MSM Whitewash Admits US Funds ISIS But There Is Much More To The Story

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Brandon Turbeville | Activist Post | Dec. 15, 2017

Following on the heels of the pseudo-journalistic whitewash by the BBC regarding the UK government’s funding of terrorism in Syria, USA Today has released a similar piece revealing how the United States has armed ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Of course, USA Today claims that the arms which made their way from the United States and Saudi Arabia to the hands of ISIS were all unintentional, thus completing another whitewash of what has already been exposed numerous times in the alternative media.

The report by USA Today, entitled “The U.S. Bought Weapons For Syrian Rebels – And Some Wound Up In The Hands Of ISIS Terrorists,” Jim Michaels wrote,

Sophisticated weapons the U.S. military secretly provided to Syrian rebels quickly fell into the hands of the Islamic State, a study released Thursday disclosed.

The report said the Islamic State’s possession of these weapons remains a threat to the U.S.-led coalition still operating against the terror group in Iraq and Syria.

The arms included anti-tank weapons purchased by the United States that ended up in possession of the Islamic State within two months of leaving the factory, according to the study by Conflict Armament Research, an organization that tracks arms shipments. The study was funded by the European Union and German government.

Efforts by the United States and other countries to supply weapons to rebel groups “have significantly augmented the quantity and quality of weapons available to (Islamic State) forces,” the report concluded.

The study examined 40,000 weapons and other items recovered from the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, during the past three years. The militants have been retreating across Iraq and Syria as U.S.-backed forces have routed them from their strongholds.

Investigators were unable to determine whether ISIS captured the weapons on the battlefield or whether the rebels sold or gave the arms to the terror group.

The report cites an ISIS propaganda video showing militants with weapons captured last year from the New Syrian Army, an alliance of fighters battling the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

It has long been known that ISIS captured a huge amount of American weapons —including tanks and artillery — when the militant group swept into Iraq from Syria in 2014 and routed several divisions of Iraqi soldiers, many who abandoned their weapons and fled.

The new study raises questions about a different source for weapons: arms secretly sent to rebel factions fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad in his long civil war. The covert CIA program, begun by the Obama administration in 2013, was ended earlier this year by President Trump. Saudi Arabia, which — like the U.S. — strongly opposes Assad, also supplies weapons to rebel groups.

The CIA declined to comment on the report.

ISIS Is Controlled By The U.S. And NATO

It is important to point out that the Islamic State is not some shadowy force that emerged from the caves of Afghanistan to form an effective military force that is funded by Twitter donations and murky secretive finance deals. IS is entirely the creation of NATO and the West and NATO remains in control of the organization.

As Tony Cartalucci writes in his article “ Implausible Deniability: West’s ISIS Terror Hordes In Iraq,”

Beginning in 2011 – and actually even as early as 2007 – the United States has been arming, funding, and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and a myriad of armed terrorist organizations to overthrow the government of Syria, fight Hezbollah in Lebanon, and undermine the power and influence of Iran, which of course includes any other government or group in the MENA region friendly toward Tehran

Image: ISIS corridors begin in Turkey and end in Baghdad. [credit: Land Destroyer]

Billions in cash have been funneled into the hands of terrorist groups including Al Nusra, Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), and what is now being called “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” or ISIS. One can see clearly by any map of ISIS held territory that it butts up directly against Turkey’s borders with defined corridors ISIS uses to invade southward – this is because it is precisely from NATO territory this terrorist scourge originated.

ISIS was harbored on NATO territory, armed and funded by US CIA agents with cash and weapons brought in from the Saudis, Qataris, and NATO members themselves. The “non-lethal aid” the US and British sent including the vehicles we now see ISIS driving around in.

They didn’t “take” this gear from “moderates.” There were never any moderates to begin with. The deadly sectarian genocide we now see unfolding was long ago predicted by those in the Pentagon – current and former officials – interviewed in 2007 by Pulitzer Prize-winning veteran journalist Seymour Hersh. Hersh’s 9-page 2007 report, “The Redirection” states explicitly:

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has cooperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

“Extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam” and are “sympathetic to Al Qaeda” – is a verbatim definition of what ISIS is today. Clearly the words of Hersh were as prophetic as they were factually informed, grounded in the reality of a regional conflict already engineered and taking shape as early as 2007. Hersh’s report would also forewarn the sectarian nature of the coming conflict, and in particular mention the region’s Christians who were admittedly being protected by Hezbollah.

While Hersh’s report was written in 2007, knowledge of the plan to use death squads to target Middle Eastern countries, particularly Syria, had been reported on even as far back as 2005 by Michael Hirsh and John Barry for Newsweek in an article entitled “The Salvador Option.”

