international criminal court office of the prosecutor ...€¦ · the crime of aggression (rome...

International Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor

Communications Post Office Box 19519 2500 CM The Hague

The Netherlands.

A Criminal Complaint Communication to the Office of the Prosecutor

Respectfully submitted by James C. Ryan, Ph.D. Istanbul, Turkey 6 October 2014

___________________________________________________________________

Criminal Carnage in Syria by the Criminal Cabal for Perpetual War ___________________________________________________________________

Only the dead have seen the end of war. —George Santayana

For as long as Winston can recall, Oceania has been in a constant state of war – with whom it was at war is of neither importance nor consequence.

—George Orwell, 1984

Criminal Carnage in Syria by the Criminal Cabal for Perpetual War

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_________________________________________________________________________

Criminal Carnage in Syria by the Criminal Cabal for Perpetual War _________________________________________________________________________

INDEX 1. SUMMARY......................................................................................... 3 2. INTRODUCTION

A. Misbegotten in a Crime.......................................................... 5 B. The Benghazi Rat Line…………………………………………. 6 C. Arms and the Men and Some Countries……………………… 7 D. Intelligence Sharing…………………………………………….. 10 E. The Premise for Legal Action………………………………….. 10 F. The Criminal Cabal……………………………………………… 11 G. The Accused…………………………………………………….. 12

3. LEGAL SUBMISSIONS A. Introduction............................................................................. 13

1. Summary of Submissions 2. Summary of Steps Sought from Office of the Prosecutor

B. Jurisdiction……………………………………………………….. 15 1. On Grounds of Territoriality 2. On Grounds of Nationality

C. Admissibility……………………………………………………… 18 1. On Grounds of Gravity, 2. On Grounds of Complementarity 3. On Grounds of Interests of Justice

D. Crimes within the Jurisdiction of the Court…………………... 19 E. Summary of Charges…………………………………………… 23 G. Conclusion............................................................................ 33 H. The Complainant……………………………………………….. 34

APPENDICES 1. Preamble: Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court………. 36 2. Foreign Fighters in Syria………………………………………………... 37 3. Media Evidentiary Extracts (chronological)…………………………… 39


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1. SUMMARY

Since January 2011 the Syrian Arab Republic, a sovereign state with 18 million people, has been under attack. Hundreds of thousands have died; three million have fled the country; half the nation’s population has been displaced. The West, in particular the United States, seeks, as seems usual, “regime change” and has enlisted the financial support of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to get it. Turkey is the key implementer providing a staging area primarily in the southern province of Hatay on the Syrian border. It also serves as a logistics base affording housing, hospital support, training and a supply line across the border into Syria. As the world and the United Nations now know, this border is porous, dangerous and corrupt. A stream of trailer-trucks, shielded from inspection by Turkish intelligence agents, regularly passes through the gates and disappears into this most savage war. This is the rolling oil pipeline that finances the bestial offspring of the largely fictional “moderately Islamic” Free Syria Army now variously known as ISID, ISIS, ISIL and/or IS. Whatever it’s called, it’s the awful result of massive, aggressive collusion of the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, enthusiastically supported by Jordan, a State Party signatory to the Rome Statute and hence bound by the provisions of the Statute. These five constitute the Criminal Cabal.1 Arab Spring, a knock-off label from Czechoslovakia’s Prague Spring of 1968, has drowned North Africa and the Middle East in a sea of blood. Libya has failed into complete violence. The Syrian people are on the run—millions have fled the country. The dubious “civil war” is a full-blown catastrophe, with radical groups now attacking each other, and the most radical of all, the Islamic State of Syria (ISIS), murdering, pillaging and beheading its way towards Baghdad. Once thinking it could tell moderates from maniacs, once thinking it could trust the prime minister of Turkey, America now flounders about how to nuance its the fight with its own creation—ISIS—without helping the real objective, namely, waging a proxy (and criminal) war of aggression using mercenaries against Syria and the duly constituted government of President Bashar al-Assad. This is the stupidest of quandaries, one caused by a criminal disregard for international law, incredibly poor judgment and incredibly radical accomplices, in particular the government of Turkey, specifically its former prime minister now president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The other accomplices—Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan— are equally morally abject and treacherous. It is a sordid off-key cabal, this criminal quintet, this Criminal Cabal, violating international law with impunity. These arrogant five seem to draw their criminal strength from the fact that, except for Jordan, none are signatories to the Rome Statute and hence supposedly not subject to its provisions for humane behavior among law-abiding nations. These four believe their misdeeds are outside the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and even the United Nations. These felonious four do what they please, say what they like, incite war with their well-financed fanatical, mercenary hordes and inflict horrendous criminal atrocities on men, women and children, to wit, humanity. And Jordan, a signatory to the Rome Statute, betrays its promise and illegally collaborates with the Criminal Cabal. Illegal weapons support and training from a host of nations, many of them signatories to the Rome Statute2, has spawned a monstrous, Islamic militant swarm, grown horrendously violent on its diet of western arms and money. This fact is undeniable as will be shown and as you may already well know. The danger is clear and present. So much so that the monster’s benefactors now must try to destroy the monster they created. And by the usual

2 A State (nation) which becomes a Party to the Rome Statute accepts the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court

regarding the most serious crimes afflicting the international community: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression (Rome Statute, Article 5). Obviously those State Parties who aid and abet the commission of these crimes by nations outside ICC jurisdiction will not be held harmless nor will the non-State Party (Rome Statute, Article 12).


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way—high altitude bombing—guaranteed to harden the monster’s resolve and metastasize its violent effect. All of which means that more innocent people will die. Such is what passes for strategic thinking by the United States and its collaborators. Sadly, it is an old story. Such is the horribly complicated nature of the Cabal’s crimes—a blowback beyond imagination. Such is the reason for rendering this Complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The allegations are heinous: war crimes, crimes against humanity and the ultimate international crime, aggression, indeed an evil thing. The United States is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, nor is Turkey, Saudi Arabia or Qatar. Jordan is, but its criminal behavior belies its signature. The Criminal Cabal ordered the commission of ICC statutory crimes on, in, and over the respective territories of several ICC member nations, Jordan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, for immediate example. Therefore, the ICC has jurisdiction over the Accused for their statutory crimes in accordance with Rome Statute Article 12(2)(a). Importantly, pursuant to Article 27, those accused who operate in an official capacity as head of state, member of government or government official are neither exempt from criminal responsibility nor enjoy any immunity whatsoever that constrains the Court’s jurisdiction. Additionally, there is no statute of limitation regarding the prosecution of these crimes, to wit: violations of Article 7, Crimes against humanity and Article 8, Crime of aggression. The Accused Listed below are the Accused nations. Principal accused are those primary malefactor nations most responsible for the crimes committed. Names and specific charges will be proffered later. Principal Accused: United States of America Turkey Saudi Arabia Qatar Jordan*

Accessory Accused: Belgium* Bulgaria* Croatia* France* Great Britain* Romania*

* denotes a State Party signatory to the Rome Statute. And now onward to the details wherein the devils always reside.


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2. INTRODUCTION A. Misbegotten in a Crime The carnage commenced on 20 March 2003 with a night cruise-missile attack on Baghdad primarily by the United States. Dubbed shock-and-awe, based on deceit, that crime of aggression rages still in unparalleled barbarity, in unparalleled illegality, in all its essential evil. Neither in self-defense nor in accord with the United Nations Charter, American, British, Australian, Polish and Danish military forces committed “the supreme international crime…essentially an evil thing.” Such was the judgment of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg regarding wars of aggression. According to the Tribunal, such wars were

essentially an evil thing...to initiate a war of aggression...is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.3

Today, there seems no stopping this evil. Millions dead, wounded and displaced. Syria, and again Iraq, both under attack from a reincarnated, vicious Mujahedeen, variously called ISIL, ISID, ISID, and IS. This mercenary mob has been created and funded by America and its equally ambitious, criminal partners. Why? Lacking the will of its citizens to continue the perpetual war madness on their account (“No boots on the ground!”) a discouraged and confused America and a servile NATO has resorted to the use of proxy armies—mercenary guns for hire—to do its dirty work of aggression. Such violence and callous disregard for international law have erased national borders, setting in flight millions of refugees. All secular Middle Eastern nations have been destroyed. To what end? Is it oil? Religion? Unashamed political ambition? Is it democracy? Security? The security of the grave? It is too late for labels! Time is of the essence. It is time to stop. The rule of law must finally and at long last be enforced. Without this, the consequences are dire—perpetual war. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was illegal. The undeclared war and current bombing campaign in Syria is illegal. Both countries are now overrun by renegade bands of Islamic militants seeking to establish their own Islamic state within the territory of existing nations, a clear crime of aggression. However outrageously bestial these mercenary gangs behave cannot sever the responsibility from their foundational roots that reside in the Criminal Cabal for Perpetual War, that is, American and its primary collaborators—Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar and Jordan. Nor can this evil be divorced from the numerous enablers and suppliers that support America’s illegal scheme. Guns and knives do not work by themselves. The deliverers of deadly weapons into the hands of terrorist mercenaries bear the full burden for how they are used. For European Union weapons mongers like Belgium, the European Common Position on Arms Sales sets precise criteria regarding the sales of such weapons.4 These criteria seem to have been disregarded. Furthermore, many of these collaborating countries are State Party Signatories to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, thus culpable, thus liable for prosecution. Robert Jackson, the chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunal, called war of aggression "the greatest menace of our times." What more can be added? We have eyes. Innocent people are suffering so grievously and we have learned so little.

3 Broomhall, Bruce. (2 ed.). Oxford University Press, p. 46. ISBN 978-0-19-925600-6.

Cohn, Marjorie. Aggressive War: Supreme International Crime, International Clearing House. 11 September 2004 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7249.htm 4 http://eeas.europa.eu/non-proliferation-and-disarmament/arms-export-control/index_en.htm

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7249.htm


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B. The Benghazi Rat Line A “rat line” is an escape route. There were Nazi and fascist rat lines from various sites in Europe to South America at the close of World War II. In CIA parlance it’s a back channel, in this particular case, from Benghazi, Libya into Syria. Strange indeed to set this up. Strange because UN Security Council Resolution 1970 (26 Feb. 2011) was designed to have an immediate ceasefire and provided for an arms embargo regarding Libya.5 It did not seem strange at the time because no one knew about the rat line. Even stranger, by hindsight, was the subsequent resolution 1973 that provided for a no-fly zone. Enacted on 17 March 2011, it removed the arms embargo provisions from the earlier resolution.6 Therein resided the secret loophole that gave pseudo-legitimacy for the Benghazi Rat Line. One could now bring in arms for humanitarian purposes, that is, to protect the Libyan civilians who were already being bombed by NATO. And when that murderous fiasco was over and Muammar Gaddaffi was disemboweled and anal raped, the arms were needed elsewhere as the Arab Spring sprung to Syria. And so began the illicit arms transfer system, initially managed by CIA head, David Petraeus, and later, and disastrously, by the prime minister of Turkey who directed the weapons flow to radical groups in Syria.7 In this manner, the arms embargo in Libya was violated and the weapons stocks already huge, grew and grew.8 Early in 2012 the Rat Line began to ship massive amounts of weapons, much of it from Muammar Gaddafi’s arsenals. Its destination? Southern Turkey, to the province of Hatay on the northern Syrian border. It’s ultimate destination? Radical elements of the opposition to the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish prime minister, suddenly shifted from bosom buddy to vitriolic, bombastic hater of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. (He had earlier pulled the same two-faced trick on Muammar Gaddafi.)9 Erdoğan made little effort to hide his agenda. And his agenda was

5 UN Security Council Resolution 1970, para. 9.

http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/2B57BBA2-07D9-4C35-B45E-EED275080E87/0/N1124558.pdf 6 UN Security Council Resolution 1973, para. 4.

http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/268/39/PDF/N1126839.pdf?OpenElement 7 Foreign nations’ proxy war in Syria creates chaos. Washington Post, David Ignatius. 2 October 2014.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-foreign-nations-proxy-war-creates-syrian-chaos/2014/10/02/061fb50c-4a7a-11e4-a046-120a8a855cca_story.html

8 See: e.g., Libya: foreign mercenaries terrorising citizens, The Telegraph, By Adrian Blomfield, Salloum, February 23, 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8343959/Libya-foreign-mercenaries-terrorising-citizens.html; Libyan Rebels Say They’re Being Sent Weapons, The New York Times, By ROD NORDLAND April 16, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/world/africa/17libya.html?_r=2&; La France a parachuté des armes aux rebelles libyens, Le Figaro, Philippe Gelie, Juin 28, 2011, http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2011/06/28/01003-20110628ARTFIG00704-la-france-a-parachute-des-armes-aux-rebelles-libyens.php 9 Erdogan Receives Gaddafi Human Rights Prize, Tripoli Post, 6 December 2010,

http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1&i=5195; [Turkish] PM rules out NATO intervention in Libya Today’s Zaman, February 28, 2011, http://www.todayszaman.com/news-236953-pm-rules-out-nato-intervention-in-libya.html; Parliament OKs Turkey's involvement in Libya, The Oakland Press, March 24, 2011, http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20110324/parliament-oks-turkeys-involvement-in-libya; Turkey Recognizes Libyan Rebels, Gives $300 Million, AP Reports Bloomberg, by Zaid Sabah and Kim Chipman, July 4, 2011, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-03/turkey-recognizes-libyan-rebels-gives-300-million-ap-reports.html; In Great Company: Erdogan Wins Gaddafi Human Rights Prize, Asbarez.com, March 2, 2011, http://asbarez.com/93789/in-great-company-erdogan-wins-gaddafi-human-rights-prize/;

http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/2B57BBA2-07D9-4C35-B45E-EED275080E87/0/N1124558.pdf

http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/268/39/PDF/N1126839.pdf?OpenElement



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8343959/Libya-foreign-mercenaries-terrorising-citizens.html


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/world/africa/17libya.html?_r=2&

http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2011/06/28/01003-20110628ARTFIG00704-la-france-a-parachute-des-armes-aux-rebelles-libyens.php


http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1&i=5195

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-236953-pm-rules-out-nato-intervention-in-libya.html

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20110324/parliament-oks-turkeys-involvement-in-libya

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-03/turkey-recognizes-libyan-rebels-gives-300-million-ap-reports.html

http://asbarez.com/93789/in-great-company-erdogan-wins-gaddafi-human-rights-prize/



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to fund radical Sunni groups, in particular, al-Nusra, a well-known affiliate of al-Qaeda. The United States and Great Britain intelligence services obtained the weapons through front companies and organized the transfer operation. Great Britain’s intelligence service, MI6, was a cover to enable the CIA to call the “intelligence” relationship a “liaison” which somehow avoided the requirement to report an illicit operation like this to the US Congress. Loopholes, always bloody loopholes. Funding for the Rat Line came from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Airports in Turkey including the US airbase at Incirlik were used extensively. Heavy-freight handling trucks with TIR designations were used on the ground.10 After the September 2012 attack on the US consulate, the CIA pulled out. The Rat Line had lengthened its reach beyond Benghazi and all roads and air routes now led to Turkey, in particular Hatay and its gates opening to the bloody inferno called Syria. Their lintels should have read, as Dante wrote over the entrance to hell, “Abandon all hope, you who enter here.”

