How US Ambassador Chris Stevens May Have Been Linked To Jihadist Rebels In Syria

[Wehrwolfen]

How US Ambassador Chris Stevens May Have Been Linked To Jihadist Rebels In Syria​

Michael Kelley
Oct. 19, 2012


REPORT: It Was A NATO Mortar That Killed 5 Turkish Civilians Last Week
The official position is that the US has refused to allow heavy weapons into Syria.

But there's growing evidence that U.S. agents—particularly murdered ambassador Chris Stevens—were at least aware of heavy weapons moving from Libya to jihadist Syrian rebels.

In March 2011 Stevens became the official U.S. liaison to the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan opposition, working directly with Abdelhakim Belhadj of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group—a group that has now disbanded, with some fighters reportedly participating in the attack that took Stevens' life.

In November 2011 The Telegraph reported that Belhadj, acting as head of the Tripoli Military Council, "met with Free Syrian Army [FSA] leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey" in an effort by the new Libyan government to provide money and weapons to the growing insurgency in Syria.

Last month The Times of London reported that a Libyan ship "carrying the largest consignment of weapons for Syria … has docked in Turkey." The shipment reportedly weighed 400 tons and included SA-7 surface-to-air anti-craft missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.

Those heavy weapons are most likely from Muammar Gaddafi's stock of about 20,000 portable heat-seeking missiles—the bulk of them SA-7s—that the Libyan leader obtained from the former Eastern bloc. Reuters reports that Syrian rebels have been using those heavy weapons to shoot down Syrian helicopters and fighter jets.

The ship's captain was "a Libyan from Benghazi and the head of an organization called the Libyan National Council for Relief and Support," which was presumably established by the new government.

That means that Ambassador Stevens had only one person—Belhadj—between himself and the Benghazi man who brought heavy weapons to Syria.

Furthermore, we know that jihadists are the best fighters in the Syrian opposition, but where did they come from?

Last week The Telegraph reported that a FSA commander called them "Libyans" when he explained that the FSA doesn't "want these extremist people here."

And if the new Libyan government was sending seasoned Islamic fighters and 400 tons of heavy weapons to Syria through a port in southern Turkey—a deal brokered by Stevens' primary Libyan contact during the Libyan revolution—then the governments of Turkey and the U.S. surely knew about it.

Furthermore there was a CIA post in Benghazi, located 1.2 miles from the U.S. consulate, used as "a base for, among other things, collecting information on the proliferation of weaponry looted from Libyan government arsenals, including surface-to-air missiles" ... and that its security features "were more advanced than those at rented villa where Stevens died."

[excerpt]

Read more: How US Ambassador Chris Stevens May Have Been Linked To Jihadist Rebels In Syria - Business Insider

 

[waltky]

Obama gonna arm the Syrian rebels...

FIRST ON CNN: White House signs off on new aid for Syrian rebels
April 9th, 2013 - President Barack Obama has signed off on a new package of nonlethal aid for Syrian rebels, U.S. officials tell CNN, signaling his administration is cautiously wading further into the conflict.

Officials said the White House approved the package at a meeting of the National Security Council last week. The move reflects what officials describe as a ramped-up effort to change the military balance on the battlefield in Syria. It follows a decision by Obama last month to send food and medicine to the rebels, the first direct U.S. support for the armed opposition. Other agencies have not been briefed on the final elements of the package, which is expected to be detailed at a White House meeting this week. "We have no new decisions on assistance to announce at this point and continue to review every possible option that could help end the violence and accelerate a political transition," said Caitlin Hayden, a National Security Council spokeswoman.

Officials said it is expected to include equipment such as body armor, night vision goggles and other military equipment that is defensive in nature, but could be used to aid in combat by Syrian rebels battling forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. The package being discussed, however, still falls short of the heavy weapons and high tech equipment sought by the rebels. Obama's national security team and members of Congress have repeatedly urged the president to increase the direct aid for the rebels.

A Syrian rebel crosses a street while trying to dodge sniper fire in the old city of Aleppo in northern Syria

They argue such a step would strengthen the hand of moderate members of the opposition and make them less reliant on well-armed extremist elements within their ranks. Secretary of State John Kerry has pushed for more aggressive U.S. involvement in Syria since taking office in February. The move comes as Britain and France are leading efforts to lift a European Union arms embargo on Syria. Both have suggested they are prepared to join nations like Qatar is providing the rebels with weapons and are urging the United States to do the same.

