Canceling Timber Sycamore: Trump Ends Obama’s Shadow Mercenary Arming Program in Syria: U.S. Bombs Its Own Deep State Arms Factories For War Profiteers

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Reporter Paul Malone wrote that weapons delivered by Timber Sycamore might be acquired by al-Qaeda in Syria, comparing the program to CIA support for the Afghan mujahideen, or American weaponry being seized by ISIL in 2014 in Mosul, Iraq. [16] That was an unfortunate and inadvertent consequence of the program, rather than its aim. Indeed, far from intending the program to be used to train or arm IS fighters, the Obama administration actually set up a separate initiative, with Congressional approval, specifically to train and equip Syrian rebels to fight against IS. The program was not a success and was shut down in 2015. Conclusion

This divergence wasn't a mere hiccup; it exposed a systemic flaw—namely, the absence of a unified, coherent American policy toward Syria. Within the labyrinthine corridors of the U.S. intelligence community, such glaring misalignments are more than logistical nuisances; they go to the very heart of the operation's effectiveness. They also risk undermining the broader strategic aims, creating a cascade of inefficiencies that can morph into outright failures. To avert such a scenario, the United States needs to keep working closely with the Syrian Democratic Forces, alongside local tribes, on reconciliation programs. The Syrian Democratic Forces also remain an important partner in US counterterrorism efforts beyond the autonomous administration. They provided crucial intelligence in the hunt for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and al-Qurayshi. “The SDF is essential,” senior administration officials said after the al-Qurayshi raid. “We cannot do any of this without them.... [They are] critical, vital enablers for operations like this.” Mazzetti, Mark; Apuzzo, Matt (23 January 2016). "U.S. Relies Heavily on Saudi Money to Support Syrian Rebels". The New York Times . https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/world/middleeast/us-relies-heavily-on-saudi-money-to-support-syrian-rebels.html?_r=0 . Retrieved 20 September 2016. CIA director David Petraeus first proposed a covert program of arming and training rebels in the summer of 2012. Initially President Obama rejected the proposal, but later agreed, partially due to lobbying by foreign leaders, including from King Abdullah II of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. [10] We will explore the program's initial motivations, the geopolitical pressures that birthed it, and the discord between its lofty ambitions and the harsh realities on the ground. Beyond that, this analysis will lay bare the long-term repercussions of such a deeply flawed initiative, aiming to provide actionable insights that may prevent similar calamities in future covert operations.

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Billions of dollars’ worth of arms against Syria”, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation Pete Kimberley, Voltaire Network, 18 July 2017. How the Pakistani Disinformation Campaign was launched against India at the height of India-Pak conflict. https://t.co/5uh53bumLY

Nobody believes in it. You’re like, ‘F–k this.’ Everyone on the ground knows they are jihadis. No one on the ground believes in this mission or this effort, and they know they are just training the next generation of jihadis, so they are sabotaging it by saying, ‘F–k it, who cares?’Blum, William. Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 1995. ISBN 1-56751-052-3 Our discussion of the international complications of intervention in Syria raises an important question: Why hasn’t the Obama administration simply stayed out? After all, doing so would all but eliminate the danger of provoking a wider war and ensure that America’s words and deeds – at least in this case — remained consistent.

The Balkan Investigative Network and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project have revealed the involvement of several European countries and Persian monarchies in weapons sales to radical extremists, that have been going on since 2012. According to the data presented, a total of 1,2 billion euros has already been to make the so-called Arab spring a continuous armed conflict. Since then, thousands of units of small arms and ammunition have been smuggled from the Balkans to the Persian Gulf. In a remarkably candid 2014 speech at Harvard, then Vice President Joe Biden admitted and emphasized Jordan’s role among “our allies” in funding and supporting the rise of ISIS. From the perspective that I provide above, how does Syria (and, indeed, the U.S./the West) look now? Put simply, it is a safe bet that our government will oppose by all means the opening of parliamentary and judicial investigations around the clandestine actions of the French state in Syria. But we are looking here at a case obviously much graver than the botched DGSE operation against the Rainbow Warrior, during François Mitterrand’s first term. However, the [Washington Times] article glosses over the complaints that Green Berets have made about the Timber Sycamore program in which “moderate” rebels actually turn out to be Jihadists. The Special Forces men complain and drag their feet, refusing to train the next generation of terrorists, but their words fall on deaf ears at the CIA. The brass as Special Forces also seems uninterested in challenging the CIA, and the only mission that is keeping their unit relevant at the moment.In April 2013, having expanded into Syria, the group adopted the name ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fī 'l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām. As al-Shām is a region often compared with the Levant or Greater Syria, the group's name has been variously translated as "Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham", "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (both abbreviated as ISIS), or "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (abbreviated as ISIL). But not all US policies in Syria had negative repercussions. The US partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces represents a highly promising example of how the United States can contribute to peacebuilding and grassroots democratization in the Middle East. Doing so will not require large US troop deployments or a commitment to nation building; it will require only that the United States continue to support the achievements of its local allies. A second risk driving the Obama administration to act covertly in Syria turns on concerns about preserving America’s reputation as a superpower that respects and adheres to international norms and principles. Poznansky refers to this as a “ reputation for rule-following.” The very nature of what the United States is trying to achieve in Syria — regime change — renders such concerns particularly salient. The reason is that intervening to overthrow a sovereign government has, at least since 1945, directly conflicted with the non-intervention principle codified in the founding charter of the United Nations and a host of other regional international organizations. The United States was the lead author of these rules and remains a vociferous cheerleader for them. A related U.S. military program to arm, train, and support the SDF fighting ISIL with airstrikes will continue. [7] Commentary [ ] Press [ ] Over the weekend, on a visit to Turkey, a NATO member, to meet with Syrian opposition leaders and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explicitly declared that Washington’s policy toward Syria is now in what she called the “operational” phase. “We have been closely coordinating over the course of this conflict, but now we need to get into the real details of such operational planning,” she said, adding: “Our intelligence services, our military have very important responsibilities and roles to play, so we are going to be setting up a working group to do exactly that.”