And post-CIA, who now ran the show? Turkey and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.11 The US knew in early 2013 that the Turkish government, its intelligence service (M.I.T.) and the Gendarmes were enabling weapons and other lethal equipment to get into the hands of al-Nusra.12 So did most Turks who chose to notice. The airports were full of jihadists, in particular on flights from Istanbul to Hatay Airport. What lay ahead was the sarin gas attack fiascos, the Turkish false-flag provocations, the gold-for-oil evasions of UN sanctions, and today, the support of the Turkish government for the ISID terrorist group, the child born of Libyan terrorist seed, cultured by Turkey and now pillaging Iraq and Syria with apocalyptic, satanic violence. This is Turkey today. America’s (and the Criminal Cabal’s) willing stooge, a duplicitous government that endangers its own people and indeed humanity.13 C. Arms and the Men and Some Countries Arms were and are smuggled into Syria through a vast, not-so-secret network of sea and land routes primarily using Turkey as a huge logistical depot and diligent freight-forwarding agent. And business was very good. Former Soviet block nations like Bulgaria and Rumania had huge stockpiles of soviet-era military weapons. The Belgian-manufactured FN FAL assault rifle is in great demand due to its superior range and accuracy vis-à-vis the AK-47. Large numbers of Belgian weapons have been purchased by Qatar for re-export purposes. All of these nations involved in the illicit arms transfer scheme—Jordan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Great Britain and Rumania—are state party signatories to the Rome Statute hence fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. Belgium is the largest manufacturer of military small arms in Europe through its government-owned firm, FN-Herstal, which also owns two US-based weapons manufacturers—

10

TIR convention. International Road Transports (Transports Internationaux Routiers) TIR, https://www.iru.org/en_iru_tirconvention 11

See the undocumented but eminently reasonable: The Red Line and the Rat Line, London Review of Books, by Seymour M. Hersh, 17 April 2014, http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line 12

Biden’s admission: US allies armed ISIS, World Socialist Web, Patrick Martin. 6 October 2014 http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/10/06/pers-o06.html 13

C.I.A. Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Opposition, New York Times, by ERIC SCHMITT, June 21, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/world/middleeast/cia-said-to-aid-in-steering-arms-to-syrian-rebels.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

https://www.iru.org/en_iru_tirconvention

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/10/06/pers-o06.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/world/middleeast/cia-said-to-aid-in-steering-arms-to-syrian-rebels.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0



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Winchester and Browning. Herstal’s two largest customers are the United States and Saudi Arabia. It also does significant business with Qatar. Indeed FN-Herstal seems to be the world’s weapon-maker of choice. Customers of FN-Herstal like France, Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were eager suppliers to the Libyan opposition. Qatar was so eager that it was in breach of UN Resolution 1970 that imposed an arms embargo on 26 February 2011. Furthermore, Qatar and other “customers” may have violated agreements not to re-export these weapons. Much of the Libyan weaponry is now in Syria thanks to the Benghazi Rat Line.14 Those European Union members who have exported military weaponry and technology to Libya and Syria seem to be in broad and reprehensible violation of the spirit and letter of the 2008 European Common Position on Arms Exports. Clearly, even a cursory reading of its criteria would dictate a total prohibition of arms exports.15 Article 2(2)(a) and (2)(d) clearly state the need to examine the human rights conditions in the country and, most importantly, “the need not to affect adversely regional stability in any significant way.” Obviously there was little attention paid to these and any other criteria in this important instrument designed to control arms exportation. Yesterday’s Benghazi Rat Line bred today’s slaughter house in Syria. The men and, sadly, the women and even the children, some as young as seven years old,16 that mostly flow through Turkey come from more than 80 countries. There were 7,000 in Syria in January 2014, now it’s at least double that. No one knows for sure, least of all Turkey’s border guards. Not when there is an al-Nusra promoting prime minister who has yet to call ISID a terror group. Not where the terrorist oil is smuggled into Turkey, a NATO member, for quick, cheap sale, thus financing terrorist violence and filling more than a few Turkish pockets.17 Not when hospitals in southern Turkey regularly treat wounded terrorists. Turkey is indeed a staging area, a fully operating logistical base and supply line for the terrorist assault on Syria. So it is no surprise that Richard Barrett notes in his exacting analysis entitled Foreign Fighters in Syria,

14

See, e.g., Syria Crisis: Where Syrian Fighters Get Their Weapons From, Reuters, By Jonathan Saul and Mariam Karouny July 13, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/13/syria-crisis-rebels-weapons_n_1670780.html; Profit and Proliferation: A Special Report on Belgian Arms in the Arab Uprising, Part I, AT WAR New York Times, By DAMIEN SPLEETERS April 5, 2012, http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/profit-and-proliferation-a-special-report-on-belgian-arms-in-the-arab-uprising-part-i/; Profit and Proliferation, Part 2: Will Belgian Arms End Up in Syria?, AT WAR New York Times, by DAMIEN SPLEETERS, April 6, 2012, http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/profit-and-proliferation-part-2-will-belgian-arms-end-up-in-syria/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0, C.I.A. Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Opposition, New York Times, by ERIC SCHMITT, June 21, 2012, ww.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/world/middleeast/cia-said-to-aid-in-steering-arms-to-syrian-rebels.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0; UN Security Council Resolution 1970, http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/2B57BBA2-07D9-4C35-B45E-EED275080E87/0/N1124558.pdf; France admits it directly supplied arms to Syrian “rebels”, World Socialist Web, By Pierre Mabut, 27 August 2014, http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/08/27/frsy-a27.html; The US Is Openly Sending Heavy Weapons From Libya To Syrian Rebels, GEOFFREY INGERSOLL AND MICHAEL B KELLEY, December 9, 2012, http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-admin-admits-to-covertly-sending-heavy-weapons-to-syrian-rebels-2012-12; 15

See, e.g., Council of the European Union, ‘European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports’, 8675/2/98 Rev 2, 5 June 1998; and Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP of 8 December 2008 defining common rules governing control of exports of military technology and equipment, Official Journal of the European Union, L335, 8 Dec.2008. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2008.335.01.0099.01.ENG; EU Non-Proliferation Consortium, January 2012, The Review of the EU Common Position on Arms Exports, http://www.sipri.org/research/disarmament/eu-consortium/publications/publications/non-proliferation-paper-7 16

ISIS Is Recruiting And Training Children To Fight, http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-recruiting-children-war-crimes-2014-8. The UN Human Rights Commission Report, A/HRC/27/60,13 August 2014 said that this case should be referred to the International Criminal Court. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoISyria/A.HRC.27.60_Eng.pdf 17

How Isil is funded, trained and operating in Iraq and Syria.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/11052919/How-Isil-is-funded-trained-and-operating-in-Iraq-and-Syria.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/13/syria-crisis-rebels-weapons_n_1670780.html

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/author/damien-spleeters/

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/profit-and-proliferation-a-special-report-on-belgian-arms-in-the-arab-uprising-part-i/




http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/profit-and-proliferation-part-2-will-belgian-arms-end-up-in-syria/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0






http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/08/27/frsy-a27.html

http://www.businessinsider.com/author/geoffrey-ingersoll

http://www.businessinsider.com/author/michael-b-kelley

http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-admin-admits-to-covertly-sending-heavy-weapons-to-syrian-rebels-2012-12

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2008.335.01.0099.01.ENG

http://www.sipri.org/research/disarmament/eu-consortium/publications/publications/non-proliferation-paper-7

http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-recruiting-children-war-crimes-2014-8

http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoISyria/A.HRC.27.60_Eng.pdf




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that most extremist groups are concentrated in the North of the country, and so are the first that many foreigners meet when they cross the Turkish border.18

Approximately one-half of the countries providing citizens to fight as illegal mercenaries in Syria are State Parties to the Rome Statute.19 Reports abound of individual monthly salaries paid by Saudi Arabia and Qatar of $500-2000. So what about the responsibility to control this flood of people and armaments into Turkey by air and sea? Aren’t visas required? Surely non-Syrians, primarily westerners, exiting southern Turkey to enter Syria have but one purpose: violence. Porosity is the word; the Turkish border checkpoints have the solidity and diligence of a summer breeze.20 Trucks enter uninspected, indeed often protected from scrutiny by Turkish authorities.21 And what about the responsibility of the countries allowing their primarily youthful22 citizens to travel unhindered and unchecked to the most dangerous place in the world. Are these nations, particularly those that are signatories to the Rome Statute, not violating the war crime provisions of that statute? Are not these signatory nations, either willfully or negligently, aiding and abetting the commission of grave crimes against humanity by their failure to adequately supervise the passage of their citizens into war-ravaged Syria? And by enabling their citizens to join with mercenary forces to commit heinous crimes, aren’t these countries in breach of the Rome Statute? There are two bold violators, signatories of the Rome Statute, worth citing, to wit, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Republic of Croatia. In clear violation of Article 8(b), Jordan has been a CIA training center for terrorist mercenaries dedicated to overthrowing the Syrian government. Furthermore, Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari cargo transport airplanes have been widely used to transport arms to Esenboğa Airport near Ankara as well as to other Turkish and Jordanian airports. Moreover, CIA operatives have been regularly assisting Saudi Arabia to procure weapons from Croatia. These caches have been flown to Jordan on Jordanian transport planes for transfer to southern Turkey for fast forwarding to terrorist mercenaries.23 What can be made of nations like this? They sign to abide by the provisions of the Rome Statute, an admirable, moral act taken with many other nations to stand against the “grave crimes that threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world.” As signatories to the Rome Statute, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Great Britain, Rumania and Jordan all resolved to agree “to guarantee lasting respect for and the enforcement of international

18

Foreign Fighters in Syria, June 2014. Richard Barrett, P. 24, http://en.calameo.com/read/000009779f631011a5baa 19

Ibid., Pp.13,14. 20

See, e.g., Turkey's Syria borders an open door for smugglers, http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ru/originals/2014/04/turkey-syria-borders-smuggling-guns-conflict-kurds-pkk-isis.html#; "TIR'ı verin yoksa çatışma çıkar", http://www.haber7.com/guncel/haber/1124219-tiri-verin-yoksa-catisma-cikar; As Turkey turned blind eye, ISIS took advantage, http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-turned-blind-eye-isis-031003793.html 21

Turkey declares vanishing truck to Syria 'state secret', http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/01/vanished-turkish-truck-state-secret.html#

22

Op.cit.,Barrett, P. 15. “the typical age range is 18-29” 23

See, e.g., CIA ramping up covert training program for moderate Syrian rebels, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-ramping-up-covert-training-program-for-moderate-syrian-rebels/2013/10/02/a0bba084-2af6-11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_story.html; I LEARNED TO FIGHT LIKE AN AMERICAN AT THE FSA TRAINING CAMP IN JORDAN, http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/syria-deraa-USA-Jordan-FSA-regime-CIA; CIA Activities in Syria: US Never Stops to Step on Same Rake, http://www.globalresearch.ca/cia-activities-in-syria-us-never-stops-to-step-on-same-rake/5353324; Syrie : l'opération anti-Assad a commence, http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2013/08/22/01003-20130822ARTFIG00438-syrie-l-operation-anti-assad-a-commence.php

http://en.calameo.com/read/000009779f631011a5baa

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ru/originals/2014/04/turkey-syria-borders-smuggling-guns-conflict-kurds-pkk-isis.html


http://www.haber7.com/guncel/haber/1124219-tiri-verin-yoksa-catisma-cikar

http://www.haber7.com/guncel/haber/1124219-tiri-verin-yoksa-catisma-cikar

http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-turned-blind-eye-isis-031003793.html


http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/01/vanished-turkish-truck-state-secret.html


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-ramping-up-covert-training-program-for-moderate-syrian-rebels/2013/10/02/a0bba084-2af6-11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_story.html


http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/syria-deraa-USA-Jordan-FSA-regime-CIA

http://www.globalresearch.ca/cia-activities-in-syria-us-never-stops-to-step-on-same-rake/5353324


http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2013/08/22/01003-20130822ARTFIG00438-syrie-l-operation-anti-assad-a-commence.php


