for the regime and the core of the army and security forces to retreat to the Alawite-populated mountains on the Mediterranean coast. Diplomatic sources say that there are unconfirmed reports that the regime is planning to register all Sunnis who live in the coastal cities of Tartous, Banias, and Latakia which could potentially form part of an Alawite-dominated enclave. The coastal cities are predominantly Sunni-populated while the mountain hinterland is mainly Alawite…

A rump regime well-entrenched into the mountain villages defended by the Alawite core of the army and security services equipped with armor, artillery, air power and possibly even chemical and biological weapons could buy the Assads some breathing space during a likely period of chaos caused by a sudden leadership vacuum in Damascus. But it is questionable whether it would provide a long-term solution for the Assad clan’s survival.

Are the SOC and its western benefactors going to oversee a brutal Sunni assault on the Alawite mountain strongholds in order to finish off Assad and his supporters? What’s the game plan to stop the inevitable ethnic cleansing that’ll follow once it begins? That brings us to question two: What evidence is there that the rebels in the field who are doing the fighting will respect the authority of the SOC? The whole point of the Benghazi attack is that the “moderate,” pro-western Libyan government has no control over the militias that helped oust Qaddafi. Looks like we’re headed for the same clusterfark here, but on a grander, much more dangerous scale. Jihadist fighters have already said explicitly that they won’t recognize the SOC, in fact; meanwhile, the new military council elected by rebel groups is dominated by Salafists and members of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. Are they likely to take orders from a pro-western leadership council that counts as one of its vice presidents a secular feminist? Realistically, there’s no way the SOC is going to hold things together. And the White House knows it:

Inside the Obama administration, Syria is now likened by some to a second Somalia — only at the heart of the Middle East, and with the world’s third-largest stockpile of chemical weapons. One official recently described a near-term future in which the current, two-sided civil war breaks down into a free-for-all in which Sunni forces fight Kurds and each other as well as the Alawi remnants of Bashar al-Assad’s army; where the al-Qaeda branch known as Jabhat al-Nusra gains control over substantial parts of the country; and where the danger of chemical weapons use comes not just from the regime but from any other force that overruns a chemical weapons depot…

The U.S. view of how its strategy will work depends on an extraordinary cascade of unlikely events. First, the [SOC] will gain control over most of the rebel forces. Then Russia or dissident Alawites will force Assad aside. Then there will be negotiations leading to agreement on a transitional government.

A slightly more likely scenario is that the West will get lucky and Assad’s regime will soon collapse in Damascus. In the resulting vacuum, the [SOC] will gain recognition from the outside world, and most of the rebel forces and Syria will follow the shaky path of Libya, with a weak government coexisting with a panoply of militias — some of them allied to al-Qaeda. The difference is that any spillover of terrorists and weapons will affect not Mali, but Israel, Turkey, Iraq and Jordan.

That’s Jackson Diehl, writing a few days ago and wondering why the U.S. didn’t respond to the overwhelming likelihood of an unholy battle of all against all in Syria by at least arming the more secular elements among the rebels. That’s what tonight’s announcement is basically about, though, no? The SOC isn’t being groomed as some sort of serious successor to power in Syria, it’s a political fig leaf that lets the west intervene in the fighting — ostensibly on behalf of some sort of liberal democratic government-in-waiting. Tonight’s news is just O’s way of signaling to Americans that, while we’re getting more involved over there, we’re certainly not going to make nice with any dirty terrorists. Don’t you feel relieved?

yeah , these are the rebels , not the evil regime......

http://rt.com/news/syria-weapons-opposition-us-746/

Grisly video allegedly shows Syrian rebels forcing child to behead unarmed prisoner

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Published: 10 December, 2012, 23:37
Edited: 11 December, 2012, 11:42

TAGS:
Arms, Conflict, Crime, Meeting, Military,Protest, Politics, Opposition, Syria,Clashes, Violence

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Syria unrest

Screenshot from YouTube user SyrianGirl War

A graphic video recently posted to YouTube allegedly shows Syrian rebels forcing a child to behead an unarmed prisoner. A recent series of similarly brutal incidents has done little to dampen foreign calls to arm the Syrian opposition.

The video shows a child hacking an alleged prisoner’s head off with a machete. Militants then hold up a severed head while chanting "Allahu Akbar," or “God is great.”

It is the latest in a string of especially grisly incidents which have become more common in recent months.

On Monday, rebels killed 13 soldiers during an ambush of an army unit in a strategic northern town, activists reported.

Syrian warplanes later bombed the town, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Both sides have played a role in the deaths of over 40,000 people since the uprising against President Bashar Assad began in March 2011.

Secret supply operation

As the atrocities continue to build on Syrian soil, the US seems intent on supplying the rebels with weapons.

Washington is reportedly launching a covert operation to send weapons to the Syrian opposition for the very first time.

According to diplomatic sources, the US will send mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles to Syria through Middle Eastern countries that are already supplying the rebels, The Sunday Times reported.

Many of the weapons, including SA-7 missiles, which can shoot down planes, were purchased from the stockpiles of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The Times reports that the White House made the decision following reports of movements at Syria’s chemical weapons sites.

Western governments say they are ready to intervene in case of a chemical threat, but Politics First editor Marcus Papadopoulos says those statements require the international community to be on guard.

“It could be a pretext that the West – principally America – is using the [chemical weapons threat] to intervene in Syria. I think Western military intervention is probably not going to happen, but we should be on guard. They did it in Kosovo, and they did it in Iraq and Libya,” he told RT.

President Barack Obama authorized undercover CIA support earlier this year, and has placed special forces and intelligence officers on the ground in Syria. However, the country has until now refused to provide arms to the rebels.

