Trump Ends Covert Obama-era CIA Program Which Sent Arms To Jihadists

[Swordsmyth]

In what may be one of the most significant foreign policy decisions of his first year in office, Trump is shutting down the CIA's covert program to arm rebels fighting the Syrian government. This would constitute a monumental shift in terms of US priorities in Syria which throughout most of the 6-year long war have focused on removing Bashar al-Assad. The Washington Post reports (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-ends-covert-cia-program-to-arm-anti-assad-rebels-in-syria-a-move-sought-by-moscow/2017/07/19/b6821a62-6beb-11e7-96ab-5f38140b38cc_story.html?utm_term=.0204ab4a0bc9):

Officials said Trump made the decision to scrap the CIA program nearly a month ago, after an Oval Office meeting with CIA Director Mike Pompeo and national security adviser H.R. McMaster ahead of a July 7 meeting in Germany with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The move is consistent with signals coming out of the White House over the past months, as well as in keeping with Trump's early campaign promises that he would seek to wind down the war in Syria by making ISIS the only objective, and not the removal of Assad. There have been additional hints at willingness to work closer with Russia in a strategic anti-terror partnership in Syria. Secretary of State Tillerson's said (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/04/09/tillerson-haley-issue-differing-statements-on-future-of-assad-in-syria/?utm_term=.35b4317cb125) in an April interview with ABC News, as well several weeks ago (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-03/tillerson-russia-should-decide-assads-fate), that Assad's fate would be up for the Syrian people to decide, adding that:

In that regard, we are hopeful that we can work with Russia and use their influence to achieve areas of stabilization throughout Syria and create the conditions for a political process through Geneva in which we can engage all of the parties on the way forward, and it is through that political process that we believe the Syrian people will lawfully be able to decide the fate of Bashar al-Assad.
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2017/07/17/syrian%20jihadist_0.png (http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2017/07/17/syrian%20jihadist.png)
Image via Syrian opposition social media/ The Blaze (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/24/al-qaeda-syria-enjoying-usaid-youve-got-to-see-this-to-believe-it/)
Tillerson has made similar remarks throughout the summer. But there were at times contradictory statements being issued from other areas of the administration, especially the State Department and ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who often continued to reiterate the "Assad must go" (http://theduran.com/us-ambassador-to-un-nikki-haley-says-assad-must-go-chances-are-haley-will-go-first/) line - a policy put in place when Obama first uttered those words (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/assad-must-go-these-three-little-words-present-a-huge-obstacle-for-obama-on-syria/2015/10/19/6a76baba-71ec-11e5-9cbb-790369643cf9_story.html?utm_term=.4ebe2695ba00) all the way back in summer of 2011. The divergent statements left pundits confused as to what America's future role in Syria would look like. The Trump administration has from the start faced an uphill battle against hawks and neocons in D.C. regarding Syria, who are already accusing (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-ends-covert-cia-program-to-arm-anti-assad-rebels-in-syria-a-move-sought-by-moscow/2017/07/19/b6821a62-6beb-11e7-96ab-5f38140b38cc_story.html?utm_term=.981ba3b817b1) the president of appeasing Assad and "falling into the Russia trap."

More at: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-19/seismic-shift-syria-trump-ends-covert-obama-era-cia-program-which-sent-arms-jihadist

Now we need to see him bring the boys back home.
This is good but it is not yet enough.

[openfire]

Establishment plant. Oh wait...

[goldenequity]

He's ending a program. That's nice. **ratlines giggling**

[Ender]

He's ending a program. That's nice. **ratlines giggling**

The secret word here is: covert. We will never really know about ending operations we never really knew about. ;)

[eleganz]

Read the WAPO POS. Not one word about weapons ending up with terrorists. They just wanted to make it about Russia. The news, its so fake.

[enhanced_deficit]

To be fair, this still does not prove conclusively that Obama was founding father of ISIS. But news like this is going to once again stir up "Obama is a secret muslim" rumors.



Related

http://crooksandliars.com/files/mediaposters/2016/08/34195.jpg

Poll: "Forget fake news — alt-right memes could do more damage to democracy" (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?512826-quot-Forget-fake-news-%E2%80%94-alt-right-memes-could-do-more-damage-to-democracy-quot&)

[Swordsmyth]

To be fair, this still does not prove conclusively that Obama was founding father of ISIS. But news like this is going to once again stir up "Obama is a secret muslim" rumors.
He is.

[angelatc]

Russia Russia Russia...
http://i.imgur.com/mcjd62a.jpg

[goldenequity]

Just like that. Mercs to the rear march! Turn in your camos. Severance pay? Meals on wheels? :D

FSA faction within SDF kicked out of Raqqa operation on US orders (https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/fsa-faction-within-sdf-kicked-raqqa-operation-us-orders/)


https://cdn.almasdarnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/elitelameness-642x516.jpg

BEIRUT, LEBANON (10:30 P.M.) – The Quwwat al-Nukhba sub-group of the Free Syrian Army (FSA),
which fights within the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF),
has been dismissed from any and all front-line duties in the ongoing Raqqa operation.