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justice.”24 So what happened? When the time came to take a stand for justice and peace they collaborated with the Criminal Cabal and became dogs of war. How can this treacherous betrayal of principles stand unpunished? It cannot. If it does, the International Criminal Court, the last bastion of hope against the barbarity of preemptive, illegal war, will collapse, betrayed by its constituent nations. D. Intelligence Sharing There have been numerous reports of Signatory Party nations to the Rome Statute providing intelligence and training to mercenary forces seeking the overthrow of the legitimate Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. The United States, a non-signatory, has used its CIA to recruit the cooperation of British, French and Jordanian intelligence to train so-called Syrian rebel forces in the use of weapons. It is also widely reported that French, British and Jordanian intelligence services are training mercenaries to assist in the destruction of the Syrian government. This training is being conducted in Syria and is an American-led operation.25 Turkey also established a secret base near the Syrian border to help direct vital military and communications support to the mercenary opponents of the Syrian government. In August 2012, reports abounded of an operations “nerve center” established in Adana, Turkey, the location of the Incirlik US air base.26 E. The Premise for Legal Action There is a significant body of evidence from official sources, non-governmental organizations and investigative journalists that provides a reasonable case for the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to investigate whether the United States and/or any of its collaborators and accessories are guilty of crimes within the Court’s jurisdiction. Indeed, the crimes in question fall within the jurisdiction of the court and relate to the following violations of the Rome Statute:

Article 7. Crimes against Humanity Article 8. War Crimes and the Crime of Aggression

The use of proxy mercenary armies may to a degree mask the identities of their sponsors. But surely it does not hide them, nor their aggression from the reaches of international law. Aggression is a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations, indeed, an evil thing. Article 8(1) and Article 8(2)(g) are crystalline on that point. The Crime of Aggression as articulated in the Rome Statute originated in the Nuremberg Principles and the United Nations Charter. The aspects of aggression as defined were originally called “crimes against

24

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, p.1. http://www.icc-cpi.int/nr/rdonlyres/ea9aeff7-5752-4f84-be94-0a655eb30e16/0/rome_statute_english.pdf

25

See, e.g., Report: CIA provides intelligence to Syrian rebels, AFP, Yitzhak Benhorin, March 23, 2013 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4360110,00.html; CIA monitors potential terrorists in Syria, YNET, March 16, 2013, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4357006,00.html; Report: Americans training Syria rebels in Jordan, Reuters, March 10, 2013, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4354749,00.html 26

See, e.g., Obama authorized covert support for Syrian rebels, sources say, CNN, August 2, 2012, http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/01/us/syria-rebels-us-aid/; Darnell Gitti-(TAMAMI), Aydinlik, August 8. 2012, http://www.aydinlikgazete.com/mansetler/14303-darnell-gitti.html; Fars Haber Ajansı Aydınlık’ın haberini dünyaya duyurdu, Aydinlik, August 9, 2012, http://www.aydinlikgazete.com/mansetler/14273-fars-haber-ajansi-aydinlikin-haberini-dunyaya-duyurdu.html; Rebel Groups in Syria Make Framework for Military, New York Times, by NEIL MacFARQUHAR and HWAIDA SAAD, December 7, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/world/middleeast/rebel-groups-in-syria-make-framework-for-military.html;

http://www.icc-cpi.int/nr/rdonlyres/ea9aeff7-5752-4f84-be94-0a655eb30e16/0/rome_statute_english.pdf

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4360110,00.html



http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/01/us/syria-rebels-us-aid/

http://www.aydinlikgazete.com/mansetler/14303-darnell-gitti.html

http://www.aydinlikgazete.com/mansetler/14273-fars-haber-ajansi-aydinlikin-haberini-dunyaya-duyurdu.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/world/middleeast/rebel-groups-in-syria-make-framework-for-military.html


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peace,” as they remain labeled today in the U.S. Army’s Field Manual 27-10, Law of Land Warfare.27 Peace lovers always seek peace. But first seek justice! As discussed earlier, four of the Principal Accused—the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar—are not contracting parties to the Rome Statute. Nevertheless, it was under their order and influence that the planning and preparation commenced to procure armaments, establish logistical bases and transportation conveyances in order to commit the ultimate crime of aggression. To that end they. The Principal Accused, employed the services of Accessory nations, all of whom were signatories to the Rome Statute. These accessories-before-the-fact made a vital contribution to enable the Principal Accused to launch their act of aggression against Syria, a sovereign nation and fellow member of the United Nations. For these criminal actions, these Accessory Nations are clearly liable for prosecution by the International Criminal Court. But so too is the Principal Accused, to wit, the Criminal Cabal. The Criminal Cabal encouraged and allowed their criminal accessories to commit International Criminal Court statutory crimes on, in, and over the respective territories of several ICC State Party signatories, to wit, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Jordan. Therefore, the ICC has jurisdiction over the Accused for these statutory crimes in accordance with Rome Statute article 12(2)(a) and (b) which affords the jurisdiction to the ICC to prosecute statutory crimes committed in ICC member states. In fact, the intelligence agencies of the principal Accused ordered and were responsible for the commission of these ICC. statutory crimes in the respective territories of several ICC member states. Weapons and ammunition were requisitioned in and sent from numerous member states. Training facilities were provided by Jordan, a clear crime of aggression (Article 8(1) and (2). Finally, manpower was provided from a vast number of aiding and abetting nations that failed to be aware of the provisions of international law, in this case, the naked aggression that their citizens were committing against the duly constituted government of sovereign Syria. Surely these undercover activities qualify as a crime of aggression under the language of Article 5 as the “planning, preparation, initiating or execution” of military action against another sovereign nation. And “armed bands, groups, irregulars or mercenaries” are similarly proscribed. F. The Criminal Cabal Four members of the Criminal Cabal for Perpetual War, to wit, the United States of America, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, unfortunately, but understandably, are not State Parties to the Rome Statute. The other member, Jordan, is, a fact that may prove the Cabal’s demise. The Cabal and their aforementioned Accessory Accomplice nations, who are signatory parties, have embarked together on a violent, selfish, criminal pursuit of national interest. In so doing they have committed the ultimate international crime, the crime of aggression. Their “strategic interests,” largely unspecified except by generalities like “democracy”, “freedom”, and “markets” have made a charnel house of North Africa and the Middle East. These rogue, flagrantly criminal nations should not go unpunished. They have violated with impunity Rome Statute Article 8, Crime of Aggression by aiding and abetting mercenary forces to commit savage war crimes in Syria, and now Iraq. These are laws that emerged from the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. These are laws that any civilized nation would

27

U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10, Chapter 8 Remedies for Violation of International Law, Sect. II (498)(a) http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/27-10/Ch8.htm#s2

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/27-10/Ch8.htm#s2


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embrace as a way of life, indeed they are a code of universal honorable behavior. These are the laws that the Criminal Cabal and its collaborator nations have shredded and ignored. As for the forty signatory nations that allowed, either wittingly or unwittingly, its citizens to ally themselves with mercenary forces attacking the sovereign nation of Syria, and now Iraq, provisions of Article 8 also apply. Article 8(1) “planning, preparation” language and paragraph 2(g) relating to “sending […] irregulars or mercenaries” should be applied and enforced. The basis of this Criminal Complaint to the International Criminal Court regarding accusations of committing the crime of aggression is consistent with the purpose of the Rome Statute, Article 8(1) which defines the crime as:

“crime of aggression” means the planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a State, of an act of aggression which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations.” 28

The next paragraph, Article 8(2)(g) explains that the aggression need not be committed by the regular armed forces of a State. The sending of mercenaries also qualifies as a crime of aggression, to wit,

The sending by or on behalf of a State of armed bands, groups, irregulars or mercenaries, which carry out acts of armed force against another State of such gravity as to amount to the acts listed above, or its substantial involvement therein.29

G. The Accused Principals: United States of America citizens: Barack Hussein Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Forbes Kerry, John Owen Brennan, Michael Joseph Morell, David Howell Petraeus, Leon Edward Panetta Turkish citizens: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ahmet Davutoğlu, Hakan Fidan. Saudi Arabian citizens: King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and Prince Saud al-Faisal. Qatari citizens: Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa and Al Thani Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Jordanian citizens: Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein and Abdullah Ensour. Accessories: Belgian citizen: Elio Di Rupo, Bulgarian citizens: Boyko Borisov, Marin Raykov Nikolov and Plamen Vasilev Oresharski Croatian citizens: Ivo Josipović and Zoran Milanović. French citizen: François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande Great Britain citizen: David William Donald Cameron Romanian citizens: Traian Băsescu and Victor-Viorel Ponta. The specific charges against the above individuals, all in positions to exercise varying degrees of control over the political and military actions of a state, will be enumerated in the Legal Submissions, Section 3 below. Presidents, prime ministers and kings do not operate in a vacuum, nor do their advisors.

28

Rome Statute, Article 8(1). 29

Ibid., Article 8(2)(g).


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3. LEGAL SUBMISSIONS A. INTRODUCTION As the evidence shown above illustrates, the arming, training and logistical support of mercenary forces by the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan for groups opposed to the duly constituted government in Syria, raises profoundly serious issues of potential criminality under the Rome Statute. Reports indicate that hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians have been killed, three million have fled the country. Overall, nine million people—one-half the nation’s population—have been displaced. There is a significant body of evidence from official sources, NGOs and investigative journalists that suggests there is a reasonable basis to believe that crimes of the utmost gravity within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court may have been committed. Of anticipatory concern to the Complainant is that the Prosecutor might conclude that the submitted information does not provide a reasonable basis to conduct a formal investigation. Given the vast and horrendous nature of the crimes, the availability of information alone should not be a reason to refuse further investigation. Allowance should and can be made for the real prospect of additional compelling evidence becoming available through a formal investigation, particularly if the Complainant has demonstrated the existence of a reasonable probability that these crimes were committed. Certainly the Prosecutor would be able to obtain such evidence from the relevant authorities whose cooperation has not yet been forthcoming. For the avoidance of doubt, it is submitted that the Prosecutor should consider this Complaint in the context of a preliminary evaluation that has demonstrated probable cause that serious crimes have been committed. In analyzing the seriousness of the information received, it is respectfully requested that the Prosecutor seek additional information from the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Great Britain, Rumania, Syria and NATO, as well as intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and other reliable sources in accordance with Article 15(2) of the Rome Statute. The crime of aggression subsumes all other crimes of war. And the signatory nations that aid and abet the four non-signatory “principal” nations—the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar—in their misdeeds are accomplices-before-the-fact and deserve no lesser punishment than the principals. Surely Jordan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Great Britain, and Rumania, being State Party Signatories presumes a heightened awareness of these most serious crimes that plague the international community. Being a State Party implies, as the Rome Statute states, “a lasting respect for and the enforcement of international justice.” Instead, these accomplices chose the darkness and became accessories to the crimes of the Cabal. Jordan deserves special condemnation for its cooperation with the Cabal, thus defiling the spirit of the Rome Statute. If nothing is done about the transgressions of these nations and their accomplices, the civilized world will finish. This is terribly obvious, as obvious as serving the interests and collaborating in the crimes of the Cabal is a crime against humanity. 1. Summary of Submissions In particular, the Court has jurisdiction in respect to the subject matter of the present complaint under Article 12(2) of the Rome Statute on the grounds that:

First, while the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are not contracting parties to the Rome Statute, nevertheless, the Accused ordered and were responsible for the commission of ICC statutory crimes on, in, and over


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the respective territories of several ICC member states: Jordan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Great Britain and Romania. Therefore, the ICC has jurisdiction over the Accused for their statutory crimes in accordance with Rome Statute article 12(2)(a) and (b) that affords jurisdiction to prosecute for ICC statutory crimes committed in member states; and/or

Second, perpetrators of crimes resulting from conduct discussed in this Complaint are, or may be, nationals of State Parties to the Rome Statute in accordance with Article 25(3) which assigns individual criminal responsibility. This includes nationals of Jordan as well as NATO member state signatories Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Great Britain and Romania who provided material assistance in planning, preparation, initiation and execution of the aggression against Syria.

Third, not surprisingly, Syria has not consented to the use of force within its territory. To the contrary, Syria has repeatedly described this mercenary proxy invasion as a violation of its sovereignty. Nor is there any UN Resolution that authorizes the use of force in Syria.

Therefore, there is a reasonable basis for concluding that:

The Court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of this complaint.

The complaints are admissible.

The deaths, injuries and destruction caused by this horrific aggression are of such gravity as to justify investigation by the Prosecutor.

It is solidly in the interests of justice that, if crimes have, or may have been, committed, they be prosecuted. In these circumstances the Office of the Prosecutor must ensure that these crimes are investigated in accordance with Article 53 of the Rome Statute.

Finally, it is respectfully requested that the International Criminal Court issue arrest warrants immediately for the above name principal Accused in accordance with Rome Statute Article 58(1)(a), Article 58(1)(b)(i), Article 58(1)(b)(ii), and Article 58(1)(b)(iii). The sooner the better for all humankind. 2. Summary of Steps Sought from Office of the Prosecutor

In analyzing the serious nature of the information received, it is requested that the Prosecutor seek additional information from the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, NATO and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and other reliable sources in accordance with Article 15 (2) of the Rome Statute.

Before determining the question of territorial jurisdiction, a matter of great importance, it is further requested that the Prosecutor request a ruling from the court on this question in accordance with Article 19 (3) of the Statute.

Finally, it is requested that the Prosecutor initiate an investigation of the facts surrounding this Communication in accordance with Article 51 (1) of the Statute.


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These steps are of great importance to the Complainant and to humanity. It will further validate the stated purpose of the International Criminal Court, to wit:

that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured.30

It is vital to the world that a legal process commence to bring justice to all those who have been unable to challenge the conduct of the Cabal and its collaborators in any forum, domestic or international. This Complaint is made on behalf of the dead, the dying, the grievously wounded, and all the psychologically traumatized victims of this apparently endless criminal aggression. The opportunity to be heard and acknowledged is of critical importance. For the sake of present and future generations, justice must not only be served but also preserved. B. JURISDICTION ON GROUNDS OF TERRITORIALITY AND NATIONALITY The International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction over the crimes committed arises in two aspects:

First, on the grounds of territorial jurisdiction since the attacks on the sovereign State of Syria were prepared and supplied and de facto partially planned and executed in State Party territories by State Parties. This is tantamount to launching attacks from a State Party, to wit: Jordan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania.