Last Month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for a re-shaping of the Syrian opposition’s leadership, bringing the formation of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.

The creation of the new group eased some worries that the weapons would fall into the wrong hands.

Clinton is scheduled to attend a Friends of Syria meeting in Morocco on Wednesday, where the US is expected to recognize the group as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

However, the Washington remains concerned about Jabhat-al-Nusra, a Syrian jihadi group it plans to classify as a terrorist organization.

Opposition leaders say the group has been welcomed by the rebels because of its financial and military contributions, and as such have urged the US to delay the listing.

The allied relationship between the group and the Syrian opposition forces has many worried that the weapons will be used to carry out unnecessary violence.

Syria’s opposition and its Gulf backers are expected to press other Western governments for supplies this week, arguing that significant progress has been made to unify armed groups and bring them under control, the Financial Times reported.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia are currently the main suppliers of military equipment to Syria’s armed opposition. However, diplomats say rebels need greater amounts of arms – some of which must be provided by Western countries.

Britain, which recently pledged over $40 million in humanitarian aid to Syria, is expected to provide body armor to the rebels, but has no plans to provide weapons. British Foreign Secretary William Hague says the UK’s policy is to provide “non-lethal assistance” to the opposition.

and we plan to give Egypt F-16s - what could go wrong ?

and what about Egypt - another group of thugs we love.....

Obama to start sending US F-16 fighter jets to Egypt – on Israel’s election-day

DEBKAfile Special Report December 11, 2012, 3:26 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags: Barack Obama

Egypt

Mohamed Morsi

Binyamin Netanyahu

military aid

Egyptian Air Force F-16 figher jets over Cairo

The Obama administration took a careful look at the political calendar before announcing that the first four F-16 fighter planes - of the 20 approved in a $1 billion US foreign aid package to Egypt - would be delivered Jan. 22.

The announcement came Tuesday, Dec. 11, as Cairo and other Egyptian towns were set for massive rival demonstrations for and against President Mohamed Morsi’s decision to hold a referendum on a pro-Islamist constitution Saturday. It therefore came in for rising criticism in Washington of the wisdom of sending the jets to an unstable Egypt in the grip of a strong political confrontation.

A broad range of opposition groups – pro-democratic, liberal, secular, women and Christian – are demanding that President Morsi cancel the referendum. The Muslim Brotherhood is mobilizing its supporters to counter this protest. As the first anti-Morsi groups began gathering in Tahrir Square Tuesday, nine were hurt by masked gunmen.

The opposition has clipped President Morsi’s wings once by making him annul the near-dictatorial powers he gave himself. Forcing him to forego the referendum would further undermine his authority.

So the president fought back by authorizing the military to secure state buildings and arrest civilians in the incendiary days leading up to Saturday’s referendum. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Monday, six Egyptian Air Force F-16 fighters flew symbolically over Cairo.

However, the 2nd and 9th Divisions stationed around Cairo stayed in their barracks and the only uniformed personnel visible on the street were the Republican Guard troops on permanent duty in the capital’s center.

By approving another 20 F-16 jets for Muslim-ruled Egypt on the day of the competing demonstrations, President Obama showed the Egyptian people that he stands foursquare behind President Morsi and that more US military aid is on the way.

The first four jets will arrive in Egypt the day after Barack Obama’s Jan. 21 swearing-in for a second term as US president at the Capitol – and not by chance. That date also coincides with Israel’s Jan. 22 general election.
Obama is therefore using those warplanes as a signpost for the Muslim-Arab Middle East – and the Israeli voter – to show them that he is sticking unswervingly to his policy of support for the region’s Muslim Brotherhood – and especially the Egyptian president - even if Morsi did slip up by a grab for sweeping powers that alienated most of the opposition.

The US promise of new fighter planes was also a recommendation to the Egyptian army to pick the right side and opt for President Morsi if they wanted US military assistance to keep coming. Washington was also ready to consider providing them with more high-tech items in addition to those already supplied.
At all events, President Obama has made his choice, opting for Egypt’s Islamists against the pro-democracy and liberal opposition – a choice that he might have found embarrassing when he campaigned for his second term.
Israel had a dark premonition of what was coming. Obama began laying the background for his strong alignment with Islamist Egypt last month with the dramatic announcement of a ceasefire in Cairo on Nov. 20, that was delivered jointly by Morsi and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
By this announcement – and by maneuvering Israel into abstaining from a ground operation in the Gaza Strip to complete its air operation against Palestinian terrorist targets – Obama pulled the Egyptian president out of his hat as a fully-fledged international figure ready to jump to the top of his newly-minted Sunni Muslim Middle East coalition. In addition to Egypt, its chosen members were to be Turkey, Qatar and the Palestinian Hamas. Israel was to be a secret partner and contributor of high-grade intelligence.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was ready to fit into the role cast Israel by the US president. He therefore chose to hold back from a ground incursion in the Gaza Strip and then agreed to the radical Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal visiting Gaza last week.
His reward came at the same time as Washington’s announcement of the 20 F-16 fighters for Egypt: The US has appropriated $650 million worth of ordnance to refill the Israeli arsenals depleted by the massive Pillar of Defense air offensive in Gaza.
Under this deal, the US will supply the Israeli Air Force with 6,900 satellite-guided “smart bombs;" 10,000 mixed bombs - including 3,450 one-tonners and 1,725 bombs weighing 250 kilograms - as well as two kinds of buster-bunkers - 1,725, GBU-39 bombs and 3,450 BLU-109s.

Catharsis Ours

Tuesday, December 11, 2012