Regardless, Cartalucci states in a separate article, “NATO’s Terror Hordes In Iraq A Pretext For Syria Invasion,”

In actuality, ISIS is the product of a joint NATO-GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] conspiracy stretching back as far as 2007 where US-Saudi policymakers sought to ignite a region-wide sectarian war to purge the Middle East of Iran’s arch of influence stretching from its borders, across Syria and Iraq, and as far west as Lebanon and the coast of the Mediterranean. ISIS has been harbored, trained, armed, and extensively funded by a coalition of NATO and Persian Gulf states within Turkey’s (NATO territory) borders and has launched invasions into northern Syria with, at times, both Turkish artillery and air cover. The most recent example of this was the cross-border invasion by Al Qaeda into Kasab village, Latikia province in northwest Syria.

Cartalucci is referring to a cross-border invasion that was coordinated with NATO, Turkey, Israel, and the death squads where Israel acted as air force cover while Turkey facilitated the death squad invasion from inside its own borders.

Keep in mind also that, prior to the rapid appearance and seizure of territory by ISIS in Syria and Iraq, European media outlets like Der Spiegel reported that hundreds of fighters were being trained in Jordan by Western intelligence and military personnel for the purpose of deployment in Syria to fight against Assad. The numbers were said to be expected to reach about 10,000 fighters when the reports were issued in March, 2013. Although Western and European media outlets would try to spin the operation as the training of “moderate rebels,” subsequent reports revealed that these fighters were actually ISIS fighters.

Western media outlets have also gone to great lengths to spin the fact that ISIS is operating in both Syria and Iraq with an alarming number of American weapons and equipment. As Business Insider stated, “The report [study by the London-based small arms research organization Conflict Armament Research] said the jihadists disposed of ‘significant quantities’ of US-made small arms including M16 assault rifles and included photos showing the markings ‘Property of US Govt.’” The article also acknowledged that a large number of the weapons used by ISIS were provided by Saudi Arabia, a close American ally.

ISIS IS Al-Qaeda

It is important to remember that the so-called leader of ISIS is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. As Voltaire Net describes Baghdadi,

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is an Iraqi who joined Al-Qaeda to fight against President Saddam Hussein. During the U.S. invasion, he distinguished himself by engaging in several actions against Shiites and Christians (including the taking of the Baghdad Cathedral) and by ushering in an Islamist reign of terror (he presided over an Islamic court which sentenced many Iraqis to be slaughtered in public). After the departure of Paul Bremer III, al-Baghdadi was arrested and incarcerated at Camp Bucca from 2005 to 2009. This period saw the dissolution of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, whose fighters merged into a group of tribal resistance, the Islamic Emirate of Iraq.

On 16 May 2010, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was named emir of the IEI, which was in the process of disintegration. After the departure of U.S. troops, he staged operations against the government al-Maliki, accused of being at the service of Iran. In 2013, after vowing allegiance to Al-Qaeda, he took off with his group to continue the jihad in Syria, rebaptizing it Islamic Emirate of Iraq and the Levant. In doing so, he challenged the privileges that Ayman al-Zawahiri had previously granted, on behalf of Al-Qaeda, to the Al-Nusra Front in Syria, which was originally nothing more than an extension of the IEI.

Regardless, false assumptions surrounding the true leadership of ISIS would be called into question in January of 2014 when Al-Arabiya, a Saudi-owned and operated news agency, published an article as well as a video of an interrogation of an ISIS fighter who had been captured while operating inside Syria.

When asked why ISIS was following the movement of the Free Syrian Army and who had given him the orders to do so, the fighter stated that he did not know why he was ordered to monitor the FSA’s movement but that the orders had come from Abu Faisal, also known as Prince Abdul Rachman al-Faisal of the Saudi Royal Family.

An excerpt from the relevant section of the interrogation reads as follows:

Interrogator: Why do you (ISIS) monitor the movement of the Free Syrian Army?

ISIS Detainee: I don’t know exactly why but we received orders from ISIS command.

Interrogator: Who among ISIS gave the orders?

ISIS Detainee: Prince Abdul Rachman al-Faisal, who is also known as Abu Faisal.

Such revelations, of course, will only be shocking news to those who have been unaware of the levels to which the Saudis have been involved with the funding, training, and directing of death squad forces deployed in Syria. Indeed, the Saudis have even openly admitted to the Russian government that they do, in fact, control a number of varied terrorist organizations across the world.

Even tired mainstream media organizations such as Newsweek (aka The Daily Beast) can no longer ignore the facts surrounding the Saudis’ involvement with the organization of terrorist groups across the world.

Note also that Voltaire Net describes al-Nusra, a documented al-Qaeda connected group, as merely an extension of the IEI (Islamic Emirate of Iraq) which itself was nothing more than a version of Al-Qaeda In Iraq. Thus, from Al-Qaeda in Iraq, came the IEI, which then became the Islamic Emirate of Iraq and the Levant. IEIL then became ISIS/ISIL which is now often referred to as IS.

In other words, Nusra=Al-Qaeda-IEI=IEIL=ISIL=ISIS=IS.

With the information presented above regarding the nature of the Free Syrian Army and the so-called “moderate rebels,” it would be entirely fair to add these “moderate” groups to the list as well.

