The administration’s distortion of the facts surrounding the sarin attack raises an unavoidable question: do we have the whole story of Obama’s willingness to walk away from his ‘red line’ threat to bomb Syria? He had claimed to have an iron-clad case but suddenly agreed to take the issue to Congress, and later to accept Assad’s offer to relinquish his chemical weapons. It appears possible that at some point he was directly confronted with contradictory information: evidence strong enough to persuade him to cancel his attack plan, and take the criticism sure to come from Republicans.US is disarming Assad and arming al-Nusra/al-Qaeda. And it's all part of the plan.
The UN resolution, which was adopted on 27 September by the Security Council, dealt indirectly with the notion that rebel forces such as al-Nusra would also be obliged to disarm: ‘no party in Syria should use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer [chemical] weapons.’ The resolution also calls for the immediate notification of the Security Council in the event that any ‘non-state actors’ acquire chemical weapons. No group was cited by name. While the Syrian regime continues the process of eliminating its chemical arsenal, the irony is that, after Assad’s stockpile of precursor agents is destroyed, al-Nusra and its Islamist allies could end up as the only faction inside Syria with access to the ingredients that can create sarin, a strategic weapon that would be unlike any other in the war zone. There may be more to negotiate.
2. An excerpt from, "We Will Not Play The Game" The Rojava Report, December 5:
The co-President of the Party of Democracy Unity (PYD) Salih Muslim has repeated the desire that the High Kurdish Council participate in the second round of Geneva talks as an independent party, saying “we will not allow for a second Lausanne. They are trying to play the same game but Kurds will not be deceived as in 1923. We will neither betray our martyrs nor oblige ourselves to the United States or the Turkish state. The Kurdish people are obliged to none but themselves. While there is still remains one Kurd in Kurdistan we will fight for our freedom.”"The Kurds have understood Reagan's words well, when he said that Kurdistan is a matchbox, that might at any moment act in its own aims and interests." - Ishkhan Miroev, "The Kurds won't sacrifice themselves to the West," Pravda, March 27, 2012.
As the High Kurdish Council, what are your expectations concerning the Second Geneva Conference?Of course we do not accept to encounter a situation in Geneva as in Lausanne. In Geneva a solution to the Kurdish issue must be found. If our problems are not addressed we will fight for another 100 years. If democracy is to come to Syria, it needs to start with the Kurdish issue. However up until now nothing has been planned or decided. Not only as regards the Kurds, but it is also uncertain how the Arab groups in Syria will attend the conference. There are a number of disagreements on the subject of participation within the National Coalition that has been formed from Syrian opposition groups. However we insist that participate in the conference as an independent and a third party. We want to attend the Geneva Conference as the Kurdish High Council with our own colors, our own will and demands. However as at Lausanne a number of obstacles have been placed in our way. It is not clear if will participate or not. The situation is not certain. However the majority of the meetings that we have had in Geneva until now have been positive. Russia and some other states have said, “Yes, you are justified. Kurds need to be able to participate as they desire.” However the United States and Turkey are insisting that we take under the larger umbrella of opposition groups. As I said, there have been obstacles and there will be in the future; however we will also fight. Today we are going to the conference with the philosophy of Leader Apo. They will not deceive the Kurds like in 1923. They are trying to play the same game. America and other foreign powers want Kurds to live through a second Lausanne. However the struggle of the Kurdish people is directed by its own will. To those powers which want to buy off the Kurds we say we will struggle until the last person. We will neither betray our martyrs nor oblige ourselves to the United States or the Turkish state. The Kurdish people are obliged to none but themselves. We are dependent only on our people.
3. An excerpt from, "Al-Qaeda elements in Syria significant terror threat for Turkey" Today's Zaman, December 8:
Turkey has not successfully demonstrated its distance from the al-Qaeda groups in Syria in the past while supporting legitimate opposition groups in Syria, and this has caused a belief in the international press that Turkey supports al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria, Özcan claimed.It is easy to prove the existence of an alliance between al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood government in Turkey. There are many links. Turkey has built up a chain of terror across its border with Syria. There are many safe houses in Turkey that house Jihadist terrorists from all around the world; Europe, the Arab world, Pakistan and Central Asia.
"Unfortunately, Turkey could not erase this image of supporting terrorist groups in Syria from the international media while it was supporting the Syrian opposition against Bashar al-Assad's regime. It has not been possible to prove the existence of a link between those al-Qaeda affiliated groups and Turkey. The problem is that if Turkey creates more distance between itself and these radical elements in Syria, they will be a threat to Turkey, and we may see terrorist attacks in Turkey from those groups," he stressed.
The al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had threatened Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with a series of “suicide attacks” in İstanbul and Ankara. Today's Zaman reported in November that ISIL had sent two bomb-laden vehicles to the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa for an attack on Turkey's major cities, including Ankara, İstanbul and İzmir, with information based on a confidential intelligence source. The National Police Department, the Gendarmerie General Command and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) issued red alerts after the intelligence reports of a planned attack.
A Western official based in Ankara, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Turkey's Western allies are greatly concerned by the threat of ISIL.
"When you look at al-Qaeda groups in Syria, they are getting stronger, gaining more ground and threatening neighboring Turkey. If we say there are no problems between al-Qaeda-affiliated groups and Turkey, that is wrong," said Özcan.
The world has known about NATO's support for Al-Qaeda for over three decades, going back to the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The events of the last three years on the Syrian-Turkish border, where Al-Qaeda terrorists are invading Syria under the supervision of the Turkish military and Western intelligence agents, have confirmed this reality.
