London's Road to WW III: > Obama Allies with al-Qaeda

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> This article appears in the February 17, 2012 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. Mike Billington
> London's Road to WW III:
> Obama Allies with al-Qaeda
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> by an EIR Investigative Team
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> [PDF version of this article]
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> Feb. 13—With Syria's President Bashar al-Assad now the leading target in the British Empire's drive for a thermonuclear confrontation with Russia and China, it would appear that the Empire is throwing all caution to the winds. For not only are the British, the Obama Administration, and most of the West ignoring the blatant military offensive against the Assad government by foreign fighters, in order to build the case for a confrontation with Syria, but Obama is now openly making common cause with none other than the villains of 9/11, al-Qaeda, in the drive to turn Syria into a trigger for a broader war.
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> Such brazenness underlines the assessment by Lyndon LaRouche, that the British stringpullers—of Obama and many of the regional players—are increasingly desperate to get their war, before their bankrupt financial system totally implodes.
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> The Russian government, the Chinese, and leading military-intelligence officials of the Obama and Israeli administrations continue to stand firm against the threatened military adventure against Syria, as well as against Iran, warning that any such moves would lead to unpredictable consequences, even nuclear war. But Obama's insanity, manipulated by his British controllers, puts the whole world on a hairtrigger, until this lunatic's long-overdue removal from office can be achieved by constitutional means.
> LaRouche Charges 'Homicidal Hypocrisy'
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> Following revelations that al-Qaeda has fully endorsed and joined the Western-led coalition to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power. LaRouche today sharply denounced President Obama's "homicidal hypocrisy."
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> "At every public opportunity, Obama touts himself as the President who killed Osama bin Laden. But now we have concrete evidence that al-Qaeda members have been infiltrated into Syria from Iraq to carry out atrocities, targeting the civilian population as well as government officials. This is the height of homicidal hypocrisy—just what we have come to expect from our Nero-like narcissist President."
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> On Feb. 10, the McClatchy News Service published a report by Washington, D.C. correspondent Jonathan Landay, confirming from U.S. intelligence officials that al-Qaeda was responsible for a string of suicide bombings in Damascus and Aleppo, which killed hundreds of civilians and wounded many more.
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> The Landay report began: "The Iraqi branch of al Qaida, seeking to exploit the bloody turmoil in Syria to reassert its potency, carried out two recent bombings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and likely was behind suicide bombings Friday that killed at least 28 people in the largest city, Aleppo, U.S. officials told McClatchy. The officials cited U.S. intelligence reports on the incidents, which appear to verify Syrian President Bashar Assad's charges of al Qaida involvement in the 11 month uprising against his rule."
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> The very day of the two suicide bombings in Aleppo, likely perpetrated by al-Qaeda, President Obama repeated his denunciation of President Assad, calling for his removal from power and accusing him of "outrageous bloodshed."
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> In effect, al-Qaeda has been once again integrated into U.S. and NATO covert operations. It was during the first Afghanistan War (1979-90) that al-Qaeda was created, as part of the U.S., British, and Saudi Arabian "mujahideen" operations to drive the Soviet Army out of the country. More recently, al-Qaeda allies from the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group were an integral part of the U.S.- and NATO-led coalition that ousted Muammar Qaddafi from power and then executed him, while in custody.
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> Two days after the publication of the Landay exposé of al-Qaeda's role in the violent campaign to overthrow Assad, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the co-founder and nominal head of al-Qaeda, issued an eight-minute video, calling for a Jihad against the Assad government, thus further confirming the U.S. intelligence estimates of the group's on-the-ground operations in Syria.
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> LaRouche demanded:
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> "What the hell does Obama think he is doing, aligning with these al-Qaeda murderers—and so openly? Hasn't he been briefed on 9/11?"
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> Escalation on the Ground
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> Since the Russian and Chinese vetoes of the recent UN resolution calling for regime change in Syria, the military clashes there have greatly intensified. According to the standard line from the pro-London warmongers, the escalation originates with Syrian government attacks against "innocent civilians." In reality, the evidence points to an accelerated campaign by armed gangs, buttressed by foreign fighters and Special Operations forces from such nations as Britain and Qatar.
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> Numerous reports in the international press point to this reality.
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> On Feb. 10, the Italian daily Corriere della Sera prominently covered the British-controlled "Libyan Legion" deployed in Syria against Assad. The leader of the legion is al-Qaeda member Mahdi al-Harati, who had led the Tripoli Brigade together with Abdelhakim Belhaj. Al-Harati has bases in Dublin and in Qatar. His people (estimates range from 200 to 600) have been in Syria since December. They have night-vision binoculars, satellite connections, and kalashnikovs, Corriere terrorism expert Guido Olimpio writes. According to "Arab sources," they are supported by Qatari, Saudi, and British Special Forces. They are supplied through cargoes from Iskenderun, Turkey.
