The following is an excerpt from an article in today's Globe and Mail
[Canada] by Patrick Martin about the execution of clan leaders loyal to
the Syrian government. That news has been widely circulated and has been
called 'war crimes'. But I haven't seen anything at all about the
following. Can anyone confirm this information and the analysis of the
role of Bandar [apparently an honorary member of the Bush family]?
Disinformation?
-------------------------------------------
"This should not come as a surprise," said Alastair Crooke, a
Beirut-based analyst, who served as an operative of British intelligence
in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
"What we are witnessing in Syria is the Afghanization of this conflict.
I saw it all 25 years ago."
In a powerful indictment of both sides in this conflict, the
International Crisis Group, an independent non-government organization,
warned Wednesday that "among armed rebels, activists and protesters,
deeply-rooted, atavistic anti-Alawite (and anti-Shiite) prejudice
resurfaces more intensely as time goes by: The minority community's ways
are alien, their mores primitive, their presence unnatural."
Responsibility for this base sectarianism rests at the feet of Saudi
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the head of Saudi intelligence, said Mr. Crooke.
Prince Bandar, who served for several years as Saudi ambassador to
Washington, launched this campaign in 2006-07, Mr. Crooke explained,
following Israel's war against Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. The war,
that saw Israel retreat without a victory, left the militant Shia
organization in Lebanon more powerful than ever.
"The Saudis were determined to break what they saw as the weak link
between Iran and Hezbollah: Syria," said Mr. Crooke, author of
/Resistance: The Essence of the Islamist Revolution/.
They and the Qataris injected money into Syria's dormant Muslim
Brotherhood and other Islamist groups, and they changed the rhetoric
from that of earlier Brotherhood preachers to one of religious /jihad/.
When the popular uprising began in Syria 17 months ago, Saudi Arabia is
believed to already have had many operatives in place.
As well, said Mr. Crooke, "Bandar saw to it that expensive satellite
phones were distributed to operatives all over the country." They would
be used to ensure access to the Internet and to keep tabs on the
progress of the uprising elsewhere in the country. They also were used
to send out to journalists and others around the world videos of
demonstrations, regime violence and protesters' success. It was a
polished operation.
As the uprising flourished and the opposition grew more militant,
protesters and demonstrators gave way to militants and foreign
/jihadists/, the latter were drawn to the latest in a line of Islamist
battlefields -- Afghanistan, Algeria, Bosnia, Iraq.
With the new arrivals, came a campaign of carrying out deadly bombings
at security facilities beginning in December.
The latest phase was triggered by the July 18 assassinations in Damascus.
The bomb or bombs, seemingly planted deep inside Syrian security
headquarters, killed four top Syrian officials, including President
al-Assad's brother-in-law, the deputy defence minister.
While the opposition's Free Syrian Army quickly claimed responsibility,
most security experts say the attack was more likely the handiwork of a
foreign power, most likely Saudi Arabia, and most likely Prince Bandar.
Indeed, Prince Bandar was promoted to head of Saudi intelligence the day
after the assassinations.
--
---------------------
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Home: Phone 604-689-9510
Cell: 778-230-6137
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