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War on Damascus: Obama Wants Syria’s ‘Moderate Rebels’ To Call-In US B1 Bomber Airstrikes

21st Century Wire says…

For anyone who was hoping for a steady wind-down, or a peace arrangement in Syria – this latest news may come as a disappointment.

This was the plan all along. Regime change in Syria – by hook or crook. This is a pivotal moment in Washington’s artificially-induced ‘ISIS Crisis’, where the U.S. has decided to allow “Moderate Rebel” terrorist fighters in Syria to “call-in” US airstrikes, allegedly ONLY against ‘ISIS’ targets in Syria, and if you believe that lie, then we’re still offering that half-price deal on London’s Tower Bridge.

While we’re at it, let’s also review those really ‘authentic’ ISIS videos too.

This dangerous policy could also potentially open the floodgate to the region for more arms and military equipment. To facilitate this escalation in Washington’s undeclared war against Damascus, US taxpayers will be supplying convoys of specially-equipped American-made pickup trucks – complete with machine guns and US military radio communications units – to be used by “Syrian rebels” for calling in U.S. airstrikes. If past history is anything to go by, these too will be destined to end up in the hands of ISIS. Plenty of guns for Syria’s future warlords, just like Libya.

John McCain and other war hawks are claiming that this is a good idea because “it worked for the Kurds in Kobani”. The reality is much more complex than that, but who cares about complexities when you’ve got a war to ramp-up?

Either way, this should really speed things up for all of the major stakeholders in Syria’s destruction. Of course, Syria’s future landlords Saudi Arabia and Qatar are very happy, and so is Israel.

382446_Kobani-Kurds
KOBANI: Kurdish fighters called in US airstrikes against ISIS.

Last September 21WIRE reported how Washington was making noises about getting their ‘No-Fly Zone’ formalized over northeastern Syria. Back then we said:

“White House officials are well aware that their current strategy commitment to “Bomb ISIS” will wear thin soon, and need to up the stakes to avoid a public backlash. To justify such a bold move, Washington is preparing its PR campaign which includes US State Department talking points like, “humanitarian corridors”, and “protecting civilians from airstrikes by the Syrian government”.

1-US-Airforce-Syria

US preparing to eventually target Syrian government positions and military targets.

Unfortunately, the US has used-up all of its goodwill and trust internationally with similar ‘No Fly Zone’ (shooting fish in a barrel) scams with past killing fields like Iraq and Libya. Ever since ISIS was introduced to the US public this past summer, Washington has been nudging its way to this current threshold – which they hope to traverse very soon. With no chance of a No-Fly Zone over another sovereign country in Syria, Washington has now forced to use outright deception to achieve the same effect in their covert, undeclared war against the Syrian government in Damascus.

The Wall Street Journal said: “U.S. officials also are confronted with the fragile nature of the international coalition assembled to fight Islamic State, the uneasy peace with Iran inside of Iraq, and questions about whether U.S. warplanes can or should target the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.” No kidding.

It’s announcements like this that trigger excitement for US arms and defense contractors. Boeing’s B1 Fighter-Bombers will certainly feature heavily in this new plan, which is one of the reasons why Arizona’s John McCain has been pressing so hard for expanding the war in Syria – keeping his main corporate sponsors watered and fed – like Boeing in Mesa, and Raytheon in Tucson (no one in America really gives a hoot about collateral damage, only share prices).

If Libya and Iraq are not good enough lessons as to why forced regime change in Syria is a very bad idea, then there is really no hope for Washington’s mentally inept brain trust. It’s almost as pathetic as when Wall Street had the audacity to cry for LESS regulation after the sub-prime crash of 2008.

Scamsters never learn – and neither will delusional and narcissistic imperial operatives in Washington and London.

NOTE: Please don’t forget to fill in your “Moderate Rebel” Quiz-Application below.

AIR BAGHDADI: Jihadi gym class, and color guard for the cameras.

