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After I got off work @ rackspace this evening, I updated
How a 24hr truce to pick up bodies became a non-aggression pact
between ISIS & Syrian rebels
<http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/09/how-24hr-truce-to-pick-up-bodies-became.html>
with the following:
*UPDATE 19 September 2014:* When Secretary of State John Kerry testified
before the Senate on Wednesday he added a new dimension to this
particular controversy because he made the claim
<http://www.c-span.org/video/?321504-1/hearing-us-strategy-isis> that it
was a propaganda ploy of the Islamic State. He said this about the story
of a non-aggression pact between ISIS (or ISIL as he calls it) and the
Free Syrian Army: /"Let me say to you, that's---disinformation
fundamentally put out by ISIL."/ Not reading Arabic I have seen this
disinformation spread most widely by whose in the /"anti-imperialist"/
Left. I don't know the basis of Kerry's statement and have to say I
don't have much faith in his intelligence no matter how you mean it, but
upon reflection, I have to agree with him.
Here is my reasoning: Its not hard to understand why a section of the
FSA would agree to a 24hr truce to remove the dead from the battlefield.
Such breaks in the fighting to evacuate the dead and wounded are quite
common in the annals of warfare, even between the most bitter of
opponents, if only in the name of simple decency. They happened in the
American Civil War and after the truce the two sides returned to killing
each other. But ISIS is not known for its decency. If this is indeed the
first such truce that they have agreed to, which is what most of these
/"anti-imperialist"/ reports claim, then the real question it why did
ISIS agree to it at this juncture?
The logical answer is that they agreed to it precisely so that their
propaganda allies could use it as the grain-of-truth in a
dis-information campaign that claimed, as the women in the pink blouse
did on CNN this morning, that /"hundreds of FSA units have entered into
a non-aggression pact with ISIS"/ at the very moment when the United
States is considering whether to support the FSA with training and arms
in a serious way for the first time. So I think Kerry has a point.
ISIS is very sophisticated in it propaganda, as is the Assad Regime. The
highlight of the ISIS video released today is a North American sounding
jihadist executing members of Assad's army. Now that they have gotten
the attention of the American people, they are making a great show of
opposing Assad, just as Assad appears, for the first time, to be
opposing ISIS. Of course, in the past, Assad has been much quicker
<https://www.facebook.com/Sham.Althawrah/posts/160075994091488> to shoot
his own soldiers
<http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/03/world/meast/syria-unrest/>, as punishment
for attempting to defect
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/sep/09/syrian-soldiers-executed-damascus-barracks>,
than he has to bomb ISIS headquarters in Ragga or ISIS camps anywhere.
Had he done so, they never could have had the safehaven that has allowed
them to conquer so much territory in Syria and Iraq, just as ISIS has
waged war against the FSA and not Assad, who purchases their oil
<http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/01/bashar-al-jihad-how-assad-finances.html>.
As I have reported earlier
<http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/02/man-behind-curtain-for-al-qaeda-in.html>,
ISIS prisons have been found
<http://www.petercliffordonline.com/syria-news-3> to be filled with FSA
soldiers while defecting Syrian soldiers so foolish as to flee to ISIS
have been turned over
<http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/01/21/Al-Qaeda-detainees-reveal-ties-with-Assad.html>
to Assad, most likely to be shot. Now it is convenient to boaster claims
that ISIS is the main force fighting Assad and visa versa with these
displays. Those who have been following this conflict for the past three
and a half years are not fooled but those that have just waken up to it
may be.
So ISIS allowed a truce in one area, near Damascus, with one FSA unit,
and with the help of its friend and allies, have scored another
propaganda victory. These /"anti-imperialists"/ only oppose western
imperialism and follow the logic of /"the enemy of my enemy is my
friend."/ This has long made them supporters of Putin and Assad. Now
they seem quite willing to add ISIS to that club and spread ISIS
misinformation for the purpose of discrediting the forces that have
remained in the struggle, in spite of three and a half years of pounding
by Assad and over a year of fighting ISIS, as either non-existent or
having concluded a /"non-aggression pact"/ with ISIS.
I regret to inform you that to his roll call of dishonour we can also
add Syrian Arab Republic
<http://aidnews.org/syrian-arab-republic-syria-rebels-is-in-non-aggression-pact-near-damascus-ngo/>,
Counterpunch
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/15/isis-and-washingtons-ignorance-about-the-sunni-shia-divide/>,
The Tea Party.org
<http://www.teaparty.org/moderate-syrian-rebels-sign-truce-isis-55383/>,
The AntiMedia.org
<http://theantimedia.org/isis-forges-ceasefire-with-moderate-syrian-rebels-so-who-exactly-are-we-planning-on-arming/>,
Infowars.com
<http://www.infowars.com/moderate-syrian-rebels-sign-non-aggression-pact-with-isis-iraq-defies-us/>,
BreitBart
<http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2014/09/13/Report-The-Good-Guy-Syrian-Rebels-And-ISIS-Signed-A-Pact-Promising-Not-To-Attack-Each-Other>,
David Icke
<http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/moderate-syrian-rebels-sign-non-aggression-pact-with-isis-iraq-defies-us/>,
Fire Dog Lake
<http://news.firedoglake.com/2014/09/12/the-roundup-for-september-12th-2014/>,
Anti-War.com
<http://news.antiwar.com/2014/09/12/moderate-syria-rebels-sign-non-aggression-pact-with-isis/>,
Global Research
<http://www.globalresearch.ca/syrian-moderate-rebels-and-islamic-state-jihadists-make-peace-what-will-obama-do-now/5401564>,
Truthdig
<http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/house_votes_to_arm_syrian_rebels_but_not_to_pay_for_it_20140917>,
The Right Scoop
<http://therightscoop.com/the-syrian-rebels-that-obama-is-trying-to-arm-against-isis-have-signed-non-aggression-pact-with-isis/>,
Uprooted Palestinian
<http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2014/09/8-reasons-why-congress-should-vote-no.html>,
The Ron Paul Institute
<http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2014/september/13/obamas-syrian-moderates-sign-non-aggression-pact-with-isis.aspx>,
Dennis Kucinich
<http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2014/09/8-reasons-why-congress-should-vote-no.html>,
Information Clearinghouse, Hebrew Nation Radio
<http://hebrewnationonline.com/moderate-syrian-rebels-sign-non-aggression-pact-with-isis/>,
War in Iraq <http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/320460>, Red State
<https://www.redstate.com/2014/09/16/obama-uses-war-isis-overthrow-syrias-assad/>,
The Nation
<http://www.thenation.com/article/181674/saudi-lobbying-complex-adds-new-member-gop-super-pac-chair-norm-coleman#>,
Veteran's Today
<http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/09/15/frankenstein-in-iraq-and-syria/>,
Counter Currents.org <http://www.countercurrents.org/amkhan190914.htm>,
Moon of Alabama
<http://www.moonofalabama.org/2014/09/syria-the-southern-attack-on-damascus.html>,
and Huffington Post
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/12/isis-deal-syria_n_5814128.html>.
All together in support of ISIS propaganda. What a wonderful example of
/"left-right convergence"/ this makes!
Click here for a list of my other blogs on Syria
<http://claysbeach.blogspot.com//2012/12/my-syria-diaries_1014.html>
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