Anti-Imperialism/Foreign Policy

US Military Leadership Resisted Obama’s Bid for Regime Change in Syria, Libya

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The Obama administration is merely the third and fourth terms of the Bush administration.

By Gareth Porter

Antiwar.Com

Seymour Hersh’s recent revelations about an effort by the US military leadership in 2013 to bolster the Syrian army against jihadist forces in Syria shed important new light on the internal bureaucratic politics surrounding regime change in US Middle East policy. Hersh’s account makes it clear that the Obama administration’s policy of regime change in both Libya and Syria provoked pushback from the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

That account and another report on a similar episode in 2011 suggest that the US military has a range of means by which it can oppose administration policies that it regards as unacceptable. But it also shows that the military leadership failed to alter the course of US policy, and raises the question whether it was willing to use all the means available to stop the funneling of arms to al-Nusra Front and other extremist groups in Syria.

Hersh details a JCS initiative in the summer of 2013 to share intelligence on Islamic State and al-Qaeda organizations with other German, Russian and Israeli militaries, in the belief that the information would find its way to the Syrian army. Hersh reports that the military leadership did not inform the White House and the State Department about the “military to military” intelligence sharing on the jihadist forces in Syria, reflecting the hardball bureaucratic politics practiced within the national security institutions.

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Categories: Anti-Imperialism/Foreign Policy, Uncategorized

9 replies »

  1. What unbelievable shadiness. To think Hillary Clinton will, in all probability, be our next president just sucks, to put it childishly. 4 more years of crazy PC, ultra-militarism, ruling class-influenced inanity. Bernie Sanders may be leading in the polls, but he’s too honest. He’s not psychopathic enough. See a major media smear campaign emerge against him, so that psychopath Hilary can continue the insane bidding of the ruling class. I wonder who she’ll overthrow when she comes to power. I mean who’s left. Iran. Maybe another cold war with both Russia and China, all while our corporations are sill in China running sweatshops. Let the insanity continue unabated

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  2. On the plus side, it’s good to see there are people in positions of power with conscious who seemingly want to do what’s in the interest of the American public.

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  3. I’ve got to post it on here. Did anyone see the youtube video of Obama fake crying over school shootings. It was the most pathetic thing I’ve seen from him. Killing millions all over the world, ruining the lives of millions more, and we’re to believe he’s literally crying over Columbine which happened 16 years ago, and other school shootings.

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  4. Let the gun grab begin. When Obama sinks to these depths of pathetic, you know the ruling class is very serious about getting your guns.

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    • Wow, I just watched 2 hours of that 3.5 hour vid. Pretty deep insight, although I get turned off when they use the term illuminati, overall most of it seemed pretty reliable. It gave a lot of names, dates, and sources you could check yourself, which is important. If that videos even half accurate we’re all screwed.

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  7. Here is the problem: as long as we have a Democrat in the White House the anti-war activist will not protest. We need these protesters. so if for only this season vote Republican. Rand Paul is the only candidate from either side who champions the Constitution and can garner the support of Democrats, Republicans and independents. 2016 vote for Paul. We also need to push the reset button so vote out all incumbents in Congress and keep voting them out until they restore our rights and voice. No stronger message could be sent of our dissatisfaction.

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