Monday, August 11, 2014

Who funds ISIS? Where do they get their weapons?



I have read that the U.S. may have trained some of the militants who have joined ISIS.  It is a known fact we have sent lethal aid - that is, weapons to the so-called 'moderate' rebels in the fight against Assad of Syria.  Has ISIS grabbed any?  Does anyone really know?

I'm wondering who funds ISIS now?  Do friends of the United States support the 'rebels' - the terrorists?  I think we can figure out that answer.
“There’s a number of sources,” says David Axe, a freelance war reporter who knows a lot about weaponry. “ISIS, like all Syrian opposition groups,” he says, “enjoys a strong level of support from Turkey, from Qatar, from Saudi Arabia." 
The reason, says Axe, has to do with common interests. "What ISIS wants, to some extent, overlaps with what certain powerful people in some of these Gulf states want, which is, for lack of a better word, a 'Sunni-stan' — a homogeneous Sunni Muslim state in what is now Syria and Iraq.” Turkey, he adds, wants to see Syria's president out of power. - Source
Isn't that odd?   The United States wants to see Syria's president out of power as well.  As I pointed out - we have supported the Syrian rebels.  Were all of these rebels properly vetted?  Does our CIA really know who they are training or what happens to their allegiance after training?  How many of the 'favored' rebels went over to ISIS?  Whose weapons are they using?

Politicians and pundits can fight over the details, but the historians will have to be the ones to sort it all out.  What we know is that we wouldn't be in this situation if we had not gone after Saddam Hussein.  The second Iraq war was based upon lies - for one, we believed Iraq had WMD's.  I also believe President Bush was determined to avenge his dad, to finish the first war - which would also placate the Saudi Royal family.  We are beholden to the Saudis - who sat around enjoying themselves during the first Gulf war.  Likewise, Europe is beholden to Putin's Russia.  Our standard of living is dependent upon these entities for energy.  Of course I'm over simplifying all of this, but I'm doing so to explain why we have blood on our hands.  Why we too are responsible for the carnage throughout the Middle East.

"The world economic system inevitably promotes military conflict as a way to enrich the most powerful nations." - Pope Francis

Arms trade.  Oil.  Natural Gas.  World domination.  Religious fanaticism.  Whatever works, right?

Evidently German Bishops are asking for a prohibition of arms exports.  I hope the weapons brokers and nations listen.

Let us pray together the God of peace, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary: Grant us peace, O Lord, in our days, and render us artificers justice and peace. - Pope Francis

4 comments:

  1. We (the U.S.) are partly responsible for ISIS (training, arms), just like we were (even more) responsible for the Taliban. Then we sit back and wonder "why" and "how."

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  2. We armed and funded al Qaeda too, when Bin Laden was a freedom fighter routing the Soviets from Afghanistan. And when Saddam Hussein gassed the Iranians, Donald Rumsfeld slapped him on the back and gave him an "atta boy". Follow the $ in the Middle East. We had no business in that part of the world and now that we broke Iraq we own it and bear responsibility for the carnage. There really are no good guys over there, the Israeli government included. Just varying degrees of evil.

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  3. The chance of rain today on Martha's Vineyard is 0%.

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