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US should ask allies like Saudi Arabia to stop funding ISIL: activist

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel shakes hands with then Saudi Crown Prince Salman before a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2014.

The United States should press its allies like Saudi Arabia to stop funding the ISIL Takfiri terrorists, says an Iraq War veteran.

Seth Manzel, who joined the anti-war group Iraq Veterans Against the War in 2005 after returning to the US, made the comments in an interview with Press TV on Saturday when asked about recent remarks by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on the potential need for deploying troops to Iraq.

Hagel said on Friday that the Pentagon may have to send non-combat troops on the ground in Iraq for missions like intelligence gathering and spotting ISIL terrorists.

“I don’t know if committing a bunch of troops is the right answer. I would like very much for America to work to build a coalition in that area to stop ISIS,” Manzel said, using another acronym for the terrorist organization.

“Ideally we would go to places like Saudi Arabia and ask them to stop funding ISIS. It’s a lot of money coming from Saudi Arabia, Qatar [and] places like that, these are our allies and it’s not unreasonable for us to ask them to stop giving money to this really horrible organization,” he stated.

“I think there’s probably better things that could be done rather than deploying troops,” Manzel noted. 

He went on to say that the US created ISIL when it started interfering in Iraq and Syria’s internal affairs.

The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, are engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.

They have been carrying out horrific acts of violence such as public decapitations and crucifixions against all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians.

AT/HRJ

Related stories:

US warns Turkey over ISIL flow to EU Jan 31, 2015

'US using ISIL to spread Islamophobia' Jan 30, 2015

'We're not against ISIL, we are ISIL' Jan 18, 2015

 


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