About one week ago, word came out that the FSA-linked group was to give up its positions within Raqqa city
and retreat to the SDF’s rear areas outside the urban center.
Not long after this but, contradictory reports then came in suggesting that a compromise was reached
whereby the Arab faction could retain its positions within the city – this was supported by some photo evidence.

However, according to the latest reports, Quwwat al-Nukhba has officially withdrawn from all of its front-line positions within Raqqa city
and handed them over to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Information on why the Arab militia has been booted out of the operation remains officially unclear.
Nonetheless, some sources suggest that the group showed repeated incompetence during Raqqa battle,
advancing quickly within the city but then withdrawing from all gains,
abandoning them to ISIS, almost as soon as they were taken.

In any case, the United States – who has overall command of the SDF –
represents the party that gave the order for the Arab FSA-linked faction to withdraw
(perhaps at the behest of Kurdish recommendations).

This now means that the battle to capture Raqqa from ISIS has become an almost exclusively Kurdish operation.

AL TANF (Jordan border)

White House will now phase out the secret program, a move which is likely to have grave implications for US-vetted Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions based in southern Syria around the Al-Tanf border crossing.

Once this sudden change of policy is fully implemented, Al-Masdar News expects the US Army will evacuate its troops from the Al-Tanf military base and fly them to Kurdish-held territory in Hasakah, thereby leaving rebel forces in southern Syria to fend for themselves against the SAA.

so long.. and thanks for the fish.:cool:

[goldenequity]

Russia Russia Russia...


Although the CIA declined to comment, US officials told the Washington Post
that
Trump decided to scrap the CIA program nearly a month ago ahead of a meeting on July 7 with Russian President Vladimir Putin.


“It’s probably a nod to reality,” said Ilan Goldenberg,
a former Obama administration official and director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.


====

McCain's tweet from 2011:

John McCain
Qaddafi on his way out, Bashar al Assad is next.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SQazmrMKqU




Bonus Bulletin (can someone retweet this to McCain? thnx)

Russia says in talks with U.S. to create cyber security working group: RIA
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-us-cyber-idUSKBN1A5188

[Zippyjuan]

To be fair, this still does not prove conclusively that Obama was founding father of ISIS. But news like this is going to once again stir up "Obama is a secret muslim" rumors.



Related



Poll: "Forget fake news — alt-right memes could do more damage to democracy" (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?512826-quot-Forget-fake-news-%E2%80%94-alt-right-memes-could-do-more-damage-to-democracy-quot&)

Islamic State was founded in 2006. Obama became President in 2009. Fake news.

[Swordsmyth]

Islamic State was founded in 2006. Obama became President in 2009. Fake news.
He was a Senator in 2006 like McPain.

[Ender]

He was a Senator in 2006 like McPain.

ISIS is a spin-off of Al Qaeda which was formed by the US gov in the 1980s- which would have put Obama in his early 20s. I think Reagan's more applicable.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2004/06/reagans_osama_connection.html

[Iowa]

Good thing the covert program is now over.

Guess they won't do that again.

Whew.

[nikcers]

ISIS is a spin-off of Al Qaeda which was formed by the US gov in the 1980s- which would have put Obama in his early 20s. I think Reagan's more applicable.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2004/06/reagans_osama_connection.html
I remember when we blamed Bush for creating ISIS. Are you sure its not Bush's fault?

[jllundqu]

You know how I know this is bullshit? Because they printed an article about an illegal covert CIA operation. You think the MSM would just confirm that the US has been covertly and illegally arming jihadists in Syria??

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/d3/d31479fe55a49c0d0c735cdb5a1c9cbfa0183c841c16703ce8 03d615dd1d3a72.jpg

[UWDude]

Islamic State was founded in 2006. Obama became President in 2009. Fake news.

Hardly, rat. The real Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or ISIL (later ISIS) was declared by Baghdadi in 2013. It was nothing but a namesake in 2006.

You are the fake news.


I remember when we blamed Bush for creating ISIS. Are you sure its not Bush's fault?

It is Bush's fault too. Bush and Obama are the exact same foreign policy. Nothing changed between them. So let's stop with the silly games acting like either president was different from the other.

[nikcers]

It is Bush's fault too. Bush and Obama are the exact same foreign policy. Nothing changed between them. So let's stop with the silly games acting like either president was different from the other. They would of had no power to do so without congress authorizing money to pay for this. The congress even thinks that voting for military spending is authorization for all of our secret wars, besides maybe one or two.

[Ender]

I remember when we blamed Bush for creating ISIS. Are you sure its not Bush's fault?

