The US is Now Arming ISIS After Spending Trillions Trying to Get Rid of ISIS
by John Lawrence
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is the only Democrat bringing up the absurdity of the US continuing to arm terrorists, whom we spent trillions to eradicate, in their efforts to overthrow Assad in Syria. Since Assad is allied with Iran (his religion is a variation of Shiite Islam which is espoused by Iran), all of a sudden it's not ISIS that are the terrorists, it's Iran and everyone allied with Iran who are the terrorists. This is all a game designed to spend trillions of dollars and destroy millions of lives just so the US can maintain its military spending at a high level while accomplishing nothing but death and destruction. What the US foreign policy experts don't seem to understand is that what is going on in the Middle East is fundamentally a continuation of the Sunni-Shiite split that happened centuries ago. Add to that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and you have a real mess.
Tulsi Gabbard understands the ridiculousness of this continued mucking around in this conflict which has produced nothing but death and destruction and wasted trillions of dollars:
Under U.S. law it is illegal for any American to provide money or assistance to al-Qaeda, ISIS or other terrorist groups. If an American citizen gave money, weapons or support to al-Qaeda or ISIS, he or she would be thrown in jail. Yet the U.S. government has been violating this law for years, quietly supporting allies and partners of al-Qaeda, ISIL, Jabhat Fateh al Sham and other terrorist groups with money, weapons, and intelligence support, in their fight to overthrow the Syrian government. The CIA has also been funneling weapons and money through Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and others who provide direct and indirect support to groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda. This support has allowed al-Qaeda and their fellow terrorist organizations to establish strongholds throughout Syria, including in Aleppo.
Since the US has redefined Iran as the enemy and undertaken a series of provocations towards Iran, all of a sudden anyone who is fighting Iran's friend Assad, namely ISIS is a friend of ours. All of a sudden Iran is the biggest sponsor of terrorism and not ISIS. It all depends whose side you're on how you define who is and who isn't a terrorist. Since the brou ha ha over Jamal Khashoggi's death at the hands of Saudi Arabia has died down, we can now get on with our close relationship with the Sunni country of Saudi Arabia which spawned ISIS (who are Sunnis) in the first place. Now it's Sunnis good, Shiites bad although by taking out Saddam in Iraq we created a Shiite state affiliated with Iran since the majority of Iraquis are Shiites (Saddam was a Sunni).
So there's this big realignment of US foreign policy since Trump backed out of the JCPOA, the nuclear arms deal with Iran. This deal made Iran a partner instead of an adversary. Now Trump has accomplished the goal of turning them into an adversary and may even start a war with them. At the same time he is doubling down on his efforts to oust Assad in Syria since Assad is an ally of Iran.
Tulsi continues:
The CIA has long been supporting a group called Fursan al Haqq, providing them with salaries, weapons and support, including surface to air missiles. This group is cooperating with and fighting alongside an al-Qaeda affiliated group trying to overthrow the Syrian government. The Levant Front is another so-called moderate umbrella group of Syrian opposition fighters. Over the past year, the United States has been working with Turkey to give this group intelligence support and other forms of military assistance. This group has joined forces with al-Qaeda’s offshoot group in Syria.
Why is she the only Democrat talking about this stuff? Who is going to define who is and who is not a terrorist? A terrorist is in the eyes of the beholder and has become a meaningless term used to justify every side in a conflict. As Tulsi points out, "Our limited resources should go toward rebuilding our communities here at home, not fueling more counterproductive regime change wars abroad."
At the root of the conflict is the continually festering situation between the Palestinians and Israel. Even though the Palestinians are essentially Sunnis, the Shiite nation of Iran is supporting them in a proxy war against Israel through its proxy, Hezbollah. If this issue were to be resolved, then maybe all parties could get along, and Sunnis, Shiites and Jews could all be friends. In any event the US mucking around in the Middle East has only made the situation worse while spending trillions of dollars that could have been better spent at home.