Zero Hedge

While Obama desperately tries to stick to his now crushed “Nobel peace prize winner” image, by not succumbing to an all-out land war in the one nation where his progressive “pacifism” brought him fame (and according to some, the presidency), namely Iraq, the rest of militant, “interventionist” US foreign policy is rapidly starting to resemble that waged by the most brutally rabid, neo-con Republican leader. Case in point an absolute stunner reported minutes ago by the WSJ, according to which the White House has decided to provide pickup trucks equipped with mounted machine guns and radios for calling in U.S. airstrikes to some moderate Syrian rebels aided by American B-1B bombers!

According to the WSJ, the planes would drop 500- and 2,000-pound guided bombs, a typical load for the B-1s that have operated in Afghanistan as well as Syria. Using the B-1’s sniper pod, which allows the aircrew to precisely target moving objects, the crew could target tanks, motorcycles and other moving vehicles.

Finally all that near-record lobby spending by Boeing, maker of the B-1B Lancer will come in handy.

Boeing Lobbying

Do note: only moderate Syrian rebels will be given control over US military equipment, certainly not the more extreme Syrian rebels such as the Al Nusra Front, various Al Qaeda splinter cells and of course, the various ISIS progenitor groups which the US is “fighting” this very moment!

That’s just one part of it: as part of America’s creation of its next well-equipped, well-armed, well-trained and very lethal adversary in 2-4 years time, when the “moderate” Syrian rebels are found to have been quite “extreme“, the U.S. will also start training rebels, pardon – ‘moderate rebels’ – who are “waging a two-front fight against the extremists and Syrian regime forces.”

The projected timeline of the brilliant US plan:

The first training sessions are to last between six and eight weeks. The training will focus on helping the rebel forces hold territory and counter Islamic State fighters—not to take on the Syrian army.

After that the U.S. will consider introducing what it is calling “the new Syrian force” onto the battlefield in Syria, officials said.

A team of four to six rebels will each be given a Toyota Hi-Lux pickup, outfitted with a machine gun, communications gear and Global Positioning System trackers enabling them to call in airstrikes. The fighters will also be given mortars, but the administration hasn’t decided to provide the teams with more sophisticated antitank weapons.

Of course, the battle to give Qatar free passage of its natural gas pipeline across Syria is not new (recall: “Mystery Sponsor Of Weapons And Money To Syrian Mercenary “Rebels” Revealed“): the Central Intelligence Agency began a covert program to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels in 2013, providing ammunition, small arms and antitank weapons to small groups of trusted fighters. While that program continues, it is widely viewed as having fallen well short of its aims.”

This time will be different, however, because “the new military program is supposed to train a larger number of fighters and, with the addition of air support, officials say they hope it will have a more dramatic impact on the battlefield.

The real question, however, is dramatic impact against whom? The real answer: not ISIS, which is just a strawman to finally topple Qatar’s, pardon, America’s real enemy in the region, Syria’s Assad.

And therein lies the rub, because this entire operation has nothing to do with suppressing an ISIS which has seemingly specialized in making Hollywood quality straight to YouTube decapitation videos, and everything to do with finally crushing al Assad’s regime, something the US started in 2013 with the infamous YouTube clip of chemical weapons which nearly turned into an all out war before Russia intervened and halted what could well have been a global war.

Sure enough: “The administration also has been grappling with legal and policy issues—including the highly charged question of whether to confront Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ’s forces if they engage the American-trained rebels.

And the problem, as Zero Hedge readers knows very well, is that a green light by Obama allowing the “moderate” rebels to fight Assad’s soldiers and regime, is just a matter of time. At which point the only pending question is how will Russia respond, because then Putin will have no choice but to defend his strategic natgas territorial interest using military means. Which is when the previously noted proposal of retaliating on US-ally Saudi Arabia becomes a very distinct possibility.

