The US is helping build an Islamic Emirate in Syria

There are now an estimated 80,000 Syrian Islamist fighters engaged in battle, as well as approximately 18,000 foreign Islamist militiamen, according to sources. This includes some 2,000 fighters who are members of the Uighur ethnic group, a Muslim minority of Turkic heritage who live mostly in China. The Nusra Front, along with several other Islamist groups, have designs on turning post-revolution Syria into an Islamic caliphate. Fadel al-Salim, a lawyer who is close to the Nusra Front, told The Daily Star: “We are working to re-establish the Islamic caliphate in Syria, and we have informed [Syrian National Council head] Moaz al-Khatib that we will not accept the building of a civil state in Syria. We control the ground and will rule by Islamic law.” Daily Star

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An interesting article and fairly accurate except that it continues the MSM and neocon line that the revolt in Syria was secular in origin and that there are large parts of the rebel movement that are not under effective Islamist control.  In the case of the media, these ideas are based in the "Iraq Syndrome" (appalling ignorance and acceptance of partisan propaganda).  And then, there are, of course the neocon chickenhawk journalists who are eager for another US war in the Middle East. 

Lurking in the article are a couple of unfortunate truths:

- American government personnel are training Islamist fighters in Jordan and possibly Turkey.

- American government liaison people are mouthing the line that there are good islamists and then there are bad Islamists.  We have been doing that kind of thing for a decade.  Egypt seems to have taught us nothing.  Lang's Postulate - "Islamist governments ALWAYS want just two things.  These are attainment and retention of absolute power, and creations of a sharia law state."

The bottom line is that the US is now participating in the creation of a sharia law state in Syria,  pl 

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Mar-19/210649-rival-islamists-loom-large-over-syria.ashx#axzz2O5NOvvxX 

 

Comments

[DH]

"The bottom line is that the US is now participating in the creation of a sharia law state in Syria."

Is there any chance that President Obama is playing a double game; the Israelis want MB states lined up in a row for whatever reason, but Obama has the intention of reversing colonialism? Under Assad, it was the Alawites and Christians who were economically successful, while the majority of the country was dirt-poor Sunni. Yes, Egypt is in transition, but was quickly brought to heel re Israel. How long before the Egyptian MB is forced to engage in economic reality due to pressure from their constituents?

[ked]

"meet the new boss... same as the really really old boss"

[oofda]

Colonel

From the Post today- main story, first page, above the fold:
"Islamic law comes to rebel-held Syria"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/islamic-law-comes-to-rebel-held-syria/2013/03/19/b310532e-90af-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_story.html

And the Chair of the House Intel Committee, Mike Rogers, wants us to intervene in Syria on behalf of the rebels....

[YT]

A sharia law state that'll eventually be to the detriment of both "The Big Satan" & "The Little Satan"...

After that, the rest-of-the-world...?

[Edward Amame]

Apparently US strategic brainiacs think putting Iran in a regionally defensive position is crucial enough that we're OK with our likely post-Assad Sharia law state creation. Ho do they imagine this benefits us? Russia and China thrive while we're tethered to the ME. Is this part of a US exit strategy or more tethering?

[JohnH]

I think that US policy makers believe that fundamentalist religion and savage capitalism are the keys to the New Plutocrat World Order. It's the same coalition that Bush the Lesser put together for the US, and many of the same folks are still driving policy today. It works extremely well for them in the Persian Gulf, except in Iran. Mursi and the MB are probably to the right of Mubarak on both religion and economics. And Wall Street loves it!

[elkern]

What struck me most was the line about the 2,000 Uighurs. Maybe this is really about China. It's possible that we (USA) have more in common with the Islamists than we do with the Chinese.

We Abrahamic Monotheists take our Theology pretty seriously, whereas the Confucianism seems to be more about practical matters. Christianity & Islam are both multi-ethnic religions which make a lot of noise about Fairness, Justice, and all that good stuff, though both often mask heirarchic relations; East Asians cultures seem more honest about relationships of unequal power. Christianity & Islam are explicitly multi-ethnic religions (though both have tribal roots & branches); China is pumped up on Han Pride.

Mmmmm, it's a stretch. I don't really think anyone with any real power in this country is taking that long a view of things. It's much more likely that it's an odd combo of Christianish do-gooder sympathies fanned by pro-Israeli propaganda.

On first glance, Israel seems crazy for encouraging radical Islam. Are they playing the long game, counting on the tendency of religious rule to squelch intelectual freedom, stiffling technological progress? Saudi Arabia provides some evidence of this path. OTOH, Iran appears to be a technically savvy Theocracy - which may be why they won the Enemy Of The Decade sweeps.

