Is America nurturing yet another Frankenstein monster?
Thursday, December 19, 2024. By B. Kumaravadivelu
“Make no mistake, some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses.”
“Yes, we’ve been in contact with HTS and the other parties.”
The first statement is from President Joe Biden. The second from Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Blinken?used ambiguous language to imply that the U.S. started its contact with the terrorist group after the Assad regime was toppled.
That’s just not true.
Since 2013, the U.S. has been providing arms and training?to HTS and other rebel groups fighting the brutal Assad regime.
No surprise here. American involvement with religiously extremist militants is nothing new.
It’s easy to discern a pattern. The involvement always results in short-term gain and long-term pain.
America and some terrorist groups work together directly or indirectly until the common enemy is tackled and then the terrorists turn against the American benefactor.
Consider the following:
From 1979 to 1992 and beyond, America heavily armed and generously funded Afghan Mujahideen as well as Osama Bin Laden’s al Qaeda helping them fight Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.
American involvement in the covert wars in Afghanistan largely fueled Islamic militancy and gave rise to bin Laden’s al Qaeda.
After the Soviet-Afghan War, some of the hardcore Mujahideen founded the Taliban in 1994. They provided a safe haven for Osama Bin Laden who practiced his brand of terrorism.
After getting abundant help from America to drive Russia out of the Afghan soil, Bin Laden promptly paid back his gratitude with 9/11.
The Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. America deposed the Taliban regime when they refused to hand over Bin Laden.
They returned to power twenty years later, in 2021, when President Joe Biden withdrew American military forces. And ever since they have continued their brutal rule as before.
It is worth remembering that in Afghan war, the U.S. spent 2 trillion dollars, that is 300 million every day for 20 years only to be driven out from the Afghan soil in an ignoble way reminiscent of its helicopter escape from Vietnam.
America is dancing with terrorists once again, this time with Hayat Tahrir al-Shams — (Organization for the Liberation of the Levant) in Syria.
Hayat Tahrir al-Shams (HTS) has been declared a terrorist organization by the United Nations, the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries. It is a breakaway group with a notorious parentage, notably Osama Bin Laden’s al Qaeda and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s Islamic State (IS) which is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
HTS is headed by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani and has been fighting to overthrow Assad’s regime for more than a decade.
The U.S. actually has a10 million-dollar bounty on his head but that has not prevented it from helping his forces with arms and training, funneled mainly through Turkey.
Some of the rebels are Islamists, some are Jihadists and some still have strong connection to ISIS.
America has been assisting a disparate group of Syrian rebel forces because they have been fighting a common enemy, Assad. The only glue that keeps the rebel groups together is their common enemy, otherwise they fight with each other to prove who is more Islamic.
Lately, al-Jolani has been polishing his image. He has swapped his military fatigue for a suit. He has even trimmed his beard. After toppling Assad, he started using his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
He seems to have learned from the fate of the Taliban in Afghanistan which has been isolated by the international community because of its extreme Islamic policies and practices based on Sharia Law.
al-Jolani knows that he needs international legitimacy to receive diplomatic recognition and to attract foreign aid for development projects.
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In his new avatar, al-Sharaa?strategically picked CNN, not an Arab TV network, to give his first interview after toppling Assad. He made all the right noise employing inclusive communications strategy and promising that he would treat all Syria’s disparate ethnic groups — Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Alawites, Christians and others — as one Syrian community.
American politicians applauded his statement of inclusiveness even though some of them are anti-DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) in their own states.
In another interview, al-Sharaa said he would choose diplomacy to settle disputes with Israel but the real problem for the region is Iran, implying that Iran can hardly be dealt with diplomatically. That’s music to American, Israeli and Saudi ears.
The American and British administrations welcomed his statements because they are now eager to work with HTS and its leader closely and openly. They are thinking of suspending some sanctions imposed on the Assad regime and may soon reconsider revoking the status of HTS as a terrorist organization.
Right on cue, the corporate media in the U.S. and in the U.K. have started re-branding al-Sharaa as a moderate Islamist (oxymoron?) and have published new stories about him using almost identical headlines.
CNN’s profile?of al-Sharaa professed: “How Syria’s rebel leader went from radical jihadist to a blazer-wearing ‘revolutionary’”
BBC declared: “From Syrian jihadist leader to rebel politician: How Abu Mohammed al-Jolani reinvented himself.”
All the talk of al-Sharaa’s conversion is based on what he says he would do as Syria’s new leader.
President Joe Biden sounded cautious: “We’ve taken note of statements by the leaders of these rebel groups in recent days and they’re saying the right things now. But as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words but their actions.”
Well then, let’s look at some of al-Sharaa’s latest actions.
al-Sharaa’s HTS has been governing the Syrian province of Idlib for more than five years and has been following strict Sharia Law.
On the positive side, his administration successfully provided Idlib’s 2-million-strong population with basic necessities like water and electricity.
However, as a?2023 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies?in Washington, D.C. states “While HTS presents itself as less ideologically extreme than al Qaeda or ISIS, the brutal measures HTS uses to maintain control over its territory are a far cry from the benevolent, citizen-led government shown on its media outlets.”
The report goes on to say: “HTS has shown limited tolerance for political dissent, reacting swiftly and harshly to any protests or civilian complaints. The group has been criticized for its arrest and torture of journalists and political opponents.”
Consider also some of the actions al-Sharaa took after deposing Assad:
One, to cement his credentials as an avowed Islamist, he chose Umayyad Mosque, a venerable 1,300-year-old ancient mosque in Damascus to declare his victory. To sync with his new avatar, he could have easily chosen a TV studio or the presidential palace vacated by Assad, but he didn’t.
Two, he appointed the chief Idlib administrator Mohammad al-Bashir as the Interim Prime Minister of Syria, clearly to maintain exclusive control of the transition process.
Three, the new government plans public execution without any trial for those Assad officials who it thinks committed crimes.
Four, contrary to promises about inclusivity, he has appointed senior HTS administrators from Idlib as cabinet ministers and none from other rebel groups.
Five, he dissolved Kurdish-run prisons thereby releasing nearly 9,000 Islamic State terrorists, a move U.S. officials described as ‘ticking time bomb’
Six, he has announced that all Syrian rebel factions will be dissolved and brought under the control of his new Defense Ministry.
It is na?ve to expect all the rebel groups to co-exist peacefully under al-Sharaa’s autocratic leadership. With the collapse of the Assad regime, the glue that held them together is gone.
As a?British commentator?remarked, “in Syria, revenge is a dish served hot — and it’s back on the menu.”
In spite of the troublesome reality, and in spite of their “grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses,” America naively hopes to help the Islamic militants build a “new Syria.”
Perhaps, it forgot the fate of its earlier promises to build a “new Iraq,” a “new Libya,” a “new Afghanistan.”
No one should be surprised if America, sooner or later, adds one more figure to its infamous roster of Frankenstein monsters.
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