DECAMERON: And Now, Calling to Start US War in Syria All Over Again…

 

There are only a couple of dozen hardcore BORG-ists (to use Col Lang’s useful description) trolling for war against Iran, but they are irrationally consistent.  The names are familiar:  Ledeen, Richard Perle, Woolsey, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), etc.   Now, enter JINSA.

This week, another piece of the drive for war against Iran has manifested itself on the pages of the Jewish Institute for National Security for America (JINSA)  www.jinsa.org, with a November 20, 2017 report, Countering Iranian Expansion in Syria.   It says:

“Consistent with the Trump Administration's stated intention of pushing back against Iran's increasingly malign behavior throughout the Middle East, American policymakers urgently need to rebuild credibility and positions of strength by contesting Iran's rising influence across the region. Most urgently, the United States must impose real obstacles to Tehran's pursuit of total victory by the Assad regime in Syria. Time is of the essence, as Iranian-backed forces recently have retaken nearly all the country, save lands liberated from Islamic State (IS) by the U.S.-led coalition. These, and any further, strategic gains threaten to entrench Tehran as the arbiter of postwar Syria and consolidate its control of a "land bridge" connecting Iran directly to Lebanon and Hezbollah.”

The heart of Israeli penetration of the U.S. national security sector has long been JINSA—Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA).  JINSA was founded in 1973, immediately following the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli War, to assure U.S. military support for all future Israeli wars.  JINSA ’s mission was to recruit large numbers of recently retired U.S. military officers to the Israeli cause, by, among other techniques, sponsoring all-expenses-paid junkets to Israel, or exchange programs at Israeli military academies.  It is long term.   It is steady.  It keeps the same core directors.  It is not distracted.   It is a mostly-overlooked component of the Israel Lobby.

Today, the JINSA website boasts:

“The annual Generals and Admirals Program to the Middle East, in which recently retired American generals and admirals are invited to visit Israel with JINSA to meet the top echelon of the Israeli military and political leadership, ensures that the American delegation is well briefed on the security concerns of Israel, as well as the key role Israel plays as a friend and ally of the U.S. To date, JINSA has taken more than 400 retired officers to Israel, many of whom serve on JINSA's Board of Advisors.”

JINSA’s board is a hotbed of neo-cons, some of whom have been investigated for spying for the Israeli state.  Board members include former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Steven D. Bryen, former National Security consultant Michael Ledeen, Bush-Cheney’s director of the Defense Policy Board Richard Perle, Kenneth Timmerman, and former CIA Director James Woolsey.  Steven Bryen’s wife, Shoshanna Bryen was long time executive director of JINSA, involved in profiling likely military officers to be recruited to the junkets to Israel.

In 2001, after the 9/11 attack, JINSA’s own website boasted of its dedication to the primacy of the US-Israeli relationship above all else.    “Only one think tank puts the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship first—JINSA.”

On Sept. 12, 2001 JINSA issued a call for precisely the kind of U.S. war against the Arab world that has embroiled the U.S. in endless wars in the region. At that time, JINSA said the response to the 911 attack had to be larger than an attack on Al Qaeda’s bases in Afghanistan: “The countries harboring and training [terrorists] include not just Afghanistan—but Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Sudan, the Palestinian Authority, Libya, Algeria, friends Saudi Arabia and Egypt.”    

Get a score card, and see whether JINSA’s interests have taken hold:  Invasion of Iraq (2003), Regime change in Iran (still trying and 2017, the Number One priority), Syria (ongoing war to unseat Assad), Sudan (country divided), Libya (2011 overthrow of Qadaffi and failed state), Palestinian Authority (chaos and Jewish settlement expansion especially since the 2006 Hamas election victory), Egypt (two revolutions in two years, absolute economic desperation).   Not targeted so far:  Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Algeria (kind of).

No wonder Saudi Arabia’s Salman team is salivating over making alliances with Netanyahu.

Comments

[jjc]

Israel hosted the Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism way back in the summer of 1979 where the foundations of the War On Terror were set, although in that day the ultimate sponsor of international terrorism was said to be the Soviet Union. "The mortal danger to Western security and democracy posed by the worldwide scope of this international terrorist movement required an appropriate worldwide anti-terrorism offensive, consisting of the mutual coordination of Western military intelligence services."

This conference was hosted by Netanyahu and featured numerous high level Israeli politicians and military figures, as well as Americans such as Henry Jackson, George HW Bush, Richard Pipes, Ray Cline, and right-leaning officials from Britain and France. "US, Israeli and British elites were actively constructing 'international terrorism' as an ideology..." (see Nafeez Ahmed, War On Truth: 9/11, Disinformation, and the Anatomy of Terrorism, pp 3-6)

[Decameron]

Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson gave the neo-cons one of their earliest platforms prior to the election of Reagan in 1980. Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, and Douglas Feith (among others) were former Democratic aides to Jackson. Amazing that these individuals still collaborate on warmongering.