Second, regarding nationality jurisdiction, there is a reasonable and well-documented basis to conclude that nationals of approximately 40 State Parties to the Rome Statute have participated in the execution and ongoing commission of the crime of aggression under the Statute. 31

1. Territoriality Although the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Syria are not signatories (State Parties) to the Rome Statute the court has jurisdiction over conduct which has occurred on the territory of a non-State Party where the accused is a national of a State that has accepted jurisdiction. Accordingly, via Article 12(2)(a) of the Statute, the ICC has jurisdiction over acts amounting to crimes under the ICC Statute that were committed by citizens of the following States: United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Great Britain, Jordan and Romania. 32 It has been well documented that arms have been exported, gathered, shipped and otherwise transported to Syria from, at least, the following State Party nations: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Jordan and Romania. The process of firing weapons used in a criminal aggression by rogue mercenaries begins with the process of procuring and delivering these weapons into their criminal hands. Regarding territorial jurisdiction, according to Article 12 (2), the Court may exercise jurisdiction under the Statute where “The State on the territory of which the conduct in question occurred” is a State Party to the Statute. Furthermore France

30

Rome Statute, p.1. 31

See Appendix 3, Foreign Fighters in Syria. 32

Rome Statute, Article 12 (2) (a), Preconditions to the exercise of jurisdiction http://legal.un.org/icc/statute/romefra.htm

http://legal.un.org/icc/statute/romefra.htm


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and Great Britain have collaborated with the Cabal by training mercenaries thus furthering their criminal purpose and pursuit. This, too, has been largely conducted in Jordan, a State Party to the Rome Statute. Importantly, Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties holds that a “treaty shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in light of its object and purpose.” 33 Rome Statute Article 12(2)(a) is absent any stipulation that all of the criminal conduct must occur within the territory of the State Party to the Statute. Within the context of Article 2(2)(a), other provisions of the Statute must be considered. Article 25 elaborates the conditions under which individuals can incur criminal responsibility under the Statute. This includes aiding and abetting, facilitating, ordering, soliciting or inducing a crime or joint criminal enterprise. There is no basis to interpret Article 2(2)(a) requiring that each and every element of the criminal conduct be committed within the territory of a State Party. Many crimes will involve conduct occurring partly within the territory of a State Party and partly without. Were liability to be precluded for this reason many crimes would avoid the jurisdiction of the Court. Such an interpretation would undermine the concept of individual criminal responsibility as established in Article 25 of the Statute. Thus the above State Party nations are accessories-before-the-fact with apparent foreknowledge that a crime of aggression was being planned. Furthermore, Jordan reportedly was and is used as a training base for radical mercenaries allegedly under the supervision of the CIA. Owing to a lack of a comprehensive investigation, this Complainant is unable to establish whether the “planning, preparation, initiation or execution”34 phases of the crime of aggression were limited to the above State Party nations. It is almost unnecessary to state that the nationality of a perpetrator is irrelevant to the territorial jurisdiction of the Court. States are allowed to prosecute foreign nationals who commit crimes in their territories. Furthermore, territorial jurisdiction does not and could not apply only to crimes occurring completely within the State. For example, in the case of this Complaint, aiding and abetting a crime by supplying arms to perpetrators outside the State’s territory where they know a crime will be committed. The principle of subjective territorial jurisdiction, established in 1926 in the S.S. Lotus case (France v. Turkey) 35, entitles a State on whose territory a criminal attack was launched to exercise jurisdiction over that crime. So the fact that the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are not contracting parties to the Rome Statute is no bar to the Court’s prosecution of these Accused because they have ordered and been responsible for the commission of the Rome Statute Crime of Aggression on, in, and over the respective territories of at least five ICC State Parties. Article 13, paragraphs (a) and/or (c), explains the Court’s prerogatives for exercising its jurisdiction. Paragraph (a) provides jurisdiction if one or more of the States are Parties to this Statute or have accepted the jurisdiction of the Court in accordance with paragraph (3).36 Paragraph (c)

33

VIENNA CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF TREATIES, Section 3, Article 31, General Rule of Interpretation. 34

Ibid.. Article 8 (1), Crime of aggression. 35

UNTERM, Territorial Principle, http://unterm.un.org/dgaacs/unterm.nsf/8fa942046ff7601c85256983007ca4d8/082fdcf5273de32485256e7b00645b66?OpenDocument

36

Ibid., Article 12 (3). “If the acceptance of a State which is not a Party to this Statute is required under paragraph 2, that State may, by declaration lodged with the Registrar, accept the exercise of jurisdiction by the Court with respect to the crime in question. The accepting State shall cooperate with the Court without any delay or exception in accordance with Part 9.”

http://unterm.un.org/dgaacs/unterm.nsf/8fa942046ff7601c85256983007ca4d8/082fdcf5273de32485256e7b00645b66?OpenDocument

http://unterm.un.org/dgaacs/unterm.nsf/8fa942046ff7601c85256983007ca4d8/082fdcf5273de32485256e7b00645b66?OpenDocument


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allows the Court to exercise its jurisdiction if “The Prosecutor has initiated an investigation in respect of such a crime in accordance with Article 15.” 37 Pursuant to Rome Statute Article 13(c), it is requested that the Prosecutor initiate an investigation proprio motu against the Accused in accordance with Rome Statute Article 15 (1): “The Prosecutor may initiate investigations proprio motu on the basis of information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court.” It is suggested that this Complaint alone against the Accused constitutes “sufficient information” in accordance with Rome Statute Article 15(1). Additionally, it is respectfully suggested that this Complaint also constitutes a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation under Rome Statute Article 15(3). 2. Nationality There is a reasonable basis to believe that nationals of State Parties to the Rome Statute may have aided and abetted the commission of war crimes and the crime of aggression all amounting to crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. Certainly the flood of arms, primarily through Jordan and Turkey, engendered the use of the nationals of State Parties. Jordanian citizens would be subject to immediate scrutiny. But the State Party weapons suppliers mentioned earlier—Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania—undoubtedly employed their citizens in implementing the arms shipments.38 Jordan was a particularly accommodating State Party. Not only did it allow weapons to flow over its border into Syria, it used its military cargo planes to expedite the delivery of weapons by its fellow State Party nations. Not satisfied with these brazen breaches in the Rome Statute, Jordan also permitted foreign intelligence agents to operate secret training camps on its territory.39 One wonders why it bothered to sign and ratify the Rome Statute. Finally, the flow of foreign fighters into Syria was intense and mostly ignored until of late. At least 81 countries, half of them signatories to the Rome Statute, provided at least 2,500 of their citizens to participate in the Cabal’s crime of aggression in Syria.40 Of course, this number has expanded significantly since the documentation occurred.

37

Ibid., Article 13, Exercise of jurisdiction.

38 See, e.g., Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With Aid From C.I.A., New York Times, March 24, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/world/middleeast/arms-airlift-to-syrian-rebels-expands-with-cia-aid.html?pagewanted=all; Saudis Step Up Help for Rebels in Syria With Croatian Arms, New York Times, February 25, 2013 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/world/middleeast/in-shift-saudis-are-said-to-arm-rebels-in-syria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Syria Crisis: Where Syrian Fighters Get Their Weapons From, Reuters, July 13, 2012; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/13/syria-crisis-rebels-weapons_n_1670780.html; Advanced U.S. Weapons Flow to Syrian Rebels, Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2014, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304626304579509401865454762; In Turnabout, Syria Rebels Get Libyan Weapons, , New York Times, June 21, 2013 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/22/world/africa/in-a-turnabout-syria-rebels-get-libyan-weapons.html?_r=0 Profit and Proliferation: A Special Report on Belgian Arms in the Arab Uprising, Part I New York Times, April 5, 2012 http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/profit-and-proliferation-a-special-report-on-belgian-arms-in-the-arab-uprising-part-i/ Profit and Proliferation, Part 2: Will Belgian Arms End Up in Syria? New York Times, April 6, 2012 http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/profit-and-proliferation-part-2-will-belgian-arms-end-up-in-syria/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

39 CIA ramping up covert training program for moderate Syrian rebels, Washington Post, October 2, 2013

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-ramping-up-covert-training-program-for-moderate-syrian-rebels/2013/10/02/a0bba084-2af6-11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_story.html; CIA Activities in Syria: US Never Stops to Step on Same Rake, Global Research, October 7, 2013, http://www.globalresearch.ca/cia-activities-in-syria-us-never-stops-to-step-on-same-rake/5353324; I LEARNED TO FIGHT LIKE AN AMERICAN AT THE FSA TRAINING CAMP IN JORDAN, VICE.COM, April 3, 2014 http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/syria-deraa-USA-Jordan-FSA-regime-CIA;

40 Hundreds Of Westerners Have Joined ISIS, And Here's Where They Came From, Business Insider, April 27, 2014

http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-is-recruiting-westerners-countries-2014-8; FOREIGN FIGHTERS IN SYRIA, Soufan Group, June 2014, http://soufangroup.com/foreign-fighters-in-syria/; Turkey struggles as "lone gatekeeper" against Islamic State

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/world/middleeast/arms-airlift-to-syrian-rebels-expands-with-cia-aid.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/world/middleeast/in-shift-saudis-are-said-to-arm-rebels-in-syria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304626304579509401865454762

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/22/world/africa/in-a-turnabout-syria-rebels-get-libyan-weapons.html?_r=0








http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-is-recruiting-westerners-countries-2014-8

http://soufangroup.com/foreign-fighters-in-syria/


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These criminal practices have been the subject of considerable publicity and controversy. The above cited State Parties and their nationals who supplied the vast arsenal of weaponry to the forces attempting to overthrow the duly constituted Syrian government surely knew that the armaments would be used in the furtherance of a crime of aggression. Surely they should have known that such a crime would be within the jurisdiction of the Court. In the case of Croatia, the huge size of the weapons shipments suggests such foreknowledge and approval by the government thus implying criminal intent by the government. C. ADMISSIBILITY: GRAVITY, COMPLEMENTARITY AND INTERESTS OF JUSTICE 1. Gravity From any viewpoint, the nature, scale and impact of these acts of astounding violence provides reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity, war crimes and the overarching crime of aggression have been committed. Can there be any doubt that the conduct in question is of sufficient gravity to fall within the Court’s jurisdiction as a matter of principle? Hundreds of thousands killed, half of Syria’s population displaced, three million have fled to neighboring countries. Does this not render self-evident the question of whether this conduct is sufficiently grave and disproportionate to pass the gravity threshold? Is it not almost beyond the reach of human thought that arming, training and encouraging mercenary forces to overthrow a sovereign nation would entail such wholesale murder of innocent people? Have not the consumption of the internal organs of dying people, along with crucifixions, beheadings and dismemberments gone well beyond all standards of “gravity?” The interests of the victims of these horrors must be served. Is this not what the Court meant when it said in its Preamble (see Appendix, Exhibit 1) that “the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured”? 2. Complementarity There are no national investigative or prosecutorial authorities willing or able to investigate or bring to trial the conduct that is the subject of this Complaint. Surely none of the institutions of these Accused are interested. And an investigation by Syrian authorities, a nation beset on all sides by aggressors, is clearly unfeasible and even ridiculous. As matters now stand, there is no possibility that some national authority would investigate much less prosecute these crimes. Accordingly, the only institution capable of conducting an investigation is the International Criminal Court. This Court is indeed humanity’s justice institution of last resort. 3. Interests of Justice Clearly these crimes are of sufficient gravity to fall within the jurisdiction of the Court. Equally evident is the incontrovertible fact that any and all national authorities are unwilling and/or unable to investigate such massive crimes. Accordingly, it is inconceivable that the interests of justice would intervene against the investigation of these crimes. The sheer mayhem involved in this aggression would argue for investigation. Furthermore, it is essential that the commitment of State Parties to vigorous enforcement the Rome Statue continue. The Court itself said as much

Paragraph four of the Preamble underlines that the States Parties are determined to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community and thus to contribute to

recruitment, REUTERS, August 26, 2014, http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN0GQ0ZE20140826?feedType=RSS&sp=true;

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN0GQ0ZE20140826?feedType=RSS&sp=true


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their prevention. The last paragraph indicates their resolve “to guarantee lasting respect for and the enforcement of international justice”. Thus, considerations of prevention of serious crimes and guaranteeing lasting respect for international justice may be significant touchstones in assessing the interests of justice.41

It is exactly the impunity of the Criminal Cabal that must be checked. Nothing less than the continuation of a law-abiding world is at stake. Notwithstanding this, the Prosecutor has a specific responsibility to consider the interests of the victims42—hundreds of thousands killed, millions displaced by the aggression perpetrated by the Criminal Cabal. And not just to see justice done on their behalf but to see justice triumphant as a safeguard for all those who might be victims of this, or some other criminal cabal in the future. Everything depends upon making impunity impossible. D. CRIMES WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE COURT The following summary sets out some of the central evidence of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. Obviously, it does not purport to provide an exhaustive summary of all the evidence available in respect to each crime. Nor is it intended to set out exhaustively all those crimes under the Statute which may have arisen through these criminal acts. It does, however, identify and summarize a body of evidence which indicates a reasonable basis (indeed, in some instances, a compelling basis) for concluding, at this stage, that these incidents and circumstances involve crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. It is important to note that Rome Statute, Article 8 is clear that those aggressors that empower mercenaries receive no protection from the law, to wit, Article 8 (2) (g):

The sending by or on behalf of a State of armed bands, groups, irregulars or mercenaries, which carry out acts of armed force against another State of such gravity as to amount to the acts listed above, or its substantial involvement therein.43

Accordingly, the following nations are charged as follows: Jordan

Primary malefactor. There are twelve nations herein accused of criminal behavior relevant to the breach of the Rome Statute. Of the five Principal Accused only one, Jordan, is a State Party signatory to the Rome Statute. Jordan has been extraordinarily helpful as a war monger to the other members of the Criminal Cabal—the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It has employed and devoted its intelligence services, its military transport planes for weapons delivery and its own territory for training purposes in the planning, preparation, initiation and execution of an act of aggression against the sovereign nation of Syria. These are gross and obvious crimes against the Rome Statute, a body of law that Jordan embraced, signing on 7 October 1998, ratifying on 11 April 2002 and now in complete and criminal breach of Article 8, Crime of Aggression.