Although too lengthy of a study to be presented in this article, it is important to point out that al-Qaeda is entirely a creation of the West, created for the purpose of drawing the Soviets into Afghanistan in the 1970s and a host of other geopolitical goals in the middle east and around the world, 9/11 being the most memorable instance of Western intelligence al-Qaeda mobilization.

Arms To “Moderates” – Arms To “Extremists”

Name changes aside, it is clear to everyone that arming “vetted” “moderate” “rebels” was only cover for arming ISIS, even since the Obama administration admitted publicly to doing what the CIA had already been doing covertly for years in arming the “rebels.”

The so-called “opposition” in Syria is anything but moderate. As Tony Cartalucci wrote in his article, “In Syria, There Are No Moderates,”

. . . . . there were never, nor are there any “moderates” operating in Syria. The West has intentionally armed and funded Al Qaeda and other sectarian extremists since as early as 2007 in preparation for an engineered sectarian bloodbath serving US-Saudi-Israeli interests. This latest bid to portray the terrorists operating along and within Syria’s borders as “divided” along extremists/moderate lines is a ploy to justify the continued flow of Western cash and arms into Syria to perpetuate the conflict, as well as create conditions along Syria’s borders with which Western partners, Israel, Jordan, and Turkey, can justify direct military intervention.

Indeed, even the New York Times has been forced to admit that there are, as Cartalucci expertly argues in his article, no moderates in the ranks of the Syrian death squads. As Ben Hubbard wrote in April, 2013,

In Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, rebels aligned with Al Qaeda control the power plant, run the bakeries and head a court that applies Islamic law. Elsewhere, they have seized government oil fields, put employees back to work and now profit from the crude they produce.

Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists. Even the Supreme Military Council, the umbrella rebel organization whose formation the West had hoped would sideline radical groups, is stocked with commanders who want to infuse Islamic law into a future Syrian government.

Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.

Even one of the FSA commanders, Bassel Idriss, recently admitted to openly collaborating with ISIS and al-Nusra, revealing yet another example of the fact that the “moderate rebels” are not moderate at all.

In an interview with the Daily Star of Lebanon, Idriss stated “We are collaborating with the Islamic State and the Nusra Front by attacking the Syrian Army’s gatherings in . . . Qalamoun . . . . Let’s face it: The Nusra Front is the biggest power present right now in Qalamoun and we as FSA would collaborate on any mission they launch as long as it coincides with our values.”

Idriss also admitted that many FSA fighters had pledged allegiance to ISIS. He said, “[ISIS] wanted to enhance its presence in the Western Qalamoun area. After the fall of Yabroud and the FSA’s retreat into the hills [around Arsal], many units pledged allegiance [to ISIS]”.

Abu Fidaa, a retired Syrian Army Colonel who is now a part of the Revolutionary Council in the Qalamoun, corroborated Idrisss’ statements by saying that “A very large number of FSA members [in Arsal] have joined ISIS and Nusra. In the end, people want to eat, they want to live, and the Islamic State has everything.”

Not only the FSA, but also the Syrian Revolutionary Front has also openly admitted to working with Nusra and al-Qaeda. The leader of the SRF, Jamaal Maarouf admitted that his brigades coordinate with Nusra and al-Qaeda regularly.

The atrocities committed by America’s “rebels” in Syria are legion and, in order to compile them all in one article, we would end up with several volumes of books simply telling one gruesome story after another. Coffee vender Mohammed al-Qatta was captured and killed for stating that he would not extend credit to an unspecified individual “Even if Muhammad comes down,” a common phrase used by many Syrians. This statement was construed as blasphemy by the death squads who are portrayed as “freedom fighters” by the Western media and government agencies supporting them.

Upon making the statement, al-Qatta was abducted by the death squads and tortured before being publicly executed. UPI reports “When they brought him back, the teen’s head was covered with his shirt and his body bore marks of whipping.”

The death squads then paraded the young man in front of a crowd that included his parents and siblings, announcing that “cursing the prophet” is a horrible act and others committing such crimes will be punished. The death squads then shot the boy once in the mouth and once in the neck.

The Huffington Post writes that the murderers are believed to be “members of a rebel group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, formerly known as the al-Nusra Front. “

Even the pseudo-organizations like the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have found it impossible to obfuscate the animalistic brutality of the death squads in this latest act. Indeed, death squad supporter Rami Abdul Rahman has been forced to admit the savagery of groups he has supported for at least the last two years.

What is more interesting is that Rahman has been forced to admit that the killers were likely foreign fighters – not native Syrians fighting for freedom against their oppressive government, as Western audiences have been propagandized to believe.

“They spoke classical Arabic, not Syrian dialect,” he said.

“They shot the boy twice, once in the mouth, another in his neck, in front of his mother, his father and his siblings,” he added.

Ironically, it is reported that the 15-year old victim had taken part in protests against the government prior to his “blasphemous” remark, thus proving that the death squads which are now being mopped up by Assad’s forces, are incapable of even the slightest cognitive functions that allow for coexistence.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has criticized the killing as “criminal” and as a “gift to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.”

“This kind of criminality is exactly what makes people in Syria fear the fall of the regime,” Abdel Rahman said.