[J]

I view JINSA as a bunch of arm-chair quarterbacks who have never had their personal carcasses in combat. The majority of them have never had to kill a man, and witness what war really is -- man's inhumanity to man -- full stop.

I propose giving each one of the JINSA toads who so lovingly want to shove other people's kids under their JINSA WAR-BUS, an M16, a loaded ruck with enough ammo for 1 day (the rest they have to worry about themselves), and drop them out the back of a C130 in a drop zone, and let them eat Syrian dirt. I'll even throw in a can of motor oil for them when they got thirsty.

JINSA toads want to have a war so bad, then let them personally put their carcasses and that of their children on the line and eat war dirt.

Now I'll get off my soapbox and concentrate my appetite for T-bird day.

Our kids don't deserve to have to put up with JINSA maggots and their crap.

[Christian Chuba]

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) is one of my favorite Borgists because they demonstrate how think tanks are the tip of the spear in the Information War and have no real independence. I love seeing them introduced and then hearing every word that comes out of their mouth promote U.S. hegemony. They talk about U.S. supremacy in S.E. Asia, rolling back Iran and keeping Russia out of the M.E. or obsess over Iran's ballistic missile program.

Just once, I'd love to hear the interviewer ask one of these guys, 'that's nice but what does any of this have to do with defending democracy?'
Answer: 'Nothing, but all of the other names were taken when we filed our application for govt funding'.

[blue peacock]

Decameron

I find it interesting that we spend trillions of dollars in pointless wars in the ME that have provided no benefit to us as a nation. Yet, we have no will to invest at home.

Compare the infrastructure in the US relative to Asia who have invested significantly in their countries. China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Seoul are modern while our roads, bridges and airports are so dilapidated.

My eldest brother says that in his experience we've become more incompetent in all walks of life over the past 40 years. We're burning through the seed corn our forefathers created. Why do we no longer have the ability to improve our national competitiveness? I have my theories, but it is not based on any research or any real understanding of socio-political dynamics.

I get it that we've been played by the zionist fifth column. But shouldn't we look in the mirror and see the problem is us for being played so badly?

[Willybilly]

Very well put J..... I fully concur

[outthere]

i think Orlov is correct
ISIS did not start syria war and its defeat does not end the conflict which usa/saudi/israel and others still continue to fight to get rid of assad and take over syria

> People are already beginning to forget that in March 2011 the Syrian Civil War was started, not by DAESH and the other terrorist groups allied to it, but by the Sunni forces opposing B. Assad’s regime, including many well-known political and military figures who had until then been ‘friends’ of Damascus. And all that happened with the support of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan, the U.S.A., France and England, just as Hamad bin Jassim explained in detail to the whole world in an interview with the B.B.C. Many Syrian officers and soldiers bribed by Washington and its allies fled to Turkey where they formed the Free Syrian Army, which was trained by Turkey and the U.S.A. using funds provided by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It was they that started the war. The other militant factions including DAESH and the Al-Nusra Front only appeared a lot later.

https://journal-neo.org/2017/11/23/the-sochi-summit-concluding-remarks/

[Richardstevenhack]

Apparently the new goal in Syria for the US is to maintain its presence there (illegally) in support of the Kurds to pressure Syria in the peace talks.

This is a non-starter and doomed to failure because no one other than the US (and Israel and Saudi Arabia) wants this.

Adam Garrie at The Duran analyzes the possible options:

Russia slams US “occupation” of Syria after reports suggest the US will not leave Syria
http://theduran.com/russia-slams-us-occupation-syria-reports-suggest-us-will-not-leave-syria/

Since Russia, Iran and Turkey - the three main partners of the Astana Group - have explicitly supported a return to a unified Syria (despite Turkey's latent desires to seize territory), it's likely that Turkey will go along in order to put the Kurds back in their place. This will further alienate Turkey from the US and drive it into the arms of Russia and Iran.

[Anna]

"It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world." - George Washington
“Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations — entangling alliances with none.” - Thomas Jefferson
What comes to mind? - The Jewish Lobby and Jewish state of Israel. Sigh.

[Anna]

"The United States established a new rule of engagement in the east of the Euphrates, informing the Russian forces that it will not accept any ground forces (the Syrian army and its allies) east of the Euphrates River and that it will bomb any target approaching the east of the river even if the objective of the ground forces is to pursue ISIS.
Thus, the US is establishing a new undeclared no-fly-zone without bothering to deny that this can serve ISIS forces east of the Euphrates and offer the terrorists a kind of protection. Moreover, the US-led international coalition air bombing against ISIS has reduced noticeably."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-23/nasrallah-accuses-us-daesh-conspiracy-feared-tehran-beirut-land-bridge-established

Is it time to expell the duals from the US government? - Or there is no end to humiliation?
On a homefront: https://www.bustle.com/p/dickinson-texas-residents-will-get-hurricane-harvey-aid-only-if-they-dont-boycott-israel-the-aclu-isnt-having-it-2964007

"A Texas City Will Only Give You Hurricane Aid If You Promise Not to Boycott Israel"

As a part of the application process, residents seeking disaster relief funds must sign pro-Israel pledge. American Civil Liberties Union has called this "an egregious violation of the First Amendment."