41 International Criminal Court, Policy Paper on the Interests of Justice, Understanding the meaning of the Interests of Justice

within the Statute, 4 (c). September 2007. http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/772C95C9-F54D-4321-BF09-73422BB23528/143640/ICCOTPInterestsOfJustice.pdf’

42

Ibid., p. 5. 43

Rome Statute, Article 8 (2) (g), Crime of aggression.

http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/772C95C9-F54D-4321-BF09-73422BB23528/143640/ICCOTPInterestsOfJustice.pdf


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Contributed to the “planning, preparation, initiation or execution” of an act of aggression which by its character and scale constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations. (Article 8 (2), Crime of aggression)

Aided and abetted subsequent crimes against humanity. Rome Statute, Article 7, Crimes against humanity, paragraph 1, “widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population…” (a) Murder, (b) Extermination, (d) Forcible transfer of population, (f) Torture, (h) Persecution, (Enforced disappearance of persons, (k) Other inhumane acts.

United States of America

Primary malefactor. Adana, Turkey control center. Encouraged and incited State Party nations—Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Great Britain, Romania—to provide intelligence services and military instruction to mercenary forces to attack the sovereign nation of Syria. Procurer of arms for illegal mercenary forces to commit the crime of aggression.



Turkey

Primary malefactor. Procurer and supplier of arms, including chemical weaponry, to mercenary forces, primarily al-Nusra gangs. Prime minister contributed relentless war-mongering rhetoric against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Intelligence services intensively aided rebel militants.

Provided transportation services for weapons and other lethal equipment to mercenaries.



Saudi Arabia

Primary malefactor. Provided intelligence services and military instruction to mercenary forces to attack the sovereign nation of Syria.

Provided financing for weapons procurement to overthrow Syrian government.

Provided transportation services for weapons and other lethal equipment to mercenaries.


Aiding and abetting subsequent crimes against humanity. Rome Statute, Article 7, Crimes against humanity, paragraph 1, “widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population…” (a) Murder, (b) Extermination, (d) Forcible transfer


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of population, (f) Torture, (h) Persecution, (Enforced disappearance of persons, (k) Other inhumane acts.

Qatar

Primary malefactor. Provided intelligence services and military instruction to mercenary forces to attack the sovereign nation of Syria.

Provided financing for weapons procurement to overthrow duly constituted Syrian government.

Provided transportation services for weapons and other lethal equipment to mercenary forces.



Belgium

Secondary malefactor. Provided weapons for use by illegal mercenaries to overthrow the duly established government of Syria.



Bulgaria




Croatia





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France

Provided intelligence services and military instruction to mercenary forces to attack the sovereign nation of Syria.

Aided and abetted the illegal transfer of armaments and other lethal weaponry.



Great Britain

Provided intelligence services and military instruction to mercenary forces to attack the sovereign nation of Syria.

Conspired with CIA to conceal from the U.S. Congress weapons illegal transfers from Libya to Syria



Romania




Principal Accused: United States of America Turkey Saudi Arabia Qatar Jordan*

Accessory Accused:

Belgium* Bulgaria*

Croatia*

France*

Great Britain*

Romania*

* State Party to Rome Statute


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E. SUMMARY OF CHARGES In accordance with the Rome Statute, Article 25, Individual Criminal Responsibility, the names and capacities of the individuals shown below are specifically charged with flagrantly violating the letter and spirit of the law that constrains civilized nations from committing crimes against humanity and aggression. Importantly, Article 27, Irrelevance of Official Capacity, renders a truly democratic and humanistic approach to the enforcement of the Rome Statute. Not only are all people equal under the law, no person or persons, no matter how important and prestigious, is above the law. A cat may not only look at a king, but can also file a criminal complaint against the monarch. From the lowest to the highest, the International Criminal Court embraces a truly democratic safeguard for humanity. No immunities or special treatment are allowed under national or international law for those brought before the Court. No doubt to George Orwell’s delight, there is indeed a place in this world where no one person is more equal than others, to wit, the International Criminal Court. The Complainant understands that there may well be lesser included offenses that might be deemed chargeable. Accordingly, it is also understood that the generality of the following charges are a consequence of the evidence now extant. Thus, there may well be a modification, extenuation or heightening in the seriousness of the crimes ultimately charged. In that spirit and resolve, and well aware that a thorough investigation by the Prosecutor must and should ensue, the Complainant accuses the following individuals accordingly:

ACCUSED: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Barack Hussein Obama President of the United States, 21 January 2009-present Date of Birth: August 4, 1961 Place of Birth: Honolulu, Hawaii Nationality: American

CHARGES:

Responsible for the planning, preparation, initiation and execution of an act of aggression which by its character and scale constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations. (Article 8 (2), Crime of aggression)

Aided and abetted the subsequent crimes against humanity. Rome Statute, Article 7, Crimes against humanity, paragraph 1, “widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population…” (a) Murder, (b) Extermination, (d) Forcible transfer of population, (f) Torture, (h) Persecution, (Enforced disappearance of persons, (k) Other inhumane acts.


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Hillary Rodham Clinton US Secretary of State, 21 January 2009-1 February 2013 Date of Birth: October 26, 1947 Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois Nationality: American

CHARGES:

Aided and abetted the planning, preparation, initiation and execution of an act of aggression which by its character and scale constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations. (Article 8 (2), Crime of aggression)


John Forbes Kerry US Secretary of State, 1 February 2013-present Date of Birth: December 11, 1943 Place of Birth: Aurora, Colorado Nationality: American

CHARGES



John Owen Brennan Director of CIA, 8 March 2013-present Date of Birth: September 22, 1955 Place of Birth: North Bergen, New Jersey Nationality: American

CHARGES




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Michael Joseph Morell Acting Director of the CIA, 9 November 2012 – 8 March 2013 Date of Birth: September 4, 1958 Place of Birth: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Nationality: American

CHARGES



David Howell Petraeus Director of CIA, 6 September 2011 – 9 November 2012 Date of Birth: November 7, 1952 Place of Birth: Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York Nationality: American

CHARGES


Aided and abetted the subsequent crimes against humanity. Rome Statute, Article 7, Crimes against

humanity, paragraph 1, “widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population…” (a) Murder, (b) Extermination, (d) Forcible transfer of population, (f) Torture, (h) Persecution, (Enforced disappearance of persons, (k) Other inhumane acts.

Leon Edward Panetta Director of CIA, 13 February 2009 – 30 June 2011 Date of Birth: June 28, 1938 Place of Birth: Monterey, California Nationality: American

CHARGES




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ACCUSED: TURKEY

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ex-Prime Minister now President of Turkey 14 March 2003-present Date of Birth: 26 February 1954 Place of Birth: Istanbul Nationality: Turkish

CHARGES



Ahmet Davutoğlu ex-Foreign Minister now Prime Minister of Turkey Date of Birth: 26 February 1959 Place of Birth: Taşkent, Konya Province, Turkey Nationality: Turkish

CHARGES



Hakan Fidan Director of Turkish Intelligence (M.I.T.), 27 May 2010-present Date of Birth: 1968 Place of Birth: Ankara Nationality: Turkish

CHARGES




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ACCUSED: SAUDI ARABIA

Abdullah bin Abdulaziz King of Saudia Arabia, 1 August 2005-present Date of Birth: 1 August 1924 Place of Birth: Nationality: Saudi

CHARGES



Prince Saud al-Faisal Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, 13 October 1975-present Date of Birth: 2 January 1940 Place of Birth: Nationality: Saudi

CHARGES



ACCUSED: QATAR

Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani Emir of Qatar, 25 June 2013-present Date of Birth: 3June 1980 Place of Birth: Nationality: Qatari

CHARGES




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Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani Prime Minister of Qatar, 26 June 2013-present Date of Birth: 1959 Place of Birth: Nationality: Qatari

CHARGES



Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Ex-Emir of Qatar, 27 June 1995-25 June 2013 Date of Birth: 1952 Place of Birth: Nationality: Qatari

CHARGES



ACCUSED: JORDAN

Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein King of Jordan, 7 February 1999-present Date of Birth: 30 January 1962 Place of Birth: Amman Nationality: Jordanian

CHARGES




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Abdullah Ensour Prime Minister of Jordan, October 2012-present Date of Birth: 20 January 1939 Place of Birth: Salt Nationality: Jordanian

CHARGES


Aided and abetted the subsequent crimes against humanity. Rome Statute, Article 7, Crimes against humanity, paragraph 1, “widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population…” (a) Murder, (b) Extermination, (d) Forcible transfer of population, (f) Torture, (h) Persecution, (Enforced

disappearance of persons, (k) Other inhumane acts.

ACCUSED: BELGIUM

Elio Di Rupo Prime Minister of Belgium, 6 December 2011-present Date of Birth: 18 July 1951 Place of Birth: Morlanwelz, Wallonia Nationality: Belgian

CHARGES



ACCUSED: BULGARIA

Boyko Borisov Prime Minister of Bulgaria, 27 July 2009 – 13 March 2013 Date of Birth: 13 June 1959 Place of Birth: Bankya Nationality: Bulgarian

CHARGES




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Marin Raykov Nikolov Acting Prime Minister of Bulgaria, 13 March 2013 – 29 May 2013 Date of Birth: 17 December 1960 Place of Birth: Washington, D.C., USA Nationality: Bulgarian

CHARGES



Plamen Vasilev Oresharski Prime Minister of Bulgaria, 29 May 2013 – 6 August 2014 Date of Birth: 21 February 1960 Place of Birth: Dupnista Nationality: Bulgarian

CHARGES



ACCUSED: CROATIA

Ivo Josipović President of Croatia, 19 February 2010-present Date of Birth: 28 August 1957 Place of Birth: Zagreb Nationality: Croatian

CHARGES




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Zoran Milanović Prime Minister of Croatia, 23 December 2011-present Date of Birth: 30 October 1966 Place of Birth: Nationality: Croatian

CHARGES



ACCUSED: FRANCE

François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande President of France, 15 May 2012-present Date of Birth: 12 August 1954 Place of Birth: Rouen Nationality: French

CHARGES



ACCUSED: GREAT BRITAIN

David William Donald Cameron Prime Minister of England, 11 May 2010-presnet Date of Birth: 9 October 1966 Place of Birth: London Nationality: English

CHARGES




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ACCUSED: ROMANIA Traian Băsescu President of Romania, 27 August 2012-present Date of Birth: 4 November 1951 Place of Birth: Basarabi Nationality: Romanian

CHARGES



Victor-Viorel Ponta Prime Minister, 7 May 2012-present Date of Birth: 20 September 1972 Place of Birth: Bucharest Nationality: Romanian

CHARGES




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G. CONCLUSION Law and life are sacred things. Without the former, the latter is valueless and predatory. Today, we approach that sad condition. When it doesn’t suit their immediate interest, nations honor bound to abide by the humane purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations blithely ignore their airy promises and attempt to destroy sovereign nations not to their liking. Talk is cheap and bombs are loud and deadly. Many nations, impressed with the idea of it all, have codified their support for and adherence to a legal remedy to help prevent the most serious crimes of international concern, that is, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Importantly, they became signatories to this legislation, the Rome Statute. What an important first step towards a more peaceful world! Yet, while the ink was still damp, a few violated their obligations arising from this Statute and provided rogue state, non-signatory aggressor nations with a full range of accomplice services: weapons procurement, transportation, mercenary training camps and shared intelligence operations. All of this was designed to aid and abet the perpetration of war crimes against the Syrian Arab Republic. Employing violent, mercenary hordes, these rogue states attacked their latest enemy–of-choice. And some State Parties bound together by the Rome Statute acted as accomplices for the Criminal Cabal. What a grand, cowardly new world we all inhabit! And it will not stop. We see the purpose. Nothing is any longer mysterious. We see the current Syrian catastrophe as the awful proof hurled in our faces by these criminal aggressors, this Criminal Cabal. The law is ignored with impunity. Impunity, that sublimely arrogant condition with respect to the law that the International Criminal Court seeks to end. Justice has been slow in coming in this war-torn century. Lies and deceptions fuel barbaric, murderous hordes on the payrolls of the great powers and their secretive intelligence operators. Justice too long delayed is justice denied, said Martin Luther King almost fifty years ago. Can we not arrest this rush to chaos, this deadly, immoral, illegal marathon of aggression? Only the law can stop these deadly, dark powers. This court, the International Criminal Court, is now the only judicial institution that can save the international community that it has pledged to protect. Without an investigation by the Prosecutor there can be no doubt that the result will be a continuation of the absolute impunity of the Criminal Cabal. The gravest, most atrocious crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court are flung in its face and in the face of humanity. To do nothing is an even graver crime. “Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man,” said John F. Kennedy over a half-century ago, adding, “And man can be as big as he wants.” That is indeed the question. We well know how low some specimens of humanity can stoop. But with the courageous support and determination of the International Criminal Court we, the vast majority of peace-loving members of the international community, can become a huge force for international restraint and even peace. Finally, it is respectfully requested that the International Criminal Court immediately issue arrest warrants for the above name principal Accused in accordance with Rome Statute Article 58(1)(a), Article 58(1)(b)(i), Article 58(1)(b)(ii), and Article 58(1)(b)(iii). The sooner the better for all humankind. The sooner the better that the legal battle against impunity begins. James C. Ryan. Ph.D. Istanbul, Turkey 6 October 2014


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H. THE COMPLAINANT James C. Ryan is a writer, an aggressive peace activist and a columnist for Aydınlık Daily, an Istanbul-based newspaper. He is a 1962 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. In response to the war criminality of the Bush administration’s attack preemptive attack on Iraq, he co-founded West Point Graduates Against the War (http://wpgaw.org/) and Service Academy Graduates Against the War (http://sagaw.org/). He holds graduate degrees in literature, economics, fiction writing (M.F.A) and a Ph.D. in the Sociology of Literature. He has taught at Columbia University, the City College of New York, and Istanbul’s Kadır Has University.

Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or

future agreement with him was impossible. —George Orwell, 1984

http://wpgaw.org/

http://sagaw.org/


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APPENDICES 1. Preamble: Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court…….. 36 2. Foreign Fighters in Syria……………………………………………… 37 3. Media Evidentiary Extracts (chronological)…………………………. 39


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APPENDIX 1 Preamble: Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

PREAMBLE

The States Parties to this Statute,

Conscious that all peoples are united by common bonds, their cultures pieced

together in a shared heritage, and concerned that this delicate mosaic may be

shattered at any time,

Mindful that during this century millions of children, women and men have been

victims of unimaginable atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity,

Recognizing that such grave crimes threaten the peace, security and well-being of

the world,

Affirming that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as

a whole must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured

by taking measures at the national level and by enhancing international cooperation,

Determined to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes and thus

to contribute to the prevention of such crimes,

Recalling that it is the duty of every State to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over

those responsible for international crimes,

Reaffirming the Purposes and Principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and

in particular that all States shall refrain from the threat or use of force against the

territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner

inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations,

Emphasizing in this connection that nothing in this Statute shall be taken as

authorizing any State Party to intervene in an armed conflict or in the internal affairs

of any State,

Determined to these ends and for the sake of present and future generations, to

establish an independent permanent International Criminal Court in relationship

with the United Nations system, with jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of

concern to the international community as a whole,

Emphasizing that the International Criminal Court established under this Statute

shall be complementary to national criminal jurisdictions,

Resolved to guarantee lasting respect for and the enforcement of international

justice,

Have agreed as follows:


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APPENDIX 2, FOREIGN FIGHTERS IN SYRIA Extracted from Foreign Fighters in Syria by Richard Barrett, The Soufan Group, June 2014, Pp. 13-14. http://en.calameo.com/read/000009779f631011a5baa

Note: State Party Signatories to Rome Statute are highlighted in yellow

http://en.calameo.com/read/000009779f631011a5baa


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APPENDIX 3, Media Evidentiary Extracts (chronological)

Aggressive War: Supreme International Crime International Clearing House, by Marjorie Cohn 11 September 2004


Associate United States Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson was the chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunal. In his report to the State Department, Justice Jackson wrote: "No political or economic situation can justify" the crime of aggression. He also said: "If certain acts in violation of treaties are crimes they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them, and we are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us."

Bush's war on Iraq is a war of aggression. "Aggression is the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations, as set out in this definition," according to General Assembly Resolution 3314, passed in the wake of Vietnam.

The only two situations where the UN Charter permits the use of armed force against another state is in self-defense, or when authorized by the Security Council.

Virtually every Western democracy has ratified the treaty of the International Criminal Court, except the United States.

Bush knows that the Court will also punish war crimes.

Following the Holocaust, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg called the waging of aggressive war "essentially an evil thing . . . to initiate a war of aggression . . . is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

Nuremberg prosecutor Justice Jackson labeled the crime of aggression "the greatest menace of our times." More than 50 years later, his words still ring true.

Marjorie Cohn, a contributing editor to t r u t h o u t, is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, executive vice president of the National Lawyers Guild, and the U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists.

Pakistan: Dozens of Europeans in terror training The Washington Post, by Kathy Gannon October 3, 2010

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/03/AR2010100302119.html

A senior official of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, told The Associated Press that there are believed to be "several dozen" people with European citizenship - many of Pakistani origin - among the Islamic extremists operating in the lawless border area.

Britain's communications monitoring agency, the Government Communications Headquarters or GCHQ, estimates there are as many as 20 British-born militants in the border area,

70 people have traveled from Germany to Pakistan and Afghanistan for paramilitary training, and that about a third of them have returned to Germany

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to talk about classified information to the media, said foreigners in the area also include Chechens, Uzbeks, Arabs and Turks, one of whom was a former F-16 pilot in the Turkish air force. "That shows you that some of the people who are coming are very well educated," he said.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/03/AR2010100302119.html


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Erdogan Receives Gaddafi Human Rights Prize Tripoli Post 6 December 2010


Erdogan said countries of the region could not turn their back to each other, and they could not remain indifferent to each other's problems.

Turkey's prime minister said that Turkey was objecting to injustice and violence all around the world just for the sake of humanity.

Erdogan said Turkey would never turn a blind eye to massacre of innocent people, particularly children, with modern weapons, and Turkey would not remain silent and indifferent to violence in the world.

Erdogan said Turkey would continue to defend rights of people who faced injustice, violence and invasion in the Middle East and the world.

Erdogan also said Turkey wanted peace and justice in its region and the world, and if there was peace, compromise, stability and welfare, in the region, everybody would benefit from them.

The Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights is an annual prize founded by and named after Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi.

Libya: foreign mercenaries terrorising citizens The Telegraph, By Adrian Blomfield, Salloum February 23, 2011


The mercenaries had been in action, repeatedly opened fire without warning on what he said were peaceful civilian protesters, when Mr Ibrahim and his allies got news that reinforcements were travelling into the city. The aircraft landed at the nearby Abruk military airport bringing with it a fresh cargo of mercenaries.

UN Security Council Resolution 1970, Condemned use of lethal force, enacted sanctions February 26, 2011


Arms embargo, 9. Decides that all Member States shall immediately take the necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, from or through their territories or by their nationals, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment, and spare parts for the aforementioned, and technical assistance, training, financial or other assistance, related to military activities or the provision, maintenance or use of any arms and related materiel, including the provision of armed mercenary personnel whether or not originating in their territories…

[Turkish] PM rules out NATO intervention in Libya Today’s Zaman February 28, 2011


PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday firmly ruled out any NATO intervention in the Libyan crisis, while he strongly criticized European countries due to their “double-standard” approach towards developments in North Africa.

“What has NATO to do in Libya? NATO's intervention in Libya is out of the question. We are against

such a thing,” Erdoğan said in a speech delivered at a meeting organized by the Turkish-German

Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TD-IHK) in Hanover.

“We are not one of those who see oil when looking at the Middle East,” Erdoğan said.







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In Great Company: Erdogan Wins Gaddafi Human Rights Prize Asbarez.com March 2, 2011


The absurdity of embattled Libyan leader Mommar Gadaffi’s reign has many dimensions, one which is the “Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights,” which last November was awarded to none other than his closer friend and ally, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Not surprisingly, Erdogan was a holdout in international efforts and concerns regarding the Libyan uprising against Gaddafi.

UN Security Council Resolution 1973 March 17, 2011


Acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, Demands the immediate establishment of

a cease-fire and a complete end to violence and all attacks against, and abuses of, civilians;

Protection of civilians 4. Authorizes Member States that have notified the Secretary-General, acting

nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, and acting in cooperation with the Secretary-General, to take all necessary measures, notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011), to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack…

Note: Paragraph 9 of resolution 1970, shown earlier, imposed an arms embargo. This was rescinded in resolution 1973 for the “Protection of Civilians.” Parliament OKs Turkey's involvement in Libya The Oakland Press March 24, 2011


Turkey's parliament has authorized the government to participate in military operations in Libya, including enforcing the no-fly zone.

Libya: Nato to control no-fly zone after France gives way to Turkey

The Guardian, by Ian Traynor in Brussels and Nicholas Watt 24 March 2011

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/24/france-turkey-nato-libya

Rasmussen said that the 28 member nations have agreed to act in order to protect Libyan civilians from

attacks by forces loyal to Gaddafi.

Nato "assets" will be used to co-ordinate all aspects of the military campaign against Libya, including enforcement of the no-fly zone, protecting civilians through air strikes and enforcing a UN arms embargo.

Turkey and the War on Libya: Defusing another UN Time Bomb Global Research, by Eric Wahlberg March 31, 2011

http://www.globalresearch.ca/turkey-and-the-war-on-libya-defusing-another-un-time-bomb/24058

From the start, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the idea of a no-fly-zone as “such nonsense. What does NATO have to do with Libya?”

US Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone said the US and Turkey share almost the same views on military action in Libya, agreeing that the most important thing was to protect the people of Libya, and that Turkey had a unique role in the region and a special expertise because of historical and cultural reasons.




http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/24/france-turkey-nato-libya

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/libya

http://www.globalresearch.ca/turkey-and-the-war-on-libya-defusing-another-un-time-bomb/24058


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He [Erdogan] warned that a drawn-out conflict risked turning the country into a “second Iraq” or “another Afghanistan” with devastating repercussions both for Libya and the NATO states leading the intervention.

Libyan Rebels Say They’re Being Sent Weapons The New York Times, By ROD NORDLAND April 16, 2011


Libyan rebels in their eastern capital of Benghazi said they had begun receiving arms from abroad…

The rebel military leader, Gen. Abdel Fattah Younes, said Saturday in an interview with Al Arabiya, a satellite news channel, that his forces had received weapons supplies from unidentified nations that supported their uprising.

On Thursday, however, the emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, told CNN that his country would provide weapons to the rebels and that deliveries of antitank weapons might already have reached them. Qatar, along with Italy and France, has already recognized the rebels as the legitimate government of Libya.

CIA Başkanı'ndan 'çok gizli' ziyaret (A Top Secret Visit from the Director of the CIA) Sabah Gazete , by Yahya Bostan April 26, 2011

http://www.sabah.com.tr/Gundem/2011/04/26/cia-baskanindan-cok-gizli-ziyaret

Buna göre ABD Merkezi Haberalma Teşkilatı (CIA) Başkanı Leon Panetta Mart ayı sonunda Türkiye'ye sürpriz bir ziyaret gerçekleştirdi. Panetta'nın 5 gün süren Ankara ziyareti kamuoyundan sır gibi saklandı. "Gizli Gizli" koduyla yapılan görüşmelerde CIA Başkanı ve heyeti kayıtlara "Çok Önemli Konuk" olarak geçti.

CIA Başkanı Panetta'nın Ankara temaslarında Arap isyanları konusu ilk sırada yer aldı. Libya'ya "kriz", Suriye'ye "kritik eşik" tanımlaması yapıldı.

Türkiye tarafından Suriye'ye ilişkin "Gizli Kod" olarak tanımlanan ayrıntılar da ele alındı. "Gizli Kod"un Suriye'deki rejim değişikliğini ve Esad ailesinin can güvenliğinin sağlanmasını içerdiği belirtiliyor.

MİT Müsteşarı Hakan Fidan Eylül 2010 tarihinde Washington'a kritik bir ziyaret gerçekleştirdi.

Turkish Leader Says Qaddafi Must Step Down Immediately May 3, 2011 New York Times, By SEBNEM ARSU and KAREEM FAHIM May 3, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/world/africa/04libya.html?pagewanted=all

In his harshest comments to date on the situation in Libya, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, a regional power broker, told reporters here on Tuesday that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi had chosen “blood, tears, oppression” and that he must “immediately step down.”

The two countries began a visa agreement last year, allowing Libyan citizens to stay in Turkey for at least three months without a visa and signaling a turn in diplomatic and business relations.

US policy on Syria 'depends on success in Libya' BBC, by Kim Ghattas 24 May 2011

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-13529923

There is no suggestion whatsoever that anyone would consider military intervention in Syria but the US and Europe, their hands full in Libya, are wary even of a purely diplomatic quagmire.

While the West decided it could never work with Col Gaddafi again, there would still be a willingness to

work with Mr Assad if he suddenly made concrete, genuine efforts towards dialogue and democracy.

"If we want to address Syria, we have to deal with Libya first," said the diplomat.


http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/04/16/145587.html

http://www.sabah.com.tr/Gundem/2011/04/26/cia-baskanindan-cok-gizli-ziyaret

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/world/africa/04libya.html?pagewanted=all



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La France a parachuté des armes aux rebelles libyens Le Figaro, Philippe Gelie Juin 28, 2011


Constatant, au début du mois de mai, le risque d'impasse militaire, la France a décidé de procéder directement à des parachutages d'armes dans le Djebel Nefousa : lance-roquettes, fusils d'assaut, mitrailleuses et surtout missiles antichars Milan. Jusque-là, les armes acheminées aux rebelles provenaient du Qatar et d'autres émirats du Golfe. Elles étaient convoyées par avion à Benghazi, siège du Conseil national de transition (CNT) à l'Est, puis par bateau jusqu'au port de Misrata, ville côtière prise en étau par les forces loyales au régime.

Turkey Recognizes Libyan Rebels, Gives $300 Million, AP Reports Bloomberg, by Zaid Sabah and Kim Chipman July 4, 2011


Turkey further bolstered the standing of Libyan opposition leaders by recognizing them as rightful representatives of the war-torn nation, according to the Associated Press.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said yesterday that his country gave Libya’s Transitional National Council, a rebel group engaged in armed conflict with the ruling regime of Muammar Qaddafi, $100 million and promised an additional $200 million, according to the AP.

Profit and Proliferation: A Special Report on Belgian Arms in the Arab Uprising, Part I AT WAR New York Times, By DAMIEN SPLEETERS April 5, 2012


Belgium is one of Europe’s busiest exporters of small arms and light weapons. As late as 2010, the last year for which publicly released data is available, 32 percent of the small-arms exports from the European Union to the Middle East and North Africa originated in the small NATO state.

“A lot of Belgian weapons are now in circulation in Libya and probably elsewhere in West and East Africa, exacerbating tensions and conflicts.”

That, in turn, has heightened concerns that Belgian weapons could factor significantly in another Arab uprising: the intensifying conflict in Syria, where some nearby countries have expressed an interest in actively arming the opposition.

As might be expected, the report was not positive about the general situation in Libya and suggested that a weapons deal could breach criterion 2 (“the respect of human rights in the country of final destination”) and criterion 7 (“the existence of a risk that the equipment will be diverted within the buyer country or re-exported under undesirable conditions”) of the European Common Position on Arms Sales.

Profit and Proliferation, Part 2: Will Belgian Arms End Up in Syria? AT WAR New York Times, by DAMIEN SPLEETERS April 6, 2012


Belgium promised 225,000 euros (about $300,000) to an international program led by the United States that is intended to secure the loose stock of heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles in Libya. These weapons were provided to Libya not by Belgium but by former Eastern bloc states.

