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Thursday, July 11, 2013

Syria: Pro-Assad Militias now receiving US weapons

Since the beginning of the Syrian Revolution almost two and a half years ago, there have been many on the Left that have echoed Assad's propaganda that NATO was really behind the uprising all along and the opposition consists mainly of foreign jhadist-terrorists secretly armed by the US. This comment yesterday by Carl Rising-Moore, President of the Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center and Veterans for Peace member, is typical:
It was the US “leading from behind” that placed many of the weapons in the largely foreign fighters that have invaded Syria in the last two years.
The problem with this thesis is that they have failed to come up with something like a shred of evidence to back up those claims.

The revolutionary leadership and the Free Syrian Army have been complaining all along that they have received no arms from NATO, even the promised deliveries of medical supplies and communications equipment has failed to materialize. Quite to the contrary, Obama deployed the CIA to southern Turkey to make sure that MANPADS, and other heavy weapons that Israel doesn't approve of, don't get to the rebels from any source.

Most recently, the US has made new promises to support Assad's opposition with heavy weapons. So far that has proven to be empty talk. According Reuters a few days ago:
None of the military aid that the United States announced weeks ago has arrived in Syria, according to an official from an Arab country and Syrian opposition sources.
USA Today had this story yesterday:
U.S. arms haven't reached Syrian rebels, analysts say

U.S. said it would boost support after determining Syria had used chemical weapons.
Jim Michaels, USA TODAY
12:57 p.m. EDT July 10, 2013
WASHINGTON – A month after the White House announced it was boosting aid to the Syrian opposition, rebel leaders say they have seen little or no evidence of U.S.-supplied arms entering the country and momentum on the ground is shifting toward the regime, analysts say.

It is not clear what is causing the delay. Administration officials have said they will vet rebel groups to ensure that weapons don't fall into the hands of al-Qaeda-affiliated opposition forces. More...
The only US arms to show up on the Syrian battlefield have been in the possession of the forces fighting for Assad. USA Today also carried this complimentary story yesterday:
U.S. arms showing up in hands of pro-Assad militias
Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
5:14 p.m. EDT July 10, 2013
U.S. and Western weapons have been reaching Iranian-backed Shiite militias fighting to keep Bashar Assad's forces in power in Syria.

Analysts say it's unclear if the weapons were captured, stolen or bought on the black market in Syria, Turkey, Iraq or Libya. Propaganda photographs from Shiite militias posted on dozens of websites and Facebook pages show the weapons were acquired in new condition, said Phillip Smyth, an analyst for Jihadology.net, a site affiliated with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. More...
One thing we do know it that these US weapons haven't been captured or stolen from Assad's opposition because they don't have any, which is to say that no new US weapons have shown up in the hands of the opposition in the thousands of videos posted on the conflict. That is how we establish the facts, not by believing the conspiratorial imagination of those who "just know" Washington has been arming the rebels from the beginning.



What can I add to this? I have been saying for a long time that in overthrowing Assad, the Syrian people were being opposed not only by the Russians and Iranians but also by the US imperialists. All the west's talk about supporting the revolution and opposing Assad was just so much talk. I have analyzed this situation in many of my blog posts on Syria, most notably:

Barack Obama's Courtship of Bashar al-Assad
Barack Obama's Courtship of Bashar al-Assad Exposed!
Obama "green lights" Assad's slaughter in Syria
Assad's Redline and Obama's Greenlight!
Chemical weapons use reported in Syria, Has Obama's red-line has been crossed?
AP weighs in on Obama's Green Light for Assad's slaughter in Syria
Syria: Obama's moves Assad's "red line" back as SOHR reports 42,000 dead!
SecState John Kerry and his "dear friend" Bashar al-Assad
How Obama's 'No MANPADS for you' policy in Syria is backfiring

More thoughts on Obama's 'No MANPADS for you!' policy
Obama: Did the CIA betray Assad's opposition in Syria?

I have been saying all along that Obama has been playing "good cop" to Putin's "bad cop" so it doesn't surprise me to find out the "good cop" who pretended to be your friend is really on the police department's side and supplying weapons to the enemy of the people.

So what else is new?

Nothing, except the level of collaboration that the US Left has fallen to in opposing the Syrian Revolution and supporting its own bourgeoisie.

Click here for a list of my other blogs on Syria

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