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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPerhaps most succinct explanation of who is 2 blame 4 Isis. U get 2 guesses at the 2 culprits
https://twitter.com/andendall/status/632188177046990848/photo/1
leveymg
(36,418 posts)and looted arms to Syria. Without that midwifery by the CIA and State Dept., and the more open US role in the overthrow of Khadaffi (of course), ISIS would have been still-born and nobody would be pointing fingers right now.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Benghazi? Do you have any real evidence that would suggest there are links between Hillary and the supply of arms to the now ISIS rebels in Syria, or is that just supposition and guess-work?
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Here are some previous posts with those and related links:
Add one more essential but not sufficient precondition for ISIS: destabilization of Libya and Syria.
Here's a lesser-known set of facts leading to the creation of ISIS:
John Kerry was actively wooing Assad until early 2011 when the Petraeus-Clinton faction took control over MENA policy, and regime change was brought simultaneously to Syria, along with Libya and Tunisia. The project was most aggressively led on the ground by covert operators from France and Qatar, to a lesser extent involving the U.S., U.K., Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkey in funding, coordination, propaganda, logistics and support. Ongoing programs run by CIA and State Dept. were ballooned, and there were a lot of meetings, but mostly we watched civil war unfold as third-force special forces units (mostly Qatari) led armed uprisings in Libya and Syria. In March 2011, President Obama signed a classified "finding" coordinating efforts with Qatar and several other countries to overthrow Qaddafi. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/30/us-libya-usa-order-idUSTRE72T6H220110330 A similar directive was signed ordering similar covert operations in Syria.
In April, 2011, Chris Stevens arrived in Eastern Libya where he took a lead role in organizing opposition militia. At the time of Stevens death on September 12, 2012, Ghadaffi had been killed the previous October after retreating to his tribal homeland in Sirte, and the Libyan army had dissolved. Opposition militia were in charge of the rest of the country and arms stocks. By that stage, there was an active pipeline set up for Islamic fighters and looted Libyan heavy arms -- along with shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles (MANPADs) -- flowing into Syria by way of Turkey. That movement of MANPADs was first confirmed in a Times of London article published two days after the attack on the US compound in Benghazi. See, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/28/1137620/-Times-of-London-Shipload-of-Looted-Missiles-From-Libya-Arrives-in-Turkey#
The death of Stevens and the spread across the region of heavy arms and Jihadist Libyan fighters armed and trained by Qataris using Saudi and Gulf money forced President Obama to reconsider the policy. CIA Director Petraeus, who was confirmed in September 2011 to succeed Leon Panetta, resisted winding down the operation. In a showdown White House meeting the following October, Petraeus was supported by Secretary of State Clinton and Defense Secretary Panetta. Obama's decision to wind down what has been referred to as "Operation Zero Footprint" came after discussions with national security advisor Tom Donilon. The rift within the Administration was first made public during Senate hearings the following February. See, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/us/politics/panetta-speaks-to-senate-panel-on-benghazi-attack.html?_r=0 Petraeus' ongoing affair with his biographer was exposed, and Secretary Clinton's resignation graciously accepted after the Inauguration. The rest, as they say, is history.
Posted by leveymg | Sat Mar 7, 2015, 12:15 PM (0 replies)
2.
As UN Security Council Mulls ISIS Oil Sanctions, Most Funds Still Flow from Saudi and Gulf Donors
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026192755
There is broad agreement that "substantial" funds are still reaching ISIS from wealthy elites in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf states. As the Pentagon announced yesterday, oil exports now do not account for most of ISIS finances. ISIS is instead depending on donations, a lot of donations, according to Rear Admiral John Kirby, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Further sanctions do not threaten the primary source of finance for the so-called Islamic State (IS), reported to be in excess of $2 billion last year. On Thursday, a UN measure was proposed by Russia that would sanction the trade in oil and stolen antiquities that partially funds ISIS funders. However, according to the NYT, it does not add to the existing list of individuals named for sanctions. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/world/middleeast/un-prepares-resolution-to-confront-islamic-state-on-oil-and-antiquities.html?_r=0
This spares the US and NATO the difficult task of having to immediately punish most of the same Sunni states with which it has been previously cooperating in prosecuting the war in Syria. The measure discussed on Friday would, however, specifically sanction parties engaged in smuggling oil from ISIS controlled areas, paying ransom, and the sale of stolen antiquities, the latter valued at $35 million last year.