A push last summer from CIA, Pentagon and State Department leaders was rejected by the White House. At least for now, it remains opposed to arming the opposition, fearing that U.S.-provided weapons could wind up in the wrong hands. The Obama administration has funneled $385 million in humanitarian aid to Syria through international institutions and nongovernmental organizations. In addition, Washington has provided more than $100 million to the political opposition and has pressed them to establish a leadership structure. But the Syrian Opposition Council, the main Syrian opposition group, has roundly criticized the United States for refusing to provide badly-needed support to organize a transitional government and broaden its support inside Syria.

Source

 

[francoHFW]

__________________
Kinda funny how, instead of a 'sequester', the Wall Street bankers got bailed out.

By their cronies, the Bushies....

OP- Stevens was "aware" LOL. Dupes are for helping the rebels, now getting ready to switch if Obama goes that way LOL

 

[tinydancer]

__________________
Kinda funny how, instead of a 'sequester', the Wall Street bankers got bailed out.

By their cronies, the Bushies....

OP- Stevens was "aware" LOL. Dupes are for helping the rebels, now getting ready to switch if Obama goes that way LOL

Obama has been backing the rebels. From the get go Obama has said that Assad should step down.

Check the date.


Syria: Assad must resign, says Obama

EU leaders echo rebuke, delivered by US president in executive order imposing sanctions and freezing of assets

Chris McGreal in Washington and Martin Chulov in Beirut
The Guardian, Friday 19 August 2011


Syria: Assad must resign, says Obama | World news | The Guardian

Oh and I just put up a thread about Al Qaeda' branch in Iraq joining Syrian rebels.

So much for Obama decimating AQ.

 

[francoHFW]

Talk. Right now the loudmouth dupes want him to ARM the rebels. If he does, they'll be against it lol.

 

[Lakhota]

October 19, 2012? Wow, that's really hot off the press. Must be a slow right-wing news day.

 

[Clementine]

The Benghazi cover up doesn't seem to be going so smoothly. The truth has a way of trying to get out. This whole thing stinks more by the day.

 

[waltky]

Rebels still sit, waiting for promised arms...

Month after US pledged more help, Syrian rebels in worse shape
July 13, 2013 > A month after the Obama administration pledged stepped-up support for Syria’s armed opposition, the government of President Bashar Assad’s position has improved, with U.S. assistance to the rebels apparently stalled and deadly rifts opening among the forces battling to topple the Assad regime.

Government forces appear close to forcing rebels from the key city of Homs after a 10-day offensive, while an al Qaida-linked rebel group on Thursday assassinated a top commander from the more moderate, Western-backed Supreme Military Council, signaling what one British newspaper dubbed a “civil war within a civil war.” And that’s only some of the recent setbacks for the Syrian opposition’s two-track struggle toward improved fighting capabilities and greater political legitimacy. In the United States, political and logistical snags are preventing the distribution of promised military aid, while in Turkey, the exiled civilian Syrian Opposition Coalition remains mired in organizational turmoil.

The coalition’s prime minister, Ghassan Hitto, a naturalized American citizen, resigned his post, days after the group elected a new chairman, Ahmed Assi al Jarba. Hitto and Jarba represent different factions in the organization, one backed by Qatar, the other by Saudi Arabia, with Jarba’s election representing a Saudi victory. Jarba’s ascendency is also a defeat for the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, which has dominated the exile opposition for years. The biggest reversals, however, came inside Syria, where areas once solidly under rebel control have begun to slip away. That has cut into the opposition’s ability to provide aid to hungry, besieged communities – a key part of a strategy to prove it could govern Syria, should Assad fall. “The desperation is spreading. It’s becoming an issue in all the areas in which we operate,” said an official with the Assistance Coordination Unit, the Turkey-based opposition office that’s a clearinghouse for foreign aid.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivities surrounding foreign aid, said plans are under way for the United States to release $500,000 immediately to help with emergency food baskets, mainly destined for Homs. The unit estimates that 1.6 million food baskets are needed each month throughout Syria; just 150,000 or so are currently being provided, the official said. But the unit is having growing difficulties in delivering the food baskets. In one rebel-controlled area in the countryside outside Aleppo, the official said, hungry residents have created a “blockade” to prevent the aid from reaching regime-held districts, arguing that opposition supporters should be the priority when it comes to food. At another site in Aleppo, the official said, hard-line Islamist fighters seized the food at a warehouse before it could be distributed. “They seized it and arrested all the members of the local council,” the official said.

Meanwhile, increased military assistance that the Obama administration promised in mid-June after it determined that the Assad government had used chemical weapons has stalled because Congress is divided over whether and how to arm the rebels. That program was to be handled by the CIA, but Congress’ intelligence committees have yet to approve the program. On Friday, members’ offices declined to discuss the program.

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