Trump Saw A Disturbing Video, Then He Shut Down The CIA's Covert Syria Program

[jimmy olsen]

If the guys we're supporting are cutting heads off of kids too, then what's the point?

http://www.weeklystandard.com/trump-got-this-one-right/article/2009045

Trump Got This One Right

Shutting down the CIA's ghost war in Syria.

Aug 07, 2017 |  By Thomas Joscelyn

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump was shown a disturbing video of Syrian rebels beheading a child near the city of Aleppo. It had caused a minor stir in the press as the fighters belonged to the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, a group that had been supported by the CIA as part of its rebel aid program.

The footage is haunting. Five bearded men smirk as they surround a boy in the back of a pickup truck. One of them holds the boy's head with a tight grip on his hair while another mockingly slaps his face. Then, one of them uses a knife to saw the child's head off and holds it up in the air like a trophy. It is a scene reminiscent of the Islamic State's snuff videos, except this wasn't the work of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's men. The murderers were supposed to be the good guys: our allies.

Trump wanted to know why the United States had backed Zenki if its members are extremists. The issue was discussed at length with senior intelligence officials, and no good answers were forthcoming, according to people familiar with the conversations. After learning more worrisome details about the CIA's ghost war in Syria—including that U.S.-backed rebels had often fought alongside extremists, among them al Qaeda's arm in the country—the president decided to end the program altogether.

On July 19, the Washington Post broke the news of Trump's decision: "a move long sought by Russia," the paper's headline blared. Politicians from both sides of the aisle quickly howled in protest, claiming that Trump's decision was a surrender to Vladimir Putin.

There is no doubt that Putin, who has the blood of many Syrian civilians on his hands, was pleased by the move. But that doesn't mean the rebel aid program was effective or served American interests.

The defenders of the CIA program argue that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) remains our best hope for a moderate opposition to Assad. But the FSA is not the single, unified organization its name implies. It is, rather, a loose collection of groups that have adopted the FSA brand, often in addition to their own names and branding. Although "Free Syrian Army" sounds secular and moderate, its constituents are ideologically diverse and include numerous extremists. Zenki, for example, was referred to as an FSA group well after its hardline beliefs were evident, and few FSA groups could be considered truly secular. Several prominent FSA organizations advocate Islamist ideas, meaning they believe that some version of sharia law should rule Syrian society.

To make matters worse: FSA-affiliated rebels have often been allied with Jabhat al-Nusra, al Qaeda's branch in Syria. Some of the most prominent FSA groups, indeed, objected to the U.S. government's decision to designate Nusra as a terrorist organization in December 2012. Al Qaeda's Syrian arm was even then strong enough to command loyalty in the face of American sanctions. There have been episodic clashes between Nusra and America's FSA allies, but more often than not FSA-branded rebels have been in the trenches alongside Nusra's jihadists.

Jabhat al-Nusra, publicly an arm of al Qaeda until July 2016, has been the single strongest organization within the insurgency for some time. Well before President Trump was inaugurated, Nusra had grown into a menace. And America's provision of arms to FSA-branded rebels worked to Nusra's advantage—an inconvenient fact for those criticizing the president's decision.

Russia intervened in Syria in September 2015, and the timing was not accidental. Just months earlier, in March, the "Army of Conquest" took over the northwestern province of Idlib. This rebel coalition was no band of moderates. It was led by Nusra and included its closest Islamist and jihadist partners. The Army of Conquest was on the march, threatening the Assad family's stronghold of Latakia on the coast. Had the insurgents progressed much further south, Bashar al-Assad's regime would have been in serious jeopardy, perhaps would even have fallen. With the backing of Russia and Iran, Assad's forces rallied and stopped the Nusra-led coalition from taking even more ground. Russia saved Assad, but its efforts also stymied the jihadists' offensive—a important fact that is often left out of Syria policy debates.

[CountDeMoney]

If the guys we're supporting are cutting heads off of kids too, then what's the point?

Would it make you feel any better if they was pushed out of windows?

[11B4V]

They're all dirty barbarians.