Saturday 24 January 2015

Brilliant new book documents rise of Islamic State

Asa Winstanley

So the evidence Asa Winstanley and Patrick Cockburn are most convinced by regarding the Free Syrian Army comes from a prisoner in ISIS' custody. Any more comment on how far from the reality their slanders against the Syrian revolutionaries are should be superfluous.
'In the custody of ISIS (after having defected to them) Saddam al-Jamal tells his interviewers (or perhaps interrogators) in the video that his FSA brigade was at first funded and directed by Qatar, but later was switched to the Saudis. Military council meetings were "invariably attended by representatives of the Saudi, UAE, Jordanian, and Qatari intelligence services, as well as intelligence officers from the US, Britain and France".'
The usual lies are here, that that the Gulf régimes and Turkey were supporting ISIS, rather than the groups opposed to them, and in Turkey's case trying to avoid direct involvement. I also wonder what "indirect" support is supposed to mean. And Turkey being driven by sectarian hatred in their opposition to Assad is nonsense on stilts. He mentions the popular revolution just to claim it has just been swallowed up in other conflicts. A nonsense to those facing barrel bomb attacks* from Assad, who know exactly what sort of conflict is really going on in Syria. Or those starving to death in Yarmouk or being tortured to death in the prisons. Winstanley notes Cockburn's over-reliance on anonymous sources, that's because he's half relaying the lies of the Assad régime and the Iranians, and half relaying the lies of Western spooks and diplomats who see independent Islamically-minded people as a greater threat than any dictator.
Not one mention of chemical weapons.
*[http://www.aljazeera.com/…/syria-airforce-kills-dozens-civi…]
[http://www.dailystar.com.lb/…/284945-syria-regime-barrel-bo…]

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