I suspect some Israeli Jews have thought it through this way, but others just really believe that God is really on their side, so Islam is just a fad. Seems like a dangerous gamble to me.

[Alba Etie]

JohnH
What else makes sense in why we we are supporting the salifist other then some monied interest wish to cash in on this latest ME bloodbath in the Irak mode as did KBR/Cheney.
And there are credible reports that not only are there Uihgurs fighting with al Nusra - but all also radical Islamist fighters from all over the Caucasus . Its pretty plain to me that part of the Sino-Russian support for Assad is driven by the concern that should the Islamist win in Syria - these fighters could return to their home regions to cause trouble. The al Qaida training camps in why we went to Afghanistan. Madness this whole scenario -but as is often said follow the money when other logic fails to answer the "why" - it is often just old fashion greed. What is really scary is that the monied interest dovetail nicely it seems with those supporting Caliphate- including apparently Erdogan and other 'moderate' Islamist leaders.

[Tunde]

Sir,
Good Islamists and bad Islamists ? That's like good and bad Taliban ? Good Talibs get to go to Doha and eat ice-cream and natter about something they cannot control. Bad Talibs sit in Peshawar and use google Earth to plan massive truck bombs.
I'm with Vali Nasr on this one. This mob have no clue.

[turcopolier]

tunde

From long experience I believe that Islamists, as opposed to pious Muslims in general, should be thought of as a general menace. Sheridan's musing on the Plains Indians comes to mind. pl

[turcopolier]

alba Etie

I remain astonished that so many of you have not believed me when I say that "not by bread alone does man live." pl

[The beaver]

Latest news from France :
French govt is already delivering arms to the Syrian "rebels" as Sarkozy did for the Benghazi rebels , except that Qatar is not the middle man in this case.
Quai d'Orsay - Laurent Fabius has decided to manage things from Paris, supposedly differentiating the good guys from the bad guys.

[Edward Amame]

I don't think Israel is happy at all about the turn of events in Syria.

[oofda]

And a good article by Leslie Gelb, asking questions that should be asked before we get sucked into another war- in Syria. Like 'who are the rebels we want to arm?"

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/20/so-you-want-another-war.html

[Alba Etie]

Col Lang
We humble students are still taking notes here at SST . Wonder how big Dead Eye Dick " blind trust 'at Halliburton/KBR actually got from all of our stolen tax dollars that were looted in Irak .

[Alba Etie]

Tunde,
You all have had a spate of car bombings there of late yes ?What word do you here of ECOWAS activity in the Magreb ? We here have had almost no Mali references in our MSM , but occasional coverage on al Jezeera English .

[Alba Etie]

Arming those Islamist Radicals that wish to destroy the West - gee what could possibly go wrong ?

[DH]

The Patreaus/Steele/Coffman imbroglio (via oofda) is blowing my mind. Curious timing for its release.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/06/el-salvador-iraq-police-squads-washington

[DH]

"American officials reiterated that they did not have independent evidence that chemical weapons had been used, and the president made clear that it would require proof gathered by investigators before he would come to any conclusions.
-----
But Mr. Obama’s remarks, in which he pointedly left open the possibility that President Assad’s government had used chemical weapons — and all but ruled out Mr. Assad’s assertions that insurgents had used them — were unusually strong in tone.

“Once we establish the facts, I have made clear that the use of chemical weapons is a game changer,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/world/middleeast/syria-developments.html

[Fred]

The monied interests are waiting to shout "Habemus Bellum". Meanwhile all the millionaire mega-church leaders in America are busy running to the sound of their cash registers. Unlike Pope Francis I sure don't hear the former talking about not going to war in Syria.

[The beaver]

I guess the civilians @ Quai d'Orsay do not know the meaning of 'Blowback" !!!

[William R. Cumming]

Somewhat off post but PL if you were so empowered how would you assign jurisdictions for the UNIFIED COMMANDs if that is the correct terminology? No Rush!

Others comments are welcome!

[turcopolier]

WRC

I think the present Unified Command Plan is about right. Africom is a luxury, but not terribly important. JFCOM was a monster spawned by von Rumsfeld. it was a bottomless pit engendering mm by mm navel gazing over doctrinal and equipment issues easily solvable by people with any imagination at all. what really needs changing is the existence of two or maybe three armies in the service of the US. If you count the army National Guard there are three. These forces should be made into one servce. instead we are going in the opposite direction with marine generals made the heads of joint combatant commands although their service is part of the Navy Department. for the last couple of years the chief of the National Guard Bureau has been a member of the JCS. pl

[William R. Cumming]

Thanks PL!