The links US have with ISIS

The relationship between the U.S. and ISIS is a question posed by many. I will try to formulate as many links with evidence supporting my claims to help the reader in making his/her links as well as giving the reader an array of material to reference.

The Redirection - Seymour Hersh
In 2007 two-time Pulitzer Prize  winning journalist Seymour Hersh wrote in an article the new policy devised by America that "the U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda."

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/05/the-redirection?currentPage=all

Camp Bucca - Baghdadi's launchpad
Baghdadi had served time in U.S. Prison Camp Bucca in Iraq before being released to then form ISIS. Abu Ahmed who also served time with Baghdadi in the same prison was interviewed regarding the ISIS leadership and formulation, giving a chilling description of how easy it was to form a group such as ISIS. He said “We could never have all got together like this in Baghdad, or anywhere else,”  “It would have been impossibly dangerous. Here, we were not only safe, but we were only a few hundred metres away from the entire al-Qaida leadership.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/11/-sp-isis-the-inside-story

Arming the defectors
A trend had started becoming apparent in 2013 whereby all the ammunition and support the U.S. were giving so called moderate rebel factions, seemed to fall right into the lap of ISIS. Former Congressman Ron Paul denounced in an interview with Russia Today the plans to support western-backed forces have been helpful to ISIS. He said "The Free Syrian Army turned over the weapons that we (US) sent them to ISIS."

As well as that, a London based small-arms research organisation Conflict Armament Research revealed ISIS jihadists appear to be using US military-issued arms and weapons supplied to rebels via Saudi Arabia

America's allies are funding ISIS
The Daily Beast reported that "The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), now threatening Baghdad, was funded for years by wealthy donors in Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia"

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/14/america-s-allies-are-funding-isis.html

Yousuf al Salafi allegedly the Pakistan commander of ISIS had confessed during investigations that he has been receiving funds through the U.S. The article goes on to explain how in today's reality no funding of such large amounts go undetected by America now that the world trade in petrodollars for oil and gas.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/828761/startling-revelations-is-operative-confesses-to-getting-funds-via-us/

http://www.blacklistednews.com/ISIS_Mercenary_Admits_Getting_Funds_from_US/41364/0/38/38/Y/M.html

U.S. approved Jihadists - Abdulhakim Belhadj
Who is Abdelhakim Belhadj?

Having been a member of the "Libyan Islamic Fighting Group" or LIFG for decades, he would literally travel to Afghanistan where he would fight American soldiers in the wake of 9/11. He was even captured and enrolled in the United States' infamous "rendition program." Upon release from prison in Libya, he would promptly organize and lead armed rebellion against the government Muammar Qaddafi, with extensive NATO arms, cash, and even air cover.

A 2007 West Point Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) report examining the demographics of foreign fighters caught in Iraq fighting then occupying US troops would reveal that the NATO-backed rebels in Libya led by Belhaj were in fact fighters drawn from the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) listed by both the US State Department and UK Home Office as a foreign terrorist organization.

In essence then, the United States and its NATO partners knowingly and willfully handed the nation of Libya and its people over to Al Qaeda. Despite Belhaj's documented terrorist past and present, US politicians would meet with him, showering upon him accolades, praise, and continued political and military support. Among these politicians were US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham who met and literally shook Belhaj's hand while standing upon the ruins of Libya.

This same man is now seen leading the Libyan faction for ISIS the Washington Times reported


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/mar/3/frank-gaffney-jr-us-backed-rebel-reportedly-leads-/

How the Jordanian revenge beheading only unites ISIS with Al Qaeda and al-Nusra for the West's proxy war on Syria and MidEast

http://carnegie-mec.org/2015/02/04/wider-implications-for-jordan-s-revenge-against-islamic-state/i15c?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRomrfCcI63Em2iQPJWpsrB0B%2FDC18kX3RUtJL%2Bbfkz6htBZF5s8TM3DUVtFXqBR9kEAS7M%3D

Neither of the jihadists executed by Jordan are connected with ISIS in its current incarnation, but with al Qaeda. For example, one of them is Ziad Karbuli, an Iraqi national linked with the late al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and who had been detained in Jordan on death row since 2006. Through their execution, therefore, Jordan has inadvertently strengthened the link between ISIS and al Qaeda.

This is significant because the two groups have been engaged in a battle over resources and legitimacy since the start of the Syrian conflict. ISIS has been trying to present itself as the "true" al Qaeda, causing the latter to increase its military activities worldwide as well as within Syria to affirm its influence. Despite initial condemnation of the brutality of ISIS, al Qaeda's Syrian offshoot Jabhat al-Nusra has recently begun engaging in similar activities itself, such as beheadings and other forms of public violence.

One reason behind this is that al-Nusra has felt upstaged by the Islamic State and has escalated its violent acts in order to assert its presence in the face of its rival. But another reason is that the actions of the international coalition set up to fight ISIS have pushed the two groups together.

The coalition airstrikes in Syria have targeted both ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, thereby presenting the groups with a common enemy. The Syrian regime's attacks on ISIS following the organization's advance in Iraq in June 2014 also shifted the position of ISIS away from the regime, aligning the organization with Jabhat al-Nusra, which still regards fighting the Assad regime as its primary objective. In the Qalamoun area bordering Syria and Lebanon, ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra have begun cooperating against the Syrian regime and Hezbollah.

The coalition's mediocre support for the moderate Syrian opposition in southern areas of Syria not only contributed to the Free Syrian Army's vulnerability to attack by al-Nusra brigades but also pushed some members of the two entities to maintain a working relationship based on material necessity and backed by sharing the mutual goal of fighting the Assad regime.

Today, several towns along Syria's south-western border witness al-Nusra presence. In the north, a number of towns have shifted their alliance from al-Nusra to ISIS due to a number of reasons, from fear to coercion to seeking material gains.

Now that ISIS and al-Nusra have been pushed towards one another even more as a result of the Jordanian executions, a similar shift of allegiance is likely in southern Syrian towns as well. If that were to happen, Jordan, which has borders with southern Syria, would find itself with ISIS on its doorstep overnight.

This bears bad news for the coalition. The south is where the Free Syrian Army retains more control than anywhere else in Syria, and where the coalition is planning on empowering the moderate opposition through training and weapons provision. Being confronted with ISIS in the area derails this plan.

The presence of ISIS in the south would also push Jordan to escalate the level of its engagement in the Syrian conflict. It will be forced to change from a supporter of its patrons, the United States and Saudi Arabia, in their fights against ISIS and into a participant in frontline warfare with the organization. This will in turn trigger further entrenchment by not just those two countries but also other members of the coalition in the war as they scramble to aid their Jordanian ally in its fight against ISIS.

Such a development would heighten the reactive nature of the coalition's strategy towards ISIS.