But Belgium could be confronted with another problem in terms of small arms. Many Libyans say that Qatar, France, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates provided Libyan rebels with weapons during the










http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/reading-the-refuse-counting-col-qaddafis-heat-seeking-missiles-and-tracking-them-back-to-their-sources/


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recent war. Some of these countries are FN Herstal customers, raising the question of whether Belgian small arms, exported to countries that agreed not to re-export them, were nonetheless re-exported.

On Feb. 26, 2011, the United Nations voted the Resolution 1970, imposing an arms embargo in Libya. Nevertheless, in the spring and summer of 2011, Qatar started shipping military material to the rebels in Benghazi. Some of the weapons shipped by Qatar could well have been FN FAL assault rifles produced in Belgium, according to anti-Qaddafi fighters who received them.

Several fighters said in interviews that their FN FALs were supplied by Qatar. Also, a Libyan operator who worked at the Benina airport in Benghazi in April 2011 said he remembered crates from Qatar full of Belgian FALs.

Switzerland, upon seeing military material it sold to Qatar in 2009 reappear in Libya in 2011, suspended its arms-export licenses to Qatar from July to December 2011

The European Common Position on Arms Sales, adopted in 2008, stipulates that the selling country has to assess “the existence of a risk that the equipment will be diverted within the buyer country or re-exported under undesirable conditions.” Qatar, according to the Libyan fighters’ accounts, presents such a risk, as it re-exported military goods to third parties without authorization.

C.I.A. Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Opposition

New York Times, by ERIC SCHMITT June 21, 2012


A small number of C.I.A. officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey, helping allies decide which Syrian opposition fighters across the border will receive arms to fight the Syrian government, according to American officials and Arab intelligence officers.

The weapons, including automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and some antitank weapons, are being funneled mostly across the Turkish border by way of a shadowy network of intermediaries including Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood and paid for by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the officials said.

Last month, these activists said, Turkish Army vehicles delivered antitank weaponry to the border, where it was then smuggled into Syria.

Syria Crisis: Where Syrian Fighters Get Their Weapons From Reuters, By Jonathan Saul and Mariam Karouny July 13, 2012


Syrian rebels are smuggling small arms into Syria through a network of land and sea routes involving cargo ships and trucks moving through Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq, maritime intelligence and Free Syrian Army (FSA) officers say.

"There are three gateways from where we are getting weapons and they are not secret - Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq," an FSA officer in Syria said. "The weapons entering Turkey are by sea and in containers."

"Certainly they are being sourced from the Black Sea area and are coming in by ship," a maritime intelligence source said.

"Because of Bulgaria's gradual decrease of armed forces, the sell-off of arms equipment and the deposition of ammunition, relatively smooth supplies for such deals can be ensured," the former official said

Maritime security sources said consignments were most likely to be transported in ships to Turkey for onward dispatch to rebels inside Syria. Ship containers are hard to track and seen throughout the world as a security concern.

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sc10187.doc.htm





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Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret U.S. support for Syrian rebels REUTERS BY MARK HOSENBALL August 1, 2012

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/01/us-usa-syria-obama-order-idUSBRE8701OK20120801

President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian

President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said. Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding," broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.

A U.S. government source acknowledged that under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.

Last week, Reuters reported that, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey had established a secret base near the Syrian border to help direct vital military and communications support to Assad's opponents.

This "nerve center" is in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 60 miles from the Syrian border, which is also home to Incirlik, a U.S. air base where U.S. military and intelligence agencies maintain a substantial presence.

Obama authorized covert support for Syrian rebels, sources say CNN August 2, 2012


Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department approved a license allowing the Washington Syrian Support Group to provide direct financial assistance to the Free Syrian Army. The Washington-based representative of the Free Syrian Army is allowed to conduct financial transactions on the rebel group's behalf but is not allowed to send military equipment. During the war in Libya, Obama signed a similar directive authorizing covert assistance for rebels in the battle against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Obama strikes out: Photograph of President holding baseball bat while on the phone causes outrage in Turkey Daily Mail August 5, 2012

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183900/Barack-Obama-President-holds-baseball-BAT-phone-Turkish-PM-Tayyip-Erdogan.html

President Obama struck out with Turkey this week after the White House released a photo showing the leader of the free world holding a baseball bat while talking on the phone with the Turkish prime minister.

When asked about possible hidden meanings in the photo, White House secretary Jay Carney said that the president was an avid baseball fan and long-time supporter of the Chicago White Sox.

White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a brief written statement on Friday that her department had seen the commentary and speculation about the photo in the Turkish media.

‘We released the photo with only one purpose in mind, to highlight the President's continuing close relationship with Prime Minister Erdogan and draw attention to the important conversation they had about the worsening situation in Syria,’ she said.

Darnell Gitti-(TAMAMI) Aydinlik August 8. 2012


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/01/us-usa-syria-obama-order-idUSBRE8701OK20120801






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Türkiye’deki Suriyeli teröristleri yöneten ABD Başkonsolosu Daria Darnell’in görev yeri değişti. Aydınlık, Suriyeli töreristlerin İncirlik Üssü’ndeki Kozmik Kriz Merkezi’nden idare edildiği bu merkezinde Darnell tarafından yönetildiğini yazmıştı.

Fars Haber Ajansı Aydınlık’ın haberini dünyaya duyurdu Aydinlik August 9, 2012


Aydınılık’ın “Suriyeli teröristler İncirlik’te eğitiliyor” haberini dünyaya duyurdu. “Suriye’yi Türkiye’nin karıştırdığı imajının arkasından ABD çıktı.. ABD bütün kumpasların baş aktörü.. ABD Türkiye’yi diğer İslam ülkeleri nezdinde bitiriyor..” ifadelerinini kullanıldığı haberde şöyle denildi:

Suriye’de iç karışıklar başlatıldıktan sonra İncirlik Üssü’nde, 5000 muhalif önder ve militan ile diğer Suriyeliler’e askeri eğitim verildi.

Süreci, ABD’nin Adana Başkonsolosu Daria Darnell Yönetiyor... Aydınlık’ta yer alan habere göre “Suriyeli muhalifler, İncirlik Üssü’ndeki Kozmik Kriz Merkezi’nden sevk ve idare ediliyor. Suriye’deki terör olaylarının başlamasından bu yana süreci bizzat ABD’nin Adana Başkonsolosu Daria Darnell yönetiyor.

Rebel Groups in Syria Make Framework for Military New York Times, by NEIL MacFARQUHAR and HWAIDA SAAD December 7, 2012


ANTALYA, Turkey — Military commanders of the main Free Syrian Army units from all over Syria agreed Friday to a unified command structure, bowing to intense pressure from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who the fighters said promised more advanced weapons once a central military council was in place.

fierce arguments from the meeting occasionally overflowed into the marble lobby of a luxury hotel here, where the rebel commanders with their beards, leather jackets and track suits made a sharp contrast to golfers and other guests.

Rebel commanders said that three representatives from the Central Intelligence Agency — one from headquarters, one from Turkey and another from Jordan — attended their discussions here but did not comment.

…there is a growing sense that extremist jihadist forces are beginning to eclipse the rest of the opposition with better weapons and fighters.

The pivotal countries present were Qatar — which provides most of the financing for coalition efforts — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Turkey, commanders said.

The US Is Openly Sending Heavy Weapons From Libya To Syrian Rebels

Business Insider, GEOFFREY INGERSOLL AND MICHAEL B KELLEY December 9, 2012


The Obama administration has decided to launch a covert operation to send heavy weapons to Syrian

rebels, Christina Lamb of The Sunday Times of London reports. Diplomatic sources told the Sunday

Times that the U.S. "bought weapons from the stockpiles of Libya's former dictator Muammar Gaddafi."

The heavy arms include mortars, rocket propelled grenades, anti-tank missiles and the controversial

anti-aircraft heat-seeking SA-7 missiles, which are integral to countering Bashar Al-Assad's bombing

campaign.

The administration has said that the previously hidden CIA operation in Benghazi involved finding,

repurchasing and destroying heavy weaponry looted from Libyan government arsenals, but in October

we reported evidence indicating that U.S. agents — particularly murdered ambassador Chris Stevens —

were at least aware of heavy weapons moving from Libya to jihadist Syrian rebels.


http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/neil_macfarquhar/index.html


http://www.businessinsider.com/author/geoffrey-ingersoll

http://www.businessinsider.com/author/michael-b-kelley




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On Sept. 6 a Libyan ship carrying 400 tons of weapons for Syrian rebels docked in southern

Turkey. The ship's captain was "a Libyan from Benghazi" who worked for the new Libyan government.

Saudis Step Up Help for Rebels in Syria With Croatian Arms

New York Times, By C. J. CHIVERS and ERIC SCHMITT February 25, 2013


Saudi Arabia has financed a large purchase of infantry weapons from Croatia and quietly funneled them to antigovernment fighters in Syria

The weapons began reaching rebels in December via shipments shuttled through Jordan, officials said,

Officials said multiple planeloads of weapons have left Croatia since December, when many Yugoslav weapons, previously unseen in the Syrian civil war, began to appear in videos posted by rebels on YouTube.

Officials familiar with the transfers said the arms were part of an undeclared surplus in Croatia remaining from the 1990s Balkan wars. One Western official said the shipments included “thousands of rifles and hundreds of machine guns” and an unknown quantity of ammunition.

“I can’t imagine bigger quantities of weapons being moved without state sanctioning,” he said. “It is not impossible, but it is just very improbable.”

An official in Washington said the possibility of the transfers from the Balkans was broached last summer, when a senior Croatian official visited Washington and suggested to American officials that Croatia had many weapons available should anyone be interested in moving them to Syria’s rebels

Both Ukrainian-made rifle cartridges that had been purchased by Saudi Arabia and Swiss-made hand grenades that had been provided to the United Arab Emirates were found by journalists to be in rebel possession.

And Belgian-made rifles of a type not known to have been purchased by Syria’s military have been repeatedly seen in rebel hands, suggesting that one of Belgium’s previous rifle customers had transferred the popular weapons to the rebels.

The newspaper said the United States, Croatia’s main political and military ally, was possibly the intermediary, and mentioned four sightings at Pleso Airport of Ilyushin 76 aircraft owned by Jordan International Air Cargo. It said such aircraft had been seen on Dec. 14 and 23, Jan. 6 and Feb. 18.

Arab League support for arming Syrian rebels 'logical' France 24 March 8, 2013

http://www.france24.com/en/20130308-syria-arab-league-arming-rebel-forces-opposition-coalition/

Arab League has stepped up its support for the opposition Syrian National Coalition and given the go-ahead for member nations to arm the rebel forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Report: Americans training Syria rebels in Jordan Reuters March 10, 2013


Americans are training Syrian anti-government fighters in Jordan, the German weekly Der Spiegel said on Sunday, quoting what it said were participants and organizers.

Britain's Guardian newspaper also reported that US trainers were assisting Syrian rebels in Jordan. British and French instructors were also participating in the US-led effort, the Guardian said on Saturday, citing Jordanian security sources.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/c_j_chivers/index.html

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/eric_schmitt/index.html



http://www.france24.com/en/20130308-syria-arab-league-arming-rebel-forces-opposition-coalition/



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Jordanian intelligence services are involved in the program

Saudi Arabia and Qatar are widely believed to be providing weapons to the rebels, and Arab League ministers decided on Wednesday to let member nations arm them.

CIA monitors potential terrorists in Syria YNET March 16, 2013


According to US officials, the CIA has started gathering intelligence on Islamist extremists in preparation for potential drone strikes, the LA Times reported Saturday.

As part of the CIA's efforts, agency officials have met with Syrian rebels in Turkey and Jordan. Report: CIA provides intelligence to Syrian rebels AFP, Yitzhak Benhorin March 23, 2013


The US Central Intelligence Agency has been feeding information to select rebel fighters in Syria to try to make them more effective against government troops, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

The CIA has sent officers to Turkey to help vet rebels who receive arms shipments from Gulf allies, the report said.

In Iraq, the CIA has been directed by the White House to work with elite counterterrorism units

Syrian opposition commanders said the CIA had been working with British, French and Jordanian intelligence services to train rebels in the use of various kinds of weapons, the paper said.

The move comes as the al Nusra Front, the main al-Qaeda-linked group operating in Syria, is deepening its ties to the terrorist organization's central leadership in Pakistan, The Journal said.

Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With Aid From C.I.A. New York Times, by By C. J. CHIVERS and ERIC SCHMITT March 24, 2013


With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders.

It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports.

From offices at secret locations, American intelligence officers have helped the Arab governments shop for weapons, including a large procurement from Croatia

The Turkish government has had oversight over much of the program, down to affixing transponders to trucks ferrying the military goods through Turkey so it might monitor shipments as they move by land into Syria, officials said.

“The intensity and frequency of these flights,” he added, are “suggestive of a well-planned and coordinated clandestine military logistics operation.”

On a string of nights from April 26 through May 4, a Qatari Air Force C-17 — a huge American-made cargo plane — made six landings in Turkey, at Esenboga Airport. By Aug. 8 the Qataris had made 14






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more cargo flights. All came from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a hub for American military logistics in the Middle East.

Qatar has been an active arms supplier — so much so that the United States became concerned about some of the Islamist groups that Qatar has armed.

David H. Petraeus, the C.I.A. director until November, had been instrumental in helping to get this aviation network moving and had prodded various countries to work together on it.

White House officials were regularly briefed on the shipments.

Through the fall, the Qatari Air Force cargo fleet became even more busy, running flights almost every other day in October.

In November, three Royal Jordanian Air Force C-130s landed in Esenboga, in a hint at what would become a stepped-up Jordanian and Saudi role.

…two other Jordanian cargo planes began making a round-trip run between Amman, the capital of Jordan, and Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, where, officials from several countries said, the aircraft were picking up a large Saudi purchase of infantry arms from a Croatian-controlled stockpile.