Yet this kind of criminality and “gifts” to Assad have been taking place ever since the invasion of foreign-backed death squads into Syria two years ago when those efforts began in earnest. Indeed, Rahman and his Observatory have been supporting the death squads throughout the entire ordeal in full knowledge of the atrocities being committed against the Syrian people.

Rahman and his organization are clearly aware of videos showing the death squads machine gunning captives, beheading prisoners (see here and here), and forcing young children to behead them. I, myself, have written an article dealing with reports regarding the death squad’s hanging of a young child after murdering his family in front of him. One can also view the videos of the death squad members beating and humiliating the famous elderly “Yellow Man” in Aleppo.

Remember that“rebel” leader Abu Sakkar was videotaped cutting out the heart of a Syrian soldier and then biting it for the camera to see. Shortly before biting the man’s heart, Sakkar stated to the camera “I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers.”

The video can be seen here and it came fresh on the heels of a pledge by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to provide $123 million in aid to the Syrian death squads and £40 million by the UK, all in the midst of a worldwide economic depression and the imposition of brutal austerity measures in both countries. It should be noted that Abu Sakkar was a leader in the Yarmouk Brigade, a fighting unit of the Free Syrian Army.

Always known for their brutality and inhumanity to innocent men, women, and children, America’s “rebels” videotaped themselves beheading a child (under the age of 12) they had accused of fighting alongside the Liwaa al-Quds (Quds Brigade), a Palestinian militia fighting alongside the Syrian government.

The video, which was recorded by the terrorists of Nour al-Din al-Zinki, an American-backed “rebel” group, showed the child in ragged clothes sitting in the back of a pickup truck surrounded by five bearded terrorists. The child is then laid on his stomach and his hands tied behind his back. After a short intro speech by the executioner, the child’s head is then lifted up and the executioner begins sawing with a small and, apparently, dull knife through the child’s neck. After a few muffled attempts at screaming, the knife having severed the vocal chords early enough to prevent most of that, the executioner holds the child’s head above his own and utters the familiar cry of “Allahu Akbar!” At this point, his chanting friends, more akin to a pack of crazed apes more than anything resembling human, begin repeating the chant and holding their hands in the air, celebrating their kill.

In the video, it should be noted that the terrorist says “We will leave no one in Handarat,” an open admission of the intent and purpose of committing an act of genocide.

The Jerusalem Brigade (al-Quds Brigade) released a statement saying that the boy was not a fighter with the brigade and identified him as Abdullah Issa.

“He lived in al-Mashhad [Aleppo] with his family, among multiple poor families that live in the area under the control of terrorists,” said al-Quds, adding that the boy was ill. “By taking one glance at the child – the argument that he was a fighter is immediately disapproved.” Issa had begged to be shot in the head instead of beheading, even a small mercy being denied.

I myself traveled to Syria in October, 2017 and heard many stories from the Syrian people of similar cruelty, a village baker being shoved into his ovens, a young girl held for ransom and cut apart piece by piece in front of her family. There are no shortage of similar stories of the cruelty of America’s rebels anywhere they managed to seize territory.

More Alleged Moderates Join ISIS/Al-Qaeda – Bring TOW Missiles With Them

Harakat Hazm, propagandized to the American public as the face of the “moderate rebellion” in Syria has been the recipient of a large quantity of American weapons in the past including TOW anti-tank rockets and other arms.

According to mainstream outlets like The Daily Beast, Harakat Hazm was one of the few terrorist organizations actually trusted by the White House, hence the heavy amount of weaponry provided to them by the Pentagon. As funding for the death squad forces began to dry up, the story goes, the beleaguered fighters were forced to join ISIS in order to stay alive in their fight against the secular government of Bashar al-Assad and their alleged fight against al-Nusra (ISIS/al-Qaeda).

The truth, however, is that Harakat Hazm is nothing more than another branch of the jihadist extremists such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, and the FSA. Even more so, Hazm functions more as a funnel of weapons provided by the West at taxpayer expense to the very terrorist organizations that the Western public is constantly propagandized to fear.

Since Hazm is represented to the public as “moderates,” they are able to act as the public face of the “rebellion,” while the true recipients of weaponry go to their intended target – ISIS, et al.

It is thus important to remember the Washington Post article from 2014 entitled, “U.S. Backed Syria Rebels Routed By Fighters Linked To al-Qaeda,” where the US news agency attempted to describe how al-Nusra fighters were able to capture large amounts of weaponry from Harakat Hazm in the village of Khan Subbul in November of last year. The Washington Post reported that,

Among the groups whose bases were overrun in the assault was Harakat Hazm, the biggest recipient of U.S. assistance offered under a small-scale, covert CIA program launched this year, including the first deliveries of U.S.-made TOW antitank missiles. The group’s headquarters outside the village of Khan Subbul was seized by Jabhat al-Nusra overnight Saturday, after rebel fighters there surrendered their weapons and fled without a fight, according to residents in the area.