Which is where the latest Obama plan runs into difficulties: how to continue pretending that the “war” is against ISIS when in reality it is all about Assad:

U.S. officials don’t know whether American planes will be able to provide air support if the moderate forces it trains get in a fight not with Islamic State, but with forces loyal to the Syrian president.

Because the U.S. isn’t at war with Syria, U.S. military lawyers are wrestling with the question of whether American warplanes would have legal authorization to strike Mr. Assad’s forces, even to support a U.S.-trained rebel force.

Aside from the legal issues, officials also said that, as a policy question, the White House hasn’t given a green light to supporting the rebels if they get into a battle with the Syrian military.

One thing is certain: with the help of his new warhawks, neo-confriends, Obama will quickly transform what is supposedly a war on ISIS (which recall in August started as an isolated humanitarian intervention that would promptly end) into its true essence: an undeclared war on the Syrian regime.

Some Republican lawmakers, including Sens. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), have been critical of what they see as a U.S. campaign in Syria that is too narrow to succeed. “How can we train up a Free Syrian Army or send any other force into Syria if we don’t first deal with the Assad air threat,” Mr. Graham said at a confirmation hearing this month for incoming Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.

Some countries believe it should expand to take on the Assad regime. Others believe it would be a mistake to dilute the focus, and say attacking the Assad forces could quickly help Islamic State grow stronger.

Officials said that expanding the war to the Assad forces could fracture the international coalition gathered to fight Islamic State.

Which means in the coming weeks and months look forward to a surge in false flag “attacks” blamed on the Assad regime, aiming to give Obama validation to expand the “War against ISIS” to include Syria’s regime as well.

What this would do, is create a whole new coalition, one backed by Russia and various other non-Western alligned nations, which will support the Syrian president in what will ultimately be a replica of the near-global war outcome from the summer of 2013.

And while the whole thing is so stupid that it would be hilarious if it wasn’t tragic, the biggest non-sequitor in the entire plan is also the most basic question: just how will the US discern which of the Syrian “rebels” are moderate, which we assume means will only fight against US enemies, as opposed to extremist, such as all those Syrian “rebels” the US armed in 2013 only for them to be subsequently revealed as al Qaeda and ISIS predecessors.

Actually, it is neither hilarious nor tragic.  Conveniently, none other than Andy Borowitz provided the blueprint by which the US government should proceed when sorting out the “moderates” from the merely homicidally Jidahist, decapitation-happy elements:

From the Borowitz Report:

Welcome to the United States’ Moderate Syrian Rebel Vetting Process. To see if you qualify for $500 million in American weapons [ZH: and US taxpayer-funded air support], please choose an answer to the following questions:

As a Syrian rebel, I think the word or phrase that best describes me is:
A) Moderate
B) Very moderate
C) Crazy moderate
D) Other

I became a Syrian rebel because I believe in:
A) Truth
B) Justice
C) The American Way
D) Creating an Islamic caliphate

If I were given a highly lethal automatic weapon by the United States, I would:
A) Only kill exactly the people that the United States wanted me to kill
B) Try to kill the right people, with the caveat that I have never used an automatic weapon before
C) Kill people only after submitting them to a rigorous vetting process
D) Immediately let the weapon fall into the wrong hands

I have previously received weapons from
A) Al Qaeda
B) The Taliban
C) North Korea
D) I did not receive weapons from any of them because after they vetted me I was deemed way too moderate

I consider ISIS:
A) An existential threat to Iraq
B) An existential threat to Syria
C) An existential threat to Iraq and Syria
D) The people who will pick up my American weapon after I drop it and run away

Complete the following sentence. “American weapons are…”
A) Always a good thing to randomly add to any international hot spot
B) Exactly what this raging civil war has been missing for the past three years
C) Best when used moderately
D) Super easy to resell online

Thank you for completing the Moderate Syrian Rebel Application Form. We will process your application in the next one to two business days. Please indicate a current mailing address where you would like your weapons to be sent. If there is no one to sign for them we will leave them outside the front door.

READ MORE ISIS NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire ISIS Files

 

 

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