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US duplicitous in fighting terrorists in Syria: Commentator

Saturday, 12 December 2015 3:45 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 12 December 2015 3:45 PM ]

The file photo shows foreign-backed militants in an unknown location in Syria.

Press TV has interviewed Joe Iosbaker, a political commentator in Chicago, to discuss the difference among global powers on the lists of the Syrian opposition and terrorist groups.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: It seems that we can’t agree on who is a terrorist and who is really opposition. Why is it so difficult?

Iosbaker: Well it is because the decision about who is a terrorist is being made by a group of forces, a group of countries that include countries that are backing terrorists - most notably the United States is backing terrorists.

Let’s just review. What are the forces fighting the Syrian Arab army? The largest forces are ISIS (Daesh) and al-Qaeda. Well the al-Nusra front, the al-Qaeda affiliate, and all of the [other] armies are working together with al-Qaeda and ISIS. What is the US role? The US is either funding them directly or covertly or as in the case of ISIS they have targeted them but at the same time they allow Turkey to aid them and the US’s main ally in the region, Saudi Arabia, just organized the conference with many of the same groups that cooperate with al-Qaeda and ISIS.

So now the rest of the world is supporting the Vienna talks and John Kerry claims to be committed to the negotiations in Vienna and of course those talks are leading to the conclusion that the Assad government and the opposition have to agree on a ceasefire and the Vienna talks also clearly said the potential ceasefire would not involve al-Nusra or ISIS. But the Saudis just held the conference with a hundred armed Syrian groups that is based on a military defeat of Bashar al-Assad’s government and Ahrar al-Sham, one of the largest armies that works closely with al-Nusra front was prominent in that Riyadh meeting.

So it is really quite contradictory. The White House claims it wants to defeat ISIS at all costs and by participating in the Vienna talks it would appear that they have accepted the logic of the rest of the world but I think they are duplicitous. I think the US’s main goal still remains the elimination of any government in Damascus that is independent - independent of Washington, independent of Tel Aviv and independent of their ultimate master Wall Street.

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