Saturday, November 17, 2012

Weekend Edition: Al Qaeda is Back!

The world press is only now beginning to connect the dots between the Libyan consulate bombing, General Petraeus' demise, the Israeli attack on Gaza, and the Syrian civil war. It is indeed a complicated and confusing scene in the Middle East but the portrait that forms when the pieces fall into place is that of Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda's flag @ Benghazi Courthouse

According to reports the US consulate in Benghazi attacked on September 11, 2012 was a cover for a CIA operation. After the fall of Gaddafi, the CIA began an operation to secure heavy weaponry looted from the dictator's arsenals. CIA was obviously concerned that the weaponry not reach terrorists organizations operating in eastern Libya. Gaddafi claimed before NATO stopped his plans to clean out the city that it was a stronghold of Al Qaeda terrorists. Previously, West Point Miitary Academy corroborated that claim with a study of the origins of jihadist fighters. The CIA operation was headquartered in a fortified annex about 1 mile from the Ambassador Chris Stevens' rented villa. Both installations were attacked by Al Qeada terrorists. Thirty-seven personnel escaped but four Americans including the Ambassador were killed. Stevens may have been a CIA operative himself. He was the official liaison with Abdelhakim Belhadj of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, now disbanded. Some of its former fighters may have participated The group Ansar al-Shariah is being blamed for the attack. Syrian rebels are using heavy weaponry obtained from Libya including SA-7 surface-to-air missiles. Not only are weapons coming from Libya, but also jihadist fighters.

Of course none of this information was public before the re-election of El Obamados. Nevertheless, American intelligence officials, including General Petraeus, knew within hours of the attack that it was conducted by Al Qaeda linked terrorists. White House officials were informed . The cover story put out and signed off on by Petraeus and other top security officials was that the attack was a spontaneous, violent demonstration "by extremists" against an anti-Islamic video. These half-truths were repeated by UN Ambassador Susan Rice in television interviews and the cover story was widely repeated in the CMM. In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committe on Friday, Petraeus said the talking points provided by the CIA were amended to delete references to terrorists since that was classified information. He also said his resignation over an extra-marital affair did not affect his statements concerning the consulate attack. At one point, the breaking scandal caused his scheduled testimony before Congress to be canceled.

It is vert unlikely his resignation was part of an administration cover-up of its handling of the Benghazi terrorist connection. An extra-marital affair would have cost Petraeus his top secret security clearance. There are great lamentations in Washington over the loss of the hero. In US Person's book and inmany other commentators', the celebrity general is over-blown. Patraeus is credited with averting disaster in Iraq by his "surge" tactic, but it has been repeatedly stated that pivot was made by the Iraqis themselves who decided to stop aiding Al Qaeda and stop killing each other. The "surge" was repeated again in Afghanistan for the lack of any better ideas, and its re-run has proved equally fruitless. In short, General Patraeus is no James Bond.

The Syrian government claimed since the beginning of the uprising that it was instigated and conducted by terrorists. That claim was disbelieved by independent observers at first, but it is becoming increasingly true as Sunni jihadists make they way into a civil war that is now sectarian in nature. Since the civil war began, 35 car bombings and 10 confirmed suicide bombings, the organization's signature weapon, are claimed by Al Qaeda. A low-level Al Qaeda fighter who was interviewed recently in Iraq said that their goal is to establish a Syrian-Iraqi Islamic state, a goal also stated by the Al Nusra Front for the People of the Levant, the major affiliate operating in Syria. Then, according to the Iraqi fighter, their attention will turn to defeating Israel to liberate Palestine. An official high in the Iraqi government admitted that Al Qaeda operating in Iraq is the same as that operating in Syria. A Turkish border crossing at Bab al Hawa recently captured by Syrian rebels has become a jihadist rendezvous point.

Which brings us to the last dot, Israel. Israel used the puritanical uproar and distraction of the Petraeus sex scandal to cover its launch of a drone raid that killed the Hamas military leader Ahmad Ja'abari. Not a serendipitous event, but an assassination requiring months of careful planning and data collection. It now appears that a second Gaza invasion is underway intended to further "degrade" Hamas, a client of Iran, in "Operation Pillar of Cloud". Before he was killed Ja'abari told peace envoys he was interested in a long-term cease fire with Israel. It is clear that the US will go to just about any lengths to topple the revolutionary Islamic state of Iran which on a propaganda level at least is dedicated to eliminating Israel. Attacking Iran's allies directly or through surrogates is an effective way to isolate and weaken that country, already burdened by economic sanctions. Israel and the US are training and supporting Iranian terrorists (MEK) who are trying to topple the Iranian government. The record of the US supporting terrorists and using false flag operationsto gain its geopolitical goals is long and dark. Its decades long effort to defeat Iran is no different.