[English Outsider]

I'm hoping the experts here will comment on Orlov's analysis. It's a little different.

The Orlov summary you quote in your comment is brief and that may be why it omits mention of the "Hotel Syrians" I used to see mention of. Do these not illustrate a common pattern - emigres from a previous regime or time, many living in the States and exercising a disproportionate influence on American Foreign policy and strategy? Were such people influential in the Syrian case?

It also omits mention of Syrians living inside the country who wanted things better and who did not see how they could become better under
Assad. They were used. Had they toppled Assad they would have been crushed by the Jihadis. That does not alter the fact that they were there. Again it's difficult to know how many of them there were and to what extent they shaded off into those pursuing tribal or other enmities or into those who had been bought.

Whatever the position in that respect it was always going to be possible for the West to pick this or that group out of the mix, call them "moderate opposition", and justify our intervention in Syria as an attempt to bring democracy to the country. This is the R2P justification. We're going to see more R2P justification now that the Syrian enterprise has failed - "We could have helped bring democracy to Syria, if only the Russians hadn't stopped us." I believe I have already heard something very like this said by our politicians here in the UK.

The Qatar revelations partially confirm the picture of us - the US, UK and others - being central to the logistics of getting weapons and Jihadis into Syria, though that was already known. What I haven't seen is unequivocal proof that we directly supported the Jihadis in their military operations inside Syria. It does look as if the "Arab Street" believes that already, and that will affect for some time how we are regarded in the ME.

Of course we in the West are not yet sure the Syrian enterprise has in fact failed. There still seem to be some cards left to play. What with the Kurds and the Israelis and maybe the Turks, not to mention the remnants of our proxies, we could promote a deal more killing yet.

[Anna]

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies is a node in ziocons' web.
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/about-fdd/team-overview/dubowitz-mark
"Mark Dubowitz is the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan policy institute..." -- Note the hiarious "nonpartisan."
Wikipedia names Dubowitz "An expert on Sanctions against Iran." -- Mark Dubowitz is so nonpartisan. Do we need to know his primary loyalty? It is not the US, for sure.
It would be interesting to ask Dubowitz about democracy in Israel and about the Israeli Constitution (nonexistent). Dubowitz is also very fond of Saudi Kingdom, a major sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East (and Israeli partner-in-crime): http://lobelog.com/defenders-of-democracy-turn-to-an-awkward-ally-saudi-arabia/ "Defense of Democracies," the ziocon way.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article198873.html

"Israel made a request for Iranian troops to commit to keeping at least 40 kilometres from the Israeli-Syrian cease-fire line. The Israeli request appears all the more odd for the following reason: since March 2011, Tel-Aviv has been actively supporting the jihadists and has not stopped providing them with arms and air support. In contrast, Iran has fought the terrorists resulting in blood loss of more than a thousand of its men. It would be astonishing if, having lost this war by proxies, Israel might still have the power to impose its conditions."

[Decameron]

Thanks for noting Dubowitz. From its very onset, FDD was trying to get the United States to attack Iran and carry out a war like the Iraqi invasion. Decameron attended some of the founding events of FDD and witnessed some of the "dodgy intelligence" presentations. Remember the spectacle of Gen. Colin Powell making a terrible fool of himself at the United Nations, detailing Saddam Hussein's non-existent WMD. FDD's principles were advocates for Admed Chalabi and the 1999 Congressional resolution for regime change in Iraq, and were culpable in that Colin Powell debacle.

Hope that readers look more carefully at the activities of JINSA, in addition to FDD. JINSA tries more to fly "under the radar" of most critics. Their new report on countering Iran in Syria has a higher chance of getting adopted since it is IMO one of Netanyahu's current highest priorities.

Falsified intelligence still lives in the US through a multitude of domestic channels, some coming from Tel Aviv, some from British Intelligence, and some now metastasized in our own institutions.

[Babak Makkinejad]

In Damascus and Aleppo, thongs were indeed improving; the English were investing in the tourism sector, buying old traditional houses and renovating them into boutique hotels or tourist rentals.
There were also hundreds with some money to invest who had come back from Latin America, starting small businesses.

[Babak Makkinejad]

They are an agency of US Government. Their undoing, in my opinion, is that they have not articulated any credible positive vision of future; just more confrontation and more war.

[turcopolier]

Babak

Neither FDD nor JINSA are agencies of the US government. pl

[Babak Makkinejad]

Yes, my mistake. I confused FDD with another organization.