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> On Feb. 9, Al-Arabiya, a U.K.-based news daily, reported that British and Qatari troops are inside Syria. David Gray of Reuters, citing an Israeli news source, presumably Debkafile, said British and Qatari troops are directing rebel ammunition deliveries and tactics in the bloody battle for Homs. Four centers of operation have been established in the city, with the troops on the ground paving the way for an undercover Turkish military incursion.
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> Gray said the Syrian situation closely resembles Libya's collapse into anarchy. UN Security Council Resolution 1973 forbade any ground troops from intervening in Libya, while creating a pretext for NATO to launch a bombing campaign against Qaddafi's troops. In fact, some of the al-Qaeda fighters who overthrew Qaddafi are now helping the Syrian rebels, Gray noted. The Libya example was cited by Russia and China when they vetoed the draft UN Security Council resolution on Syria Feb. 4.
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> Prof. Ibrahim Alloush, from Zaytouneh University in Jordan, told the media that weaponry is being smuggled into Syria in large quantities from all over the place. It is clear that the rebels have been receiving arms from abroad, and Syrian television has been showing almost daily shipments of arms being smuggled into Syria via Lebanon, Turkey, and other border crossings, Alloush said. Since the rebels are being supported by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and by NATO, it is safe to assume that they are getting their financing and weaponry from the same sources that are offering them political cover and financial backing, he explained.
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> Russia Today TV has broadcast photos of sophisticated armed equipment wielded by the opposition, specifically in Homs.
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> Meanwhile, the scandalous suppression continues of the evidence of murderous actions by the Syrian opposition, contained in the official Arab League Monitors' report.
> Russia Demands Caution, Investigation
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> On Feb. 9, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said his government was concerned about reports such as those from the Israeli web portal Debkafile. Lukashevich added that the information is yet to be confirmed, according to the Feb. 9 The Voice of Russia (english.ruvr.ru), which further reports that "Vladimir Isayev of the Institute for Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, says that if confirmed, Debkafile's report could mean that Syria's sovereignty has been violated."
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> The Russian government has also attempted to pursue negotiations in order to prevent the military action which the British, Obama, and UN actions have been implicitly demanding, with their insistence on regime change. In his Feb. 13 press conference, before a UN debate on Syria on an Arab League resolution calling for a UN-Arab League "peacekeeping" mission to Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pointed to one major sticking point: The armed opposition will not agree to a ceasefire. Russia is keenly aware of this problem, since it has attempted to broker talks between the opposition and the Assad government for months, only to meet with opposition refusal.
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> To those familiar with the London sponsorship of the opposition, as in the intimate relationship between the Henry Jackson Society and the Syrian National Council, such a stance by the opposition should be no surprise. The drive to topple Assad has been part of the Empire's plan for the Middle East cockpit since the "Clean Break" plan of the 1990s, and now forms a central element of London's intent to trigger thermonuclear confrontation with Russia and China. Any "compromise," therefore, will only accelerate the aggression.
> War Push Is Fully On
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> London's war push is not confined to the Syrian front. The Iranian agreement to reenter the UN Permanent 5+1 talks on Iran's nuclear program has created problems for the warmongers, who hope to stimulate some kind of provocation from the Iranian side, which would justify an Israeli or U.S. attack.
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> From the Western side, the provocations are currently focussed on covert operations, such as assassinations and bombings within Iran (see accompanying article), and on genocidal sanctions aimed at preventing Iran from carrying out trade in oil, doing business abroad, and even feeding its people. The cutoff of credit has left the Iranian Republic unable to import needed grain, and there are now at least 11 ships loaded with grain sitting off the coast of that country. A de facto medieval siege is in process—with the same intended result.
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> Resistance to all-out war against Iran and Syria remains strong within the U.S. military, and high-level Israeli circles as well. But with even sane members of the U.S. Congress in a total capitulation mode vis-à-vis President Obama, and the Nero-like Obama fully wrapped in the coils of the British Empire, their opposition is dangerously uncertain of success. What's needed is a level of popular mobilization as never before. As Helga Zepp-LaRouche said in an international webcast on Feb. 11:
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> "I appeal to you, at least those who agree with me, to join the mobilization to do everything in your capability, to stop this danger of civilizational collapse."