[…]

Harakat Hazm, whose name means “Steadfastness Movement,” had also received small arms and ammunition alongside non-lethal aid in the form of vehicles, food and uniforms from the United States and its European and Persian Gulf Arab allies grouped as the Friends of Syria alliance. Scores of its fighters had received U.S. training in Qatar under the covert program, but it was also not possible to confirm whether any of those fighters had defected to the al-Qaeda affiliate.

While it is certainly true that, because of the mentally deranged nature of the fundamentalist terrorists belonging to these various groups, there are a number of violent conflicts that take place between them as they vie for power or quibble over disagreements in religious minutia, it is also true that the implied apocalyptic battle between Nusra and Harakat Hazm presented by mainstream outlets like the Washington Post never actually took place.

As one can read from the passages quoted above, the so-called moderates who just happened (another convenient coincidence) to be the same so-called moderates who were the “biggest recipients of U.S. assistance” were allegedly confronted by Nusra and “surrendered their weapons and fled without a fight.”

In other words, the U.S. provided these groups with a massive amount of assistance that was subsequently given to al-Nusra. While the mainstream media will present this as the result of a complicated battle situation, the truth is that it was nothing more than a conduit to provide arms to terrorist organizations whose public relations skills may not be as developed as the US State Department would hope.

Lastly, it must be pointed out that Harakat Hazm should not be considered the “biggest recipient” of U.S. aid, since Harakat Hazm is simply one division of the whole that has been receiving billions of dollars of U.S. aid and equipment as well as other relevant assistance since at least 2010.

In the end, the alleged al-Nusra/Harakat Hazm battle, when correctly understood in its proper context, should be viewed as nothing more than a carefully constructed cover story for the re-arming of Al-Nusra and other relevant Western-backed death squad forces.

Thus, with the recent disbanding of Harakat Hazm and the blending with al-Qaeda/ISIS forces, al-Qaeda/ISIS forces are now the beneficiaries of fresh new batches of relatively sophisticated weaponry and TOW anti-tank missiles.

It is thus very likely that Harakat Hazm has only ever existed for the purposes of plausible deniability on the part of NATO and the United States as they continue to arm, direct, and facilitate cannibals and caliphs running rampant across Syria and Iraq.

Airdrops To ISIS

As the “convenient” and “accidental” airdrops of weapons and supplies by the US and NATO into the hands of ISIS and al-Qaeda jihadists fighting inside both Syria and Iraq began to draw more attention throughout largely alternative media outlets, such convenient mistakes also came to be questioned by national governments, particularly those who may be in the crosshairs of NATO in the very near future.

Individuals who have come to question the nature of the allegedly accidental air drops are legion, but one of the more recent and high profile skeptics is the Commander of Iran’s Basij Force, Brigadier General Mohammed Reza Naqdi.

In an address to a group of Basij forces on January 5, Naqdi stated that “The US directly supports the ISIL in Iraq and the US planes drop the needed aids and weapons for ISIL in Iraq …” In addition, he stated that the US Embassy in Baghdad is the command center for ISIL and other “takfiri” militants.

Indeed, while the United States military portrays the receipt of weapons and supplies by ISIS as entirely accidental, Naqdi presents the situation as quite the opposite. Contradicting the propaganda and stated aims of the US military, Naqdi stated that the Iraqi forces have managed to retrieve aid that was actually intended for ISIS fighters, not the other way around.

Naqdi, however, is merely the latest official in the region who has suggested that the U.S. “assault” on ISIS is half-hearted at best. Iraqi Member of Parliament Majid al-Gharawi recently stated that all information available “pointed out that US planes are supplying ISIL organization, not only in Salahuddin province, but also other provinces,” according to Iraq TradeLink.

He also stated that the United States is “not serious in fighting against the ISIL organization, because they have the technological power to determine the presence of ISIL gunmen and destroy them in one month [but have not done so].”

Gharawi suggested that the “the US is trying to expand the time of the war against the ISIL to get guarantees from the Iraqi government to have its bases in Mosul and Anbar provinces.”

It is important to mention that, according to FARS News, the Iraqi Parliamentary Security and Defense Commission revealed that a US plane did indeed supply ISIS with arms and ammunition in the Salahuddin province in Iraq, yet that revelation has received little to no coverage in the West.

In late December, 2014, yet another Iraqi lawmaker, Nahlah al-Hababi, questioned the motives and commitment of the US and its anti-ISIL coalition and claimed that the terrorist groups are actually receiving a large amount of aid dropped by unidentified aircraft.

Hababi is quoted by FARS News Agency as stating “The international coalition is not serious about air strikes on ISIL terrorists and is even seeking to take out the popular Basij (voluntary) forces from the battlefield against the Takfiris so that the problem with ISIL remains unsolved in the near future.”

“Basij” is a term that largely means “volunteer” as in volunteer forces.

She also was quoted as saying that “The ISIL terrorists are still receiving aids from unidentified fighter jets in Iraq and Syria.”