Nobody seems to want to put a finger on exactly how much cash is still flowing to ISIS from wealthy ISIS funders, and who exactly they are. But, everyone agrees that support from the Saudis and Gulf elites continues to be substantial. See, http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/whos-funding-isis-wealthy-gulf-angel-investors-officials-say-n208006
In 2014, Saudi Arabia publicly agreed to clamp down on some donations from its citizens and religious foundations. As a result, most private funding now goes through Qatar. The UN Security Council Resolution 2170 passed last August 15 named only six individual ISIS leaders for direct sanctions. The new measure does not expand that list, but calls for a committee to nominate others for violation of existing UN resolutions.
The effects of the additional sanctions on oil exports proposed would have its primary impact on crude oil smuggling in and out of Turkey. The majority of ISIS oil revenues are derived through the black market in that country. Last June, at its height, a Turkish opposition MP and other sources estimated the annual oil revenues at $800 million. http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/221272-report-isis-oil-production-worth-800m-per-year
If accurate, oil sales was about 40% of the total ISIS operating budget as stated by the group. However, even at its height, petroleum accounted for only a fraction of ISIS funding. Some western estimates placed the IS annual total budget as high as $3 billion. See, http://thehill.com/policy/defense/228465-isis-puts-payments-to-poor-disabled-in-2-billion-budget; http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-news-caliphate-unveils-first-annual-budget-2bn-250m-surplus-war-chest-1481931
The $800 million figure is actually at the top end of the estimates. US sources quoted by CNN last October stated that ISIS oil income was more likely half that figure: http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/06/world/meast/isis-funding/
Sources familiar with the subject say that ISIS' "burn' rate" -- how much the group spends -- is huge, including salaries, weapons and other expenses. For ISIS' oil sales, sources told CNN, the group probably makes between $1 million and $2 million per day, but probably on the lower end.
Along with everyone else, the returns on ISIS oil are probably a fraction of what they were at the height of world oil prices a year ago. Plus, the US and allies are bombing the group's oil platforms and vehicles. That has cut production and export to the point where US commanders now acknowledged that oil sales aren't the source of most ISIS funds, and that they are coming from donations, "a lot of donations":
We know that oil revenue is no longer the lead source of their income in dollars, Pentagon spokesperson Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters during a press briefing on Tuesday.
ISIS loss of income is compounded by its losses on the battlefield as the group has lost literally hundreds and hundreds of vehicles that they cant replace, Kirby said.
Theyve got to steal whatever they want to get, and theres a finite number.
ISIS is instead depending on a lot of donations as one of the main sources of income. They also have a significant black market program going on, Kirby said.
That leaves a big hole in the Caliphate's budget - that gets filled by someone.
Imposition of expanded UN sanctions would entail difficulties and costs for the US, particularly with Saudi Arabia. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that the Security Counsel measure is limited, and does not yet show if the world is truly serious about eradicating ISIS.
3.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3739937
Stevens was no ordinary Ambassador - he was a career spook diplomat. The DOS and CIA overlap in
many ways as far as the execution of covert action is concerned. You are right, probably more so under Secretary Clinton than in the past. You only need to look at Steven's background -- he attended UC Berkeley, UC Hastings Law and the National War College -- to see that he is a melding of the martial and intellectual in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt or T.E. Lawrence. He has worked in every significant center of foreign policy-making and every posting in the Mideast where the US has intense covert activities and strategic relationships during the past two decades:
He had served in Libya twice previously: as the Deputy Chief of Mission (from 2007 to 2009) and as Special Representative to the National Transitional Council (from March 2011 to November 2011) during the Libyan revolution. He arrived in Tripoli in May 2012 as the U.S. Ambassador to Libya.[4]
There were actually over 50 CIA people based in the nearby compound who showed up at the airport for evacuation. That's the "Annex" group of buildings next to the 14 large storage units in the adjacent warehouses where some have speculated the CIA actually stored the missiles and other sophisticated armaments that had been seized and purchased during the previous year. So, Stevens probably thought he was reasonably safe, as help or refuge was less than 1/2 a mile away from his unfortified diplomatic compound. He was comfortable with the militant groups he worked with in Eastern Libya - after all, he had handed them independence.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)I have asked over and over on DU why the American and Turkish ambassadors would have met in Benghazi rather than in Tripoli or perhaps on an American vessel in the Mediterranean or some safe place. This explains it. And I have long suspected cooperation between Turkey (interested in assisting attacks on the Kurds) and the US (interested, with the French, on unseating Assad). Not that the goal of unseating Assad is wrong, but the risk of funding or in any way assisting Islamic insurgents against any government in the Middle East requires a lot of understanding about the social and religious and cultural realities on the ground that our Western diplomats and governments lack. (I'm not pretending to have them either.)
So this is going to be the October surprise.