I thought everything was Bush's fault until it became more convenient to blame Obama. ;)

[ILUVRP]

which one is it in the middle east ?

1) the enemy of my enemy is my friend
2) the enemy of my enemy is my enemy
3) the enemy of my friend is my friend
4) the enemy of my friend is my enemy
5) the friend of my friend is my friend
6) the friend of my friend is my enemy

i could go on but everyone gets the point , it is all the above in the middle east .

get the hell out of the middle east

[timosman]

get the hell out of the middle east

this would require us admitting failure, something we are not very good at

[euphemia]

In my opinion, there are some good things happening that are underreported in the news. Stuff like this is happening. I think Trump is happy to have the media distrated by stupid stuff because he can move forward getting us out of problematic operations.

[Zippyjuan]

I thought everything was Bush's fault until it became more convenient to blame Obama. ;)

Now it is Trump's turn.

[Anti Federalist]

This is a good thing.

[phill4paul]

This is a good thing.

Well, it's a good headline anyway. I have my doubts that anything will actually change except actors and organizations.

[Ender]

Well, it's a good headline anyway. I have my doubts that anything will actually change except actors and organizations.

True dat.

[nikcers]

Well, it's a good headline anyway. I have my doubts that anything will actually change except actors and organizations.
I am pretty sure we still are arming some groups just not a certain group. So its kind of like one of those shell scams. They are done fighting Iran proxies with proxies, they have full control of the military now and people are officially afraid of Russia, the fear mongering worked. In 2011 when Ron Paul said Iran wasn't a threat and that Russia wasn't a threat it was popular consensus, now everyone is believing the Mitt Romney groupthink because they fell for fake news because we a have a president who is the king of fake news.

[timosman]

I am pretty sure we still are arming some groups just not a certain group. So its kind of like one of those shell scams. They are done fighting Iran proxies with proxies, they have full control of the military now and people are officially afraid of Russia, the fear mongering worked. In 2011 when Ron Paul said Iran wasn't a threat and that Russia wasn't a threat it was popular consensus, now everyone is believing the Mitt Romney groupthink because they fell for fake news because we a have a president who is the king of fake news.

Horror vacui - Nature abhors a vacuum. We must make sure the region does not go under Russian influence. Or Chinese.:eek:

[Ender]

Horror vacui - Nature abhors a vacuum. We must make sure the region does not go under Russian influence. Or Chinese.:eek:

Or Iranian, apparently.

[AZJoe]

Tulsi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=228&v=1PvnZ1WZw_4

[PierzStyx]

So what about the US military program that has been arming Syrian rebels? There were two programs, one ran by the US military and one by the CIA with only one of them has been ended.

[PierzStyx]

I remember when we blamed Bush for creating ISIS. Are you sure its not Bush's fault?

Both.

ISIS leadership is made up of two groups, former Republican Guard members sent into exile when the US invaded Iraq and Syrian rebels trained under Obama.

[muh_roads]

Islamic State was founded in 2006. Obama became President in 2009. Fake news. Obama's drone campaign brought on the Arab Spring, which is what caused the ISIS numbers to really explode.

[nikcers]

Both.

ISIS leadership is made up of two groups, former Republican Guard members sent into exile when the US invaded Iraq and Syrian rebels trained under Obama.

trained to do what? They were mostly Iraq's army that were armed by Bush from the weapons he left there from the Iraq war.

[PierzStyx]

trained to do what? They were mostly Iraq's army that were armed by Bush from the weapons he left there from the Iraq war.

Trained to fight. A good portion of ISIS's core membership was formed by Syrian rebels armed and trained to fight by the CIA. As they began to be successful and seize places like Mosul is when they began to get ahold of many of the American supplies as you mention.

[nikcers]

Trained to fight. A good portion of ISIS's core membership was formed by Syrian rebels armed and trained to fight by the CIA. As they began to be successful and seize places like Mosul is when they began to get ahold of many of the American supplies as you mention.
The deep state sent in ISIS because Obama went to congress knowing that the republican majority would oppose him. If anything Syria doesn't look like Iraq because of Obama and the huge anti war push Rand Paul made against him.

The neocons like to argue that regime change would of been better, but people like Rand Paul argue that real regime change can't come from western hands.

The civil war in Syria war was funded by the congress when they crafted government funding bills that included training those rebels. The only people who didn't help arm ISIS were the Rand Paul's who voted against the funding.

[goldenequity]

So what about the US military program that has been arming Syrian rebels? There were two programs, one ran by the US military and one by the CIA with only one of them has been ended.

Good point.
I remember well when it was SDF (Pentagon) vs FSA (CIA) in Afrin/Kurd territory fighting each other.

[shakey1]

Well, it's a good headline anyway. I have my doubts that anything will actually change except actors and organizations.

I too, am a bit skeptical... time will tell.