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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Seymour Hersh's bizarre new conspiracy theory about the US and Syria
2015-12-23
[VOX] In a lengthy London Review of Books piece, Hersh says that the top leaders of the Pentagon deliberately subverted American policy toward Syria, sabotaging US efforts to aid Syrian rebels and even sending US intelligence to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. From fall 2013 to September 2015, he says, US military leaders effectively conducted a secret alliance with Assad and with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they saw as their best allies in fighting ISIS.

It is a fantastic and stunning claim. And Hersh, rather than condemning this all as what would appear to be the highest act of treason in modern American history, rather seems to portray it as necessary and appropriate. But, much as with Hersh's now-notorious bin Laden story, it is backed up with no evidence beyond the word of one anonymous "former senior adviser" to the Joint Chiefs.

What follows is a simple guide to Hersh's theory: what he says happened, what the article states, and how it squares with what we know.
Posted by:Besoeker

#10  So does this mean the US = Obama Admin includ US SecState Jaawhn Kerry will soon be BFF wid the Afghan or AFPAK Taliban???

The US surrendered like France to Putin + Russia over letting Baby Assad stay in power until further notice in Syria, SO WHY NOT DITTO ALA THE ANTI-ISIS/ISIL TALIBUNNIES???

* BIGNEWSNETWORK > [RFE] RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT: MOSCOW'S INTERESTS COINCIDE WID TALIBAN IN [Afghanistan] FIGHT AGZ ISLAMIC STATE.

Zamir Kabulov, Russian SpecEn To Afghanistan.

* RELATED WORLD NEWS > RUSSIA FORMS [Limited?] PARTNERSHIP WID TALIBAN TO HELP FIGHT, CONTAIN, AND DEFEAT ISLAMIC STATE MILITANTS, in Afghanistan,
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2015-12-23 22:31  

#9  Of course the anointed one did not fail, the chairman of the joint chiefs betrayed everyone.
Posted by: 49 Pan   2015-12-23 15:16  

#8  Pappy, good link. Thank you. This talk of treason is smoke and misdirection. The alternative to pencilneck is ISIL. Choice of the lesser of the two evils is obvious. 0bama is clearly way out of depth. Where is Congress?
Posted by: Sven the pelter   2015-12-23 13:49  

#7  Hersh bizarre and conspiracy theory have always had the same address. I fail to understand why anybody ever reports anything that braindead fool spouts about anything.
Posted by: 3dc   2015-12-23 12:23  

#6  Hersh, regardless of his "anonymous source", weaves a cogent narrative. On more then one occasion Assad has cryptically spoke of receiving US intel. It also may not be a huge leap to speculate that the Pentagon's IG probe into DIA "disorted ISIS claims" is a shot across the bow. My assumption here is the author of this article is on the Obama propaganda speed dial.
Posted by: DepotGuy   2015-12-23 11:50  

#5  From the article linked by Pappy:

The four core elements of Obama’s Syria policy remain intact today: an insistence that Assad must go; that no anti-IS coalition with Russia is possible; that Turkey is a steadfast ally in the war against terrorism; and that there really are significant moderate opposition forces for the US to support.


Any intelligent person who has been following the situation understands that each of the four core elements of Obama's policy are as stated by Hersh, and that each is not realistic.

We can insist Assad must go, but if he doesn't, what then? We have no backup plan.

Refusing to work with Russia against IS means that we fight with one arm tied behind us. There are indeed certain parts of our foreign policy that align with Russia's; this is one of them.

Erdogan is duplicitous and is focused on building a Greater Turkey. That is not necessarily in our interests, just as it certainly isn't in Russia's interests.

Finally, Hersh is correct: there are no 'moderates' in the region other than the Kurds; the Kurds are behaving reasonably only because they can't get away with behaving the way they'd like to behave. We spent a lot of money and time trying to build up 'moderate' forces that are simply not viable. The Russians see that and wonder why we can't admit a mistake.

Gads, I'm in at least partial agreement with Seymour Hersh.
Posted by: Steve White   2015-12-23 09:47  

#4  Once more you see a "journalist" pushing the lie that Abu Ghraib was some sort of exposè. The Army announced the charges at the daily briefing, months before the press showed any interest, and the photos were fed to the press by lawyers for the accused, along with the lie that they were following an example or policy.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2015-12-23 09:40  

#3  Has anyone actually read Hersh's article, besides me?
Posted by: Pappy   2015-12-23 08:46  

#2  I welcome the idea that some people in USA are smart enough to know that Obama must be fought by any means necessary. I don't believe it, but I welcome it.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2015-12-23 03:10  

#1  Very believable if you delete the DoD subversion piece and replace it with a regime PR 'offset' and plausible deniability. Kerry indicated out of the blue last week that 'Assad's removal or regime change [paraphrasing here] was NOT an administration goal.'

The Obama regime will go to great lengths in order to avoid admitting mistakes or errors in judgement or strategy. Pinning the rose on DoD thru a Hersh conspiracy theory with a bit of truth, a bit of bullshi* is a convenient segue to deniability.
Posted by: Besoeker   2015-12-23 00:28  

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