FARS also quotes Hababi as pointing out that the airstrikes launched by NATO are only launched in areas where Kurdish Peshmerga forces are fighting, while such strikes launched in other areas are “not so precise.” The suggestion, of course, is that the “coalition” has a vested interest in supporting the Kurdish forces while, at the same time, supporting ISIS in the process of weakening Syria’s Assad, Iraqi nationalism, and presumably, Iranian influence. Clearly, Hababi is not far off from the reality of the situation.

As FARS writes,

In late December, the US-led coalition dropped aids to the Takfiri militants in an area North of Baghdad.

Field sources in Iraq told al-Manar that the international coalition airplanes dropped aids to the terrorist militants in Balad, an area which lies in Salahuddin province North of Baghdad.

In October, a high-ranking Iranian commander also slammed the US for providing aid supplies to ISIL, adding that the US claims that the weapons were mistakenly airdropped to ISIL were untrue.

“The US and the so-called anti-ISIL coalition claim that they have launched a campaign against this terrorist and criminal group – while supplying them with weapons, food and medicine in Jalawla region (a town in Diyala Governorate, Iraq). This explicitly displays the falsity of the coalition’s and the US’ claims,” Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said.

The US claimed that it had airdropped weapons and medical aid to Kurdish fighters confronting the ISIL in Kobani, near the Turkish border in Northern Syria.

The US Defense Department said that it had airdropped 28 bundles of weapons and supplies, but one of them did not make it into the hands of the Kurdish fighters.

Video footage later showed that some of the weapons that the US airdropped were taken by ISIL militants.

The question of such “convenient accidents” are by no means unique to the Middle Eastern, Iraqi, or Iranian press reports, however. These types of “mistakes” happen on a seemingly regular basis in areas where the United States is allegedly fighting the very terrorist organization it created.

In October, 2014, “coalition” forces dropped a number of aid supplies and ammunition allegedly intended for the Iraqi people and anti-Isis forces on the ground into territory controlled by ISIS. The “mistake” was confirmed by Iraqi officials and parliamentarians.

Only in the West, it seems, does the general public look upon the so-called mistakes as anything but a sloppy excuse to re-arm NATO’s terrorist mercenaries in order to reinvigorate their proxy war.

A number of allegations made by the Iraqi army regarding US and UK airdrops of weapons and other equipment have been made as well particularly around March, 2015.

These reports are by no means the first time that the United States, Europe, or Israel have been implicated in the arming and support of ISIS. It is, however, the first time Iraqi forces (since the initial US invasion of 2003) have mounted a direct resistance to US and NATO treachery.

Leaked Documents Show How The U.S., Gulf Countries Ship Weapons To Terrorists Using Diplomatic Flight Cover

A  report by Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva entitled, “350 Diplomatic Flights Carry Weapons For Terrorists,” may very well have blown the lid on a secret program to provide weapons to terrorists in Iraq and Syria as well as anti-Houthi militants in Yemen. Gaytandzhieva’s report claims that the documents leaked to her by anonymous sources show that the Azberbaijani airline Silk Way Airlines was contracted by companies in the United States, Israel, and the Balkans to the militaries of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates as well as U.S. Special Ops. Gaytandzhieva’s own on-the-ground reporting also uncovered many weapons related to this secret trade in Aleppo after she had traveled there to investigate the story. PLEASE NOTE: It is important to visit Gaytandzhieva’s original article in which she presents scanned copies of the documents sent to her.

Although Gaytandzhieva’s report was months old, it gained wider traction in the alternative media after it was revealed she was subsequently interrogated by Bulgaria’s intelligence services and then fired from her newspaper because of the story.Gaytandzhieva reported that at least 350 diplomatic flights by Silk Way Airlines (an Azeri state-run company) transported weapons all across the world to various war zones over the past three years. She writes that the planes carried “tens of tons of heavy weapons and ammunition headed to terrorists under the cover of diplomatic flights.” Gaytandzhieva says that the documents implicating Silk Way Airlines were sent to her on Twitter by Anonymous Bulgaria.

She reported that the documents include correspondence between the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Bulgaria. They also include documents which were attached requesting clearance for overflight and/or landing in Bulgaria and many other countries in Europe as well as the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Turkey including others still. The documents show Silk Way Airlines offering diplomatic flights to private companies and arm manufacturers in Israel, the Balkans, and the United States as well as the UAE, KSA, militaries and U.S. Special Ops Command (USSOCOM). The airline also offered its services to the militaries of Germany and Denmark in Afghanistan and to Sweden in Iraq.

The diplomatic flights were utilized because they are exempt from checks, taxes, and air bills. For that reason, she states that the Silk Way planes transported “hundreds of tons of weapons to different locations around the world without regulation” and for free.The planes made stops ranging from a few hours up to a whole day for no logical reason i.e. repair, refueling, etc., thus lending further evidence that the planes were indeed shipping weapons as a primary mission.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) requires that “Dangerous Goods, Regulations, operators, transporting dangerous goods forbidden transportation by civil aircrafts, must apply for exemption for transportation of dangerous goods by air.” According to the documents Gaytandzhieva received, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry sent instructions to its embassies in Bulgaria and other European countries requesting diplomatic clearance for Silk Way Airlines flights. The embassies then sent diplomatic notes to the Foreign Ministry of the host countries to request the exemption. The Foreign Ministry would then send back a note signed by the local civil aviation authorities granting the necessary exemption for the transport of the dangerous goods by air.