Hulk, Bully Trump is right, and I have also in my intuition been right. Hillary will not make it through the 2016 election. This along with her many conservative stances and her vote for the Iraq War place her judgment and understanding of people and the world in doubt. Bernie, for all his professed democratic socialism is a skeptic, a grump who to a very healthy degree, views the world from the negative as well as the positive. I don't see that balance in any of the present candidates for president, neither among the Republicans or the Democrats.
Of all the things I have grown to like about Bernie, it is the tough, experiencced in life, grumpy side I like the best. It's going to be hard to put something like ISIS over on Bernie once he is president.
This makes me believe more than ever that Bernie will be our next president., Every other possible candidate is enmeshed in these kinds of scandals if not this one -- another one.
Thanks for this post.
Have you posted it as an OP? I am bookmarking it for future reference.
'
delrem
(9,688 posts)These events didn't happen that long ago but the USA has a collective will to forget, to put the past out of mind.
Then if the past is mentioned at all, there's an immediate denial accompanied by a demand for "links". "Prove it" - else it didn't happen". Even then, with the best links and proof, the links and proof aren't accepted - aren't even read.
I'm like most people. I don't "collect links" as I read or hear news, thinking beforehand that I'll need them eventually so as to prove a point on some forum where people are in permanent denial mode. So when I reference Hillary's term as SOS I just say that her signature accomplishments were "Friends of Libya" and "Friends of Syria", tearing down two more countries after Afghanistan and Iraq. But, alas, nobody can remember... Esp. the big supporters of Hillary Clinton are in total denial of her actual history. leveymg's post #39 above addresses some of that history, making much of it quite clear.
Thanks leveymg.
merrily
(45,251 posts)Both Democrats and Republicans.
Two people running for President voted against it. Chafee, then a Republican and Sanders, then an Indie.
Chafee in Iowa yesterday said he went to the CIA and asked to see the evidence. He said it did not come near justifying a war vote.
Difi's wiki used to say that she said the same thing to a weapons inspector. I've posted the direct quote from her wiki several times on DU, but I think that bit has since been revised out of her wiki.
No Democrat I knew believed we had to go to war. Did you?
NO
&
NO
peace always,
kp
merrily
(45,251 posts)No, you did not believe Bushco? If so, that would make it unanimous.
Except, supposedly for Congress.
kpete
(71,991 posts)you asked
i replied
merrily
(45,251 posts)Yet, many Democrats in both houses of Congress voted for the war and advocated for it.
Response to merrily (Reply #5)
daleanime This message was self-deleted by its author.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)The Constitutional requirement, the vote, or, no, you did not believe Bushco?
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)At least that's how I interpret these responses.
merrily
(45,251 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)Although it shouldn't take courage to speak the truth.
Yallow
(1,926 posts)Baghdad Jim.
I don't blame anyone for not wanting to get in the way
when the winds of war are blowing a billion miles an hour.
War is good for the economy (except for the dead folks) the
media (duh) and fearmongering politicians like Bush Co et al.
Speaking out against war gets you labeled a wuss, or attacked,
just ask Valerie Plame.
Defending the invasion of Iraq should get you labeled a psychopath
in need of an asylum.
valerief
(53,235 posts)Alas, we're stuck in this one, the one with humans who have no humanity manipulating us.
treestar
(82,383 posts)but I would not be surprised there were other Democrats who did. Remember the mood of the country at that time. Much closer to 911.
merrily
(45,251 posts)ETA: It was over a year after 911. Not exactly heat of the moment. And I would hope professional politician Democrats are not hotheads about something as serious as war, anyway. Democrats outside Congress did not vote on the war.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)The war was based on obvious lies and greed. And you are right, we all knew it. I am so happy to be able to support someone that didn't fall for the politically easy way of supporting the war but stuck to his morals instead.
merrily
(45,251 posts)I don't agree that anyone fell for the politically easy way, though. For whatever reason, they chose to vote for and/or advocate for that war, to stand with Bush/Cheney. Bush and Cheney, Republican politicians and think tanks and Democratic politicians and think tanks all stood together by choice. Indeed, the founder of one Democratic think tank, a spinoff from the DLC, signed the PNAC letter urging Bush to invade. No one fell. They stood together, including 81 House Democrats (a minority of House Democrats) and 29 Senate Democrats, comprising 58% of Senate Democrats.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)Those are the votes I was talking about and I do believe some were done for that cowardly reason. Many votes were also done for profits either they or their donors would make from the war.
So, I agree with you except for the "anyone" part.
merrily
(45,251 posts)However, my prior post was responding to your use of "fell for." I said they didn't fall. They stood.
