2013 — The Year The US Increased Arms
Shipments To Terrorists In Syria
Despite the repeated demonstrations of
the fact that the United States and other Western nations have armed,
supported, and funded terrorists in Syria from the beginning of the crisis in
2011 as well as long before that crisis had taken shape, official pronouncements
admitting to funding those terrorists made by Western governments and reported
by mainstream media outlets should not be dismissed simply because their
actions are now common knowledge. After all, these incidents generally involve
much more important revelations than those admitted to by corporate media.
For example, a sizeable portion of
terrorist funding was openly admitted and continued by the United States even
though the atrocities committed by the terrorists who were receiving the money
was well documented throughout the alternative media as well as a number of
mainstream outlets.
One such program was dubbed Operation
Timber Sycamore, a “secret” plan authorized by then US President Obama which
allowed the CIA to arm terrorists in Syria. For more information, see my
article, “Was Timber Sycamore The Program
That Created ISIS?”
But while Timber Sycamore and
other related programs by the United States to arm terrorists have been covered
in my and many other alt media outlets in the past, it is also important to
note the scale at which those programs increased even as the Obama
administration was claiming to hold back on “lethal” munitions to terrorist
organizations.
For instance, in an article entitled “Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels
Expands, With CIA Aid” and published in The New York Times on March
23, 2013, it was stated that,
With help from the C.I.A.,
Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to
Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of
arms and equipment for the fighting against President Bashar al-Assad, according
to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the
accounts of rebel commanders.
The airlift, which began on a
small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall,
expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It
has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi
and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara,
and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports.
As it evolved, the airlift
correlated with shifts in the war within Syria, as rebels drove Syria’s army
from territory by the middle of last year. And even as the Obama administration
has publicly refused to give more than “nonlethal” aid to the rebels, the
involvement of the C.I.A. in the arms shipments – albeit mostly in a
consultative role, American officials say – has shown that the United States is
more willing to help its Arab allies support the lethal side of the Syrian
unrest.
From offices at secret
locations, American intelligence officers have helped the Arab governments shop
for weapons, including a large procurement from Croatia, and have vetted rebel
commanders and groups to determine who should receive the weapons as they
arrive, according to American officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The C.I.A. declined to comment on the shipments or its role in them.
The New York Times also
revealed that American officials had confirmed that Senior White House
officials were being regularly brief on the weapons and military equipment
shipments. One former American official was quoted as saying that the size and
degree of the shipments were large to say the least. “People hear the amounts
flowing in, and it is huge, but they burn through a million rounds of ammo in
two weeks.” he said.
On the same day, RT published
a report entitled “CIA Aids Huge Arms Smuggling To Syria,” where more
details were addressed. The report states,
The CIA reportedly has a hand
in clandestine supply of arms to Syrian rebels by Gulf States. At least 3,500
tons of have been delivered – some ending up on the black market, with the
Turkish government an active player, a media report says.
The flow of arms continues
with the help of US agents as Washington criticizes Iran and Russia for
delivering weapons to the Syrian regime, the New York Times says. Secretary of
State John Kerry pressed Iraq on Sunday to close its airspace to Iranian
flights just as the latest arms delivery from Qatar for Syrian rebels was
landing in Turkey, according to the daily’s report.
The newspaper cites air
traffic data, US and foreign officials and rebel commanders in its
investigation.
The airlift reportedly began
in early 2012 with a Qatari Emir Air Force C-130 transport aircraft flight.
Saudi Arabia and Jordan have joined in in November, when it became a major
operation. More than 160 military flights have landed in Turkey over the time.
Esenboga Airport near Ankara was the prime destination, but others were also
involved, the newspaper claims.
“A conservative estimate of
the payload of these flights would be 3,500 tons of military equipment,” Hugh
Griffiths, of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told the
newspaper. He added that it appears as a “well-planned and coordinated clandestine
military logistics operation.”
Indeed, CIA agents have a direct
input on the deliveries, albeit mostly consultative, NYT says. The spy agency
reportedly helps with procurement of weapons in Croatia and vets Syrian rebel
groups, which would receive the weapons.
The involvement was supposedly
motivated by the fact that the Arab states would supply arms to the Syrian
militants anyway. The hopes CIA its can steer away the arms from Islamists’
hands and prevent weapons which can potentially be used by terrorist against
civilian targets from being delivered, a former US official told the newspaper.
The operation was a limited success
apparently, NYT says, citing two Islamist commanders.
“There are fake Free Syrian Army
brigades claiming to be revolutionaries, and when they get the weapons they
sell them in trade,” Hassan Aboud of Soquor al-Sham told the newspaper.
The former official described the
program as “a cataract of weaponry.” He said: “People hear the amounts flowing
in, and it is huge, but they burn through a million rounds of ammo in two
weeks.”
Instrumental to setting up the
operation was David H. Petraeus, the CIA director until November, the official
said. He had prodded various countries to work together on it.
The scale of the operation increased
considerably in November, after the Turkish government agreed to it, the report
says. The tipping point may also have been the presidential election in the
United States.
Ankara reportedly has oversight over much of the
program, down to affixing transponders to trucks ferrying the arms through
Turkish territory and across the border. Some in Turkey say Ankara is de facto
at war with Damascus because of its involvement in the conflict.
“The use of Turkish airspace
at such a critical time, with the conflict in Syria across our borders, and by
foreign planes from countries that are known to be central to the conflict,
defines Turkey as a party in the conflict,” said Attilla Kart, a member of the
Turkish Parliament from the CHP opposition party, who confirmed details about
several Saudi shipments. “The government has the responsibility to respond to
these claims.”
. . . . . .
The CIA and General Petraeus
would not comment when contacted by the newspaper. Turkish and Saudi Arabian
officials declined to discuss the arms flights. Croatia and Jordan both denied
any role in supplying weapons to the Syrian rebels, NYT says. Jordanian
aviation officials reportedly went so far as to insist that no cargo flights
occurred, and cut communication after presented evidence to the contrary.
I highly recommend reading my
articles, “The Roots Of ISIS,”
and “Was Timber Sycamore The Program
That Created ISIS?” in order to understand the history of that
group and just how much of a propaganda tool the “Islamic State” is and has
been when it comes to geopolitics, Syria, and the “anti-terror” police state at
home. At the very least, the above information demonstrates the hand the United
States had in creating the most catastrophic humanitarian disaster in the 21st
Century thus far.
Brandon Turbeville writes for
Activist Post – article
archive here – He is the author of seven books,Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions andDispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 and volume 2, The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on
Syria, The Difference it Makes: 36 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton
Should Never Be President, and Resisting The Empire: The Plan To Destroy Syria And How
The Future Of The World Depends On The Outcome. Turbeville has published over
1000 articles on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics,
government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville’s radio show
Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. His website is BrandonTurbeville.com He is available
for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.
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