These requests, according to the documents and the report, included information about the type and quantity of the goods on board, listed as “heavy weapons and ammunition.” Still, Gaytandzhieva writes, “the responsible authorities of many countries (Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Turkey, Germany, UK, Greece, etc.) have turned a blind eye and allowed diplomatic flights for the transport of tons of weapons, carried out by civil aircrafts for military needs.”

US Connection

The main customers of the “flights for weapons” program seem to be American companies which supply weaponry to the U.S. military and Special Operations Command. In the cases being addressed by Gaytandzhieva, however, all the weapons being transported are “non-standard” weapons, meaning those not used by the U.S. military or Special Ops.

According to the “register of federal contracts,” American companies were awarded contracts for $1 billion over the last three years under a program for “non-US standard weapons supplies.” According to the documents analyzed by Gaytanzhieva, all of these companies used Silk Way Airlines for the weapons transport. In some cases where Silk Way Airlines was too busy to accommodate shipment, Azerbaijan Air Force planes were used to transport the weapons. The weapons, however, never reached Azerbaijan.

Gaytanzhieva writes,

The documents leaked from the Embassy include shocking examples of weapon transport. A case in point: on 12th May 2015 an aircraft of Azerbaijan Air Forces carried 7,9 tons of PG-7V and 10 tons of PG-9V to the supposed destination via the route Burgas (Bulgaria)-Incirlik (Turkey)-Burgas-Nasosny (Azerbaijan). The consignor was the American company Purple Shovel, and the consignee – the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan. According to the documents, however, the military cargo was offloaded at Incirlik military base and never reached the consignee. The weapons were sold to Purple Shovel by Alguns, Bulgaria, and manufactured by Bulgaria’s VMZ military plant.

According to the federal contracts registry, in December of 2014 USSOCOM signed a $26.7 million contract with Purple Shovel. Bulgaria was indicated as the country of origin of the weapons.

On 6th June 2015, a 41-year old American national Francis Norvello, an employee of Purple Shovel, was killed in a blast when a rocket-propelled grenade malfunctioned at a military range near the village of Anevo in Bulgaria. Two other Americans and two Bulgarians were also injured. The US Embassy to Bulgaria then released a statement announcing that the U.S. government contractors were working on a U.S. military program to train and equip moderate rebels in Syria.

Which resulted in the U.S. Ambassador in Sofia to be immediately withdrawn from her post. The very same weapons as those supplied by Purple Shovel were not used by moderate rebels in Syria. In December of last year while reporting on the battle of Aleppo as a correspondent for Bulgarian media I found and filmed 9 underground warehouses full of heavy weapons with Bulgaria as their country of origin. They were used by Al Nusra Front (Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria designated as a terrorist organization by the UN).

Another U.S. contractor involved in the same program for non-US standard military supplies is Orbital ATK. This company received $250 million over just the past two years. Information as to what type of weapons and to whom those weapons were supplied is classified.

According to the documents, Orbital ATK transported weapons on 6 diplomatic Silk Way Airlines flights in July and August of 2015 flying the route Baku (Azerbaijan)-Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina)-Baku-Kabul (Afghanistan). The weapons were exported by IGMAN j.j. Konjic, (Bosnia and Herzegovina) commissioned by Orbital ATK. The consignee was the National Police of Afghanistan. Interestingly, all these diplomatic flights with weapons had technical landings and a 7 h 30 min stop at Baku before their final destination – Afghanistan.

Military aircrafts of Azerbaijan transported 282 tons of cargo (PG-7VL and other grenades) on 10 diplomatic flights in April and May 2017 to the destination Baku-Rijeka (Croatia)-Baku. The consignor was the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, and the consignee – Culmen International LLC, USA. This same company has been awarded two contracts ($47 million each) along with other contractors for non-US standard weapon supplies on 18 February 2016 and 19 April 2017 respectively. Culmen International LLC has also signed a $26.7 million contract for foreign weapons with the Department of Defense and a $3.9 million contract for newly manufactured non-US standard weapons.

Chemring Military Products is another main contractor in the program for non-US standard weapon supplies to the US army through diplomatic Silk Way Airlines flights. This military supplier has 4 contracts for $302.8 million in total. The weapons were purchased from local manufacturers in Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania and according to documents transported to Iraq and Afghanistan via diplomatic flights.

One of those flights in particular, on 18 October 2016, carrying 15.5 tons of 122 mm rockets bought by Chemring in Belgrade, Serbia, was diverted from its destination – Kabul, and instead landed in Lahore, Pakistan. After a 2-hour stop, the aircraft took off to Afghanistan. The only possible explanation for the extension of the flight by a thousand kilometers is offloading in Pakistan, even though documents stated that the cargo was destined for Afghanistan.