"Politically correct" would be voting against a war and making a wonderful, fact-filled speech about why you are going to do that so that you rally the people to protest. Especially when your vote is not even needed.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)Politically correct means doing what ever will get you ahead politically. I actually believe that is why Hillary voted for it. It doesn't really matter which is true because either way their votes were reprehensible.
merrily
(45,251 posts)She did not need a boost to remain Senator of NY. And the risk of voting for a war everything thinks is bullshit is not going to capture the Oval Office. It defeated her in 2008 and I hope to heaven defeats her in the next primary as well.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)ShrimpPoboy
(301 posts)and inadvertently gave them an opportunity to be a greater threat than they otherwise could have been. I don't see how anyone could argue that.
But ISIS is also made up of actual people who wake up every day and choose to be monsters. I blame them a lot more.
merrily
(45,251 posts)Some Republicans and Democrats very correctly predicted that at the time, including then Rep. Bernie Sanders. And said war was not a necessity.
Is Isis blameless? Of course not, but I'll be dipped if I know what to do about Isis, other than shake my fist in its general direction.
I don't even know what to do about Republicans in Congress. Being in Massachusetts, whose entire delegation is Democratic, there is not a one of them I have the power to vote against.
I do, however, have an opportunity to do something about Democrats who voted to invade Iraq.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Yallow
(1,926 posts)Without attacking Hillary.
He doesn't need to attack anyone.
Not yet.
Just being right seems to be working out well.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)They were the first to push for and unlock the door of this tragedy. There are many to blame for facilitating the events that followed, but Bush/Cheney own this mess.
shadowmayor
(1,325 posts)We rounded up tens of thousands of "detainees" who were "stationed" at Abu Graib, Bucca, and Cropper detention centers. The ISIS, I mean Al Qaeda 3.0 leaders have described how these prisons were the germination sites for what would become ISIS. People who had no previous connection to each other were brought together and their sinister plan was hatched. This is blow-back on steroids. The phony surge (basically pay-offs to the Sunni warlords in the Anbar areas) provided a false sense of accomplishment and cover for the war pigs in the Bush administration to buy time. Nixon did much the same in Viet Nam and the people still buy the whole Congress and the media cost us that war BS. Hence the surge must have worked meme promoted by Fox Noise and our incompetent generals. We disband an army, take away their money, turn our backs on them, create a giant political vacuum and then we act surprised that something forms and rises up to fill the void?
Again, what in the hell did the people of Iraq ever do to the people of the United States?
The Shadow Mayor
treestar
(82,383 posts)It's not like they are not human.
Hissyspit
(45,788 posts)So?
DhhD
(4,695 posts)Al Quida was not allowed in Iraq by the Sunni controlled government of Saddam Hussein. Bush/Cheney had to allow an enemy to come in. The fight was now on two fronts. Third front is now what is being fought against: The Saudi Arabian Wahabist that sell, rape and pillage Iraqi.
Bush/Cheney certainly own the destruction of the social, government, and economic stability of the power balanced government of Sunni Iraq. These Iraqis and their followers were run out of Iraq by the US Bush/Cheney appointed Shiite government, just as the OP details to be replaced by the Wahabist Beasts. Bush/Cheney own the whole mess. Obama works to clean up the mess. Will the American people allow JEB to spill more ill by electing him president? I do not think so. Will Hillary Clinton continue to clean up the mess? I do not think so. Clinton voted for war even after Poppy Bush and Bill Clinton knew better than to invade especially after many studies of that possibility. Again, I find another reason not to be able to trust Hillary Clinton.
mindwalker_i
(4,407 posts)That's a much easier and, frankly, more palatable explanation than all this complicated stuff. One of the key differences between how liberals and conservatives think is that conservatives for for the easy, low-energy explanations, hence they gobble up the "hate us for out freedoms" like it's Reagan's divine jizz.
Similarly, it's easier to believe that poor people are poor because they're lazy, as opposed to that their ancestors were brought to this country to be slaves, not to take part in the great experiment that America was based on. They weren't going to have the chance to make something of themselves, build a great business, etc. It's easier to think they're lazy than about how the idea got so ingrained in culture that even teachers don't expect them to do anything more than be wage slaves at a gas station. It's easier not to think about the long process of changing people's minds en mass.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)we're now using dictators to attack the group that spun off of the group we supported against one of those dictators that we used to like and another group we formed in reaction to another group we formed that used to fight us, and which hooked up with the generals of the dictator we used to like but then fought and another group we used to support against another dictator that we supported against that group, which even Israel likes now; this group partly grew out of another group we supported against another regime by means of another regime and we directly funded one leader and told to get more radical
the war'll be over in 3-6 months!
malaise
(268,998 posts)Wait wait wait - I knew that.