The largest non-US standard weapons supplier to the US army is Alliant Techsystems Operations-USA with contracts totalling $490.4 million. In December of 2016, this company transported tons of grenades (API 23×115 mm, HE 23×115 mm, GSH 23×115 mm) from Yugoimport, Serbia to the Afghani Defense Ministry on diplomatic flights to the destination Baku-Belgrade-Kabul.

The Saudi Connection

The United States is by no means the sole patron of Silk Way Airlines and the diplomatic cover business for arms transfers. As many as 23 diplomatic flights carrying weapons from Bulgaria, Serbia, and Azerbaijan to Riyadh and Jedda were utilized according to Gaytanzhieva’s investigation. The consignees were listed as VMC military plant and Transmobile of Bulgaria, Yugoimport in Serbia, and CIHAZ in Azerbaijan, according to the documents.

It must be noted that KSA was clearly not purchasing those weapons for itself because KSA only uses Western weapons. It seems obvious that, if the documents are accurate, the weapons were those being funneled to terrorists in Syria and Yemen. KSA also provides weapons to southern Africa where wars, civil wars, warlords, and terror are commonplace due to the region’s vast amounts of natural wealth.

Gaytanzhieva writes,

On 28 April and 12 May this year, Silk Way carried out two diplomatic flights from Baku to Burgas-Jeddah-Brazzaville (Republic of Congo). The military cargo on-board of both flights was paid for by Saudi Arabia, according to the documents leaked from Azerbaijan’s Embassy to Bulgarian sources. The aircraft made a technical landing at Jeddah airport with a 12 h 30 min stop for the first flight and 14 h stop for the second one.

The aircraft was loaded with mortars and anti-tank grenades including SPG-9 and GP-25. These very same weapons were discovered by the Iraqi army a month ago in an Islamic State warehouse in Mosul. Islamic State jihadists are also seen using those heavy weapons in propaganda videos posted online by the terrorist group. Interestingly, the consignee on the transport documents, however, is the Republican Guards of Congo.

Coyote machine gun 12,7х108 mm appeared in videos and photos posted online by militant groups in Idlib and the province of Hama in Syria. The same type of weapon was transported on a diplomatic flight via Turkey and Saudi Arabia a few months earlier.

In February and March of 2017, Saudi Arabia received 350 tons of weapons on Silk Way diplomatic flights flying to the route Baku-Belgrade-Prince Sultan-Baku. The cargo included 27 350 psc. 128-mm Plamen-a rockets and 10 000 pcs. 122 mm Grad rockets.

The consignor was Tehnoremont Temerin, Serbia to order by Famеway Investment LTD, Cypruss.

On 5 March 2016, an Azerbaijan Air Force aircraft carried 1700 pcs. RPG-7 (consignor: Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan) and 2500 pcs. PG-7VM (consignor: Transmobilе Ltd., Bulgaria) for the Defense Ministry of Saudi Arabia.

Diplomatic flights from Burgas Airport to Prince Sultan Airport on 18 and 28 February 2017 each carried a further 5080 psc. 40 mm PG-7V for RPG-7 and 24 978 psc. RGD-5. The weapons were exported by Transmobile, Bulgaria to the Ministry of Defense of Saudi Arabia. Such munitions and RPG-7 originating in Bulgaria can often be seen in videos filmed and posted by the Islamic State on their propaganda channels.

UAE Connection

UAE also uses western standard weapons for its military. However, it is also another country that purchased non-standard weapons which were then apparently transferred to a third party. Gaytanzhieva writes,

On three flights to Burgas-Abu Dhabi-Swaihan in March and April of 2017, Silk Way transported 10.8 tons of PG7VM HEAT for 40 mm RPG-7 on each flight with technical landing and a 2-hour stop in Abu Dhabi. The exporter is Samel-90, Bulgaria, the importer – Al Tuff International Company LLC. The latter company is involved with Orbital ATK LLC, which is the Middle East subsidiary of the American military company Orbital ATK. Although the ultimate consignee is the UAE army, the documents of the flight reveal that the sponsoring party is Saudi Arabia.

Gaytandzhieva Fired From Newspaper After Questioning

Although the report was months old, Qatari-based al-Jazeera ran the story and revealed that Gaytanzhieva had been interrogated by the Bulgarian national security services and subsequently fired from her job with the paper. The reporter later tweeted and confirmed that she had indeed been questioned by security services and fired from her job.

Conclusion

While the Western corporate press are able to admit that “some” money “found its way” to ISIS proper in Syria, much like the BBC whitewash, it is unable to admit that money and arms were directly provided to ISIS and other jihadist groups. As the evidence demonstrates, however (although it is only the tip of the iceberg), the United States has clearly supported ISIS directly, even being the power most responsible for its organization, funding, arming, and direction as well as the constant propaganda campaign to paint the terrorists as a formidable fighting force. The latest piece by USA Today and other outlets following suit is thus one more whitewash of a much bigger story and one that has already been reported on years ago by the alternative media.

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Image credit: The Anti-Media

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 and Dispatches 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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