… records show that two Jordanian Ilyushins bearing the logo of the Jordanian International Air Cargo firm but flying under Jordanian military call signs made a combined 36 round-trip flights between Amman and Croatia from December through February. The same two planes made five flights between Amman and Turkey this January.

Qatari flights continued and the Royal Saudi Air Force began a busy schedule, too — making at least 30 C-130 flights into Esenboga from mid-February to early March this year…

The director of cargo for Jordanian International Air Cargo, Muhammad Jubour, insisted on March 7 that his firm had no knowledge of any flights to or from Croatia. “This is all lies,” he said. “We never did any such thing.”

US to double aid to Syrian rebels following assurances The Telegraph by Richard Spencer 21 April 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10008303/US-to-double-aid-to-Syrian-rebels-following-assurances.html

However, while Saudi Arabia and Qatar are both known to be channeling arms to the rebels, there was no indication that the United States, Britain or other western allies might follow suit.

“Jordanian International Air Cargo,” the official said, “is a front company for Jordan’s air force.”

Asked why his employer’s Web site still displayed images of two Ilyushin-76MFs and text claiming they were part of the company fleet, Mr. Jubour had no immediate reply. That night the company’s Web site was taken down.




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Arab League rejects UN call to stop arming Syrian rebels The Times of Israel by Edith M. Lederer April 23, 2013

http://www.timesofisrael.com/arab-league-rejects-un-call-to-stop-arming-syrian-rebels/

Qatar has led appeals to provide rebel fighters more heavy weapons

Elaraby denied that recent Arab League decisions are hindering Brahimi’s work. “Since the government receives weapons, the opposition receives weapons. I don’t think that’s a hurdle,” he said. “The government is not controlling the country, it is a reality. Some 40 percent of the country is not under the government’s control.”

Free Syrian Army rebels defect to Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra

The Guardian, Mona Mahmood, Ian Black May 8 2013

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/08/free-syrian-army-rebels-defect-islamist-group

Syria's main armed opposition group, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), is losing fighters and capabilities to Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamist organisation with links to al-Qaida that is emerging as the best-equipped, financed and motivated force fighting Bashar al-Assad's regime. Evidence of the growing strength of al-Nusra, gathered from Guardian interviews with FSA commanders across Syria, underlines the dilemma for the US, Britain and other governments as they ponder the question of arming anti-Assad rebels.

FSA men have joined al-Nusra in the last few months, mainly because of a lack of weapons and ammunition.

Al-Nusra has members serving undercover with FSA units so they can spot potential recruits, according to Abu Hassan of the FSA's al-Tawhid Lions brigade.

The US, which has outlawed al-Nusra as a terrorist group, has hesitated to arm the FSA, while the western and Gulf-backed Syrian Opposition Coalition has tried to assuage concerns by promising strict control over weapons. "

Western governments say they are aware of the al-Nusra problem, which is being monitored by intelligence agencies, but they are uncertain about its extent.

"If you join al-Nusra, there is always a gun for you but many of the FSA brigades can't even provide bullets for their fighters," complained Abu Tamim, an FSA man who joined Jabhat al-Nusra in Idlib province.

Syria: Frequency of abductions and extortion of civilians committed by rebel groups IRB - Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 30 May 2013

http://www.ecoi.net/local_link/254206/378708_de.html

AFP reports that extortion by rebel groups "has become rampant" (2 Nov. 2012).

Reuters reports that businessmen and industrialists in Aleppo have been subject to extortion by rebel groups (24Oct. 2012).

According to Voice of America (VOA), a news broadcaster funded by the US government (n.d.), the Farouq battalions in the north have a reputation for extortion, among other crimes (28 Mar. 2013). This rebel group reportedly controls the "lucrative" border crossings to Turkey at Tal Abyad and Bab al Hawa (VOA 28 Mar. 2013).

Several sources indicate that civilian supporters of the government have been victims of kidnapping (GCR2P 15Mar. 2013, 2; AFP 4 Apr. 2013).

According to a Human Rights Watch researcher, as reported by AFP, religious minorities are more vulnerable to kidnappings, because they are viewed as being government supporters (4 Apr. 2013).

http://www.timesofisrael.com/arab-league-rejects-un-call-to-stop-arming-syrian-rebels/

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/08/free-syrian-army-rebels-defect-islamist-group

http://www.theguardian.com/world/al-qaida

http://www.theguardian.com/world/bashar-al-assad

http://www.ecoi.net/local_link/254206/378708_de.html


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In Turnabout, Syria Rebels Get Libyan Weapons New York Times, by C. J. CHIVERS, ERIC SCHMITT and MARK MAZZETTI June 21, 2013


Many of the same people who chased the colonel [Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi] to his grave are busy shuttling his former arms stockpiles to rebels in Syria. The flow is an important source of weapons for the uprising and a case of bloody turnabout, as the inheritors of one strongman’s arsenal use them in the fight against another.

Evidence gathered in Syria, along with flight-control data and interviews with militia members, smugglers, rebels, analysts and officials in several countries, offers a profile of a complex and active multinational effort, financed largely by Qatar…

Extremist fighters, some of them aligned with Al Qaeda, have the money to buy the newly arrived stock, and many rebels are willing to sell.

…sent on ships or Qatar Emiri Air Force flights to a network of intelligence agencies and Syrian opposition leaders in Turkey.

Qatari C-17 cargo aircraft have made at least three stops in Libya this year — including flights from Mitiga airport in Tripoli on Jan. 15 and Feb. 1, and another that departed Benghazi on April 16, according to flight data provided by an aviation official in the region. The planes returned to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The cargo was then flown to Ankara, Turkey..

The movements from Libya complement the airlift that has variously used Saudi, Jordanian and Qatari military cargo planes to funnel military equipment and weapons, including from Croatia…

The Central Intelligence Agency has already played at least a supporting role, the officials say.

But the Libyan influx appears to account for at least a portion of the antitank weapons seen in the conflict this spring, including Belgian-made projectiles for M40 recoilless rifles

Syrian rebels, working with Qatari backers and the Turkish government, have developed a system for acquiring and distributing Libya’s excess stock, Syrian activists and rebels said.

Orders are placed and shipments arranged through the staff of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, a Western-backed opposition committee that was formed in Turkey late last year.

“Any fighting group in Syria that wants weapons from Libya will go to the staff asking for the approval from the Turkish authorities involved in the transfer, then gets it, the weapons arrive in Syria, and everyone gets his due share,”

Syrian rebels to start receiving US weapons amid anxiety from Congress The Guardian, Paul Lewis 23 July 2013

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/23/syria-rebels-us-arms-shipments-congress

The CIA could begin shipping arms to Syria in the coming weeks, after two US congressional panels cleared the way for the controversial transfer of weapons.

CIA ramping up covert training program for moderate Syrian rebels Washington Post, by Greg Miller October 2, 2013


The latest setback came last month, when 11 of the largest armed factions in Syria, including some backed by the United States, announced the formation of an alliance with a goal of creating an Islamic state. The alliance is led by Jabhat al-Nusra, a group that has sworn allegiance to the al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan.

The agency’s training effort is centered in Jordan.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/c_j_chivers/index.html


http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/mark_mazzetti/index.html


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/23/syria-rebels-us-arms-shipments-congress




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Officials said the main CIA training effort does not involve instruction on using high- powered weapons such as rockets and antitank munitions, which are being supplied by countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, although the agency is involved in tracking those arms flows and vetting recipients.

Former deputy CIA director Michael J. Morell said in a recent CBS interview that the most effective organizations on the battlefield in Syria are the Islamist factions…

A spokesman for the ISIS said the group had added 2,000 Syrian recruits and 1,500 foreign fighters over the past two months.

There are also legal impediments, including a measure known as the Leahy Law that would require a determination that no recipients of U.S. military assistance had committed human rights abuses.

CIA Activities in Syria: US Never Stops to Step on Same Rake Global Research, by Andrei Akulov October 7, 2013


The Washington Post informs that US officials spoke on the condition of anonymity and said the agency has sent additional paramilitary teams to secret bases in Jordan in recent weeks in a push to double the number of rebel fighters getting CIA instruction and weapons before being sent back to Syria.

Mr. Obama indicated that a covert effort by the United States to arm and train Syrian rebels was beginning to yield results: the first 50-man cell of fighters, who have been trained by the C.I.A., was beginning to sneak into Syria».

CIA-trained rebels crossed the Syrian border from Jordan. They had been trained for several months in a training camp on the Jordanian-Syrian border by CIA operatives, as well as Jordanian and Israeli commandos…

The CIA training effort is centered in Jordan.

The unification of radicals has become a clear trend.

All of these groups formally commit themselves to sharia as the «sole source of legislation». Bottom line, they were all Islamist from the start. Something Russia had many times warned the West about.

The US-led Western myope policy in Syria has resulted in radical Islam gaining the upper hand inside the Syria opposition to endanger Europe and the entire Mideast.

The goal is a Sunni emirate on the Mediterranean shore and Turkish border.

And this is the time the CIA is involved in activities aimed at making Syria an al-Qaeda safe haven and base camp.

…the government of President Assad now is the only force capable of standing up to the radicals offensive in Syria.

Turkey declares vanishing truck to Syria 'state secret' Al Monitor, Fehim Taştekin January 7, 2014

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/01/vanished-turkish-truck-state-secret.html#

Turkey’s government has used the "state secret" shield to conceal the cargo of a truck suspected of transporting arms to Syria and banished the prosecutor who attempted to search the vehicle.

The men in the truck presented themselves as MIT personnel and did not allow the vehicle to be searched, saying that the cargo was a state secret.

The truck that carried the “state secret” was supposed to enter Syria through the Oncupinar border crossing, which opens on a region controlled partly by the Salafist-dominated Islamic Front and partly by




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the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). The route fuelled suspicions over possible links between those groups and the Turkish government.

Due to MIT’s direct involvement in the truck, the government was caught red-handed this time. Previously, it had managed to censor footage from security cameras after the Feb. 11 explosion at the Cilvegozu border crossing, manipulated the May 11 bombing in Reyhanli although prior intelligence was available and al-Qaeda claimed responsibility, protracted the court case over the chemicals seized in Adana on May 27 and sought to cover up the court case over the truck loaded with weapons seized again in Adana on Nov. 7. To conceal something whose exposure it fears, the government has now resorted to the “state secret” cover, reducing itself to an administration exporting its “state secrets” to the rebels in Syria.

'TIR'ı verin, yoksa çatışma çıkar' Millet Gazete 5 February 2014

http://www.milliyet.com.tr/-tir-i-verin-yoksa-catisma-cikar-/gundem/detay/1832271/default.htm http://www.milliyet.com.tr/-tir-durduran-albay-maksatli/gundem/detay/1832158/default.htm

Adana'da MİT TIR'larına yönelik arama için flaş iddia! O iddiaya göre, TIR'lar Özel Harekat ve Jandarma'yı çatışma noktasına getirdi.

Adana ve Hatay'da, Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı'na (MİT) ait TIR'lara yapılan operasyonla ilgili soruşturmaya ilişkin çok çarpıcı bir iddia ortaya atıldı.

Kelepçelenen MİT personeli yere yatırıldı. Başbakanlık ve Adana Valisi'nin müdahalesi sonucu serbest kalan MİT mensupları, darp raporu alarak ilgililer hakkında şikayetçi oldu.

I LEARNED TO FIGHT LIKE AN AMERICAN AT THE FSA TRAINING CAMP IN JORDAN VICE.COM, by Sara Elizabeth Williams, April 3, 2014


US-run training camp for FSA fighters in the vast Jordanian desert

“The Americans who taught us wore military uniforms I did not recognise. We called them by their first names and they spoke English to us.”

Experts suggest that this isn’t the only Jordan-based programme training moderate Syrians to fight the American way.

The Red Line and the Rat Line London Review of Books, by Seymour M. Hersh 17 April 2014


In 2011 Barack Obama led an allied military intervention in Libya without consulting the US Congress.

Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan was known to be supporting the al-Nusra Front, a jihadist faction among the rebel opposition, as well as other Islamist rebel groups.

The joint chiefs also knew that the Obama administration’s public claims that only the Syrian army had access to sarin were wrong.

‘Turkey and Saudi-based chemical facilitators,’ it said, ‘were attempting to obtain sarin precursors in bulk, tens of kilograms, likely for the anticipated large scale production effort in Syria.’

Last May, more than ten members of the al-Nusra Front were arrested in southern Turkey with what local police told the press were two kilograms of sarin.

Erdoğan administration has been covering up the extent of its involvement with the rebels.

‘There was no way they thought Syria would use nerve gas at that stage, because Assad was winning the war,’ the former intelligence official said.

http://www.milliyet.com.tr/-tir-i-verin-yoksa-catisma-cikar-/gundem/detay/1832271/default.htm

http://www.milliyet.com.tr/-tir-durduran-albay-maksatli/gundem/detay/1832158/default.htm




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The full extent of US co-operation with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in assisting the rebel opposition in Syria has yet to come to light.

The rat line, authorised in early 2012, was used to funnel weapons and ammunition from Libya via southern Turkey and across the Syrian border to the opposition. Many of those in Syria who ultimately received the weapons were jihadists, some of them affiliated with al-Qaida.

A highly classified annex to the report, not made public, described a secret agreement reached in early 2012 between the Obama and Erdoğan administrations. It pertained to the rat line. By the terms of the agreement, funding came from Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the CIA, with the support of MI6, was responsible for getting arms from Gaddafi’s arsenals into Syria.

The operation was run by David Petraeus, the CIA director who would soon resign when it became known he was having an affair with his biographer.

The involvement of MI6 enabled the CIA to evade the law by classifying the mission as a liaison operation.

Washington abruptly ended the CIA’s role in the transfer of arms from Libya after the attack on the consulate, but the rat line kept going.

‘The United States was no longer in control of what the Turks were relaying to the jihadists,’ the former intelligence official said.

‘The MIT was running the political liaison with the rebels, and the Gendarmerie handled military logistics, on-the-scene advice and training – including training in chemical warfare,’ the former intelligence official said.

Erdoğan knew that if he stopped his support of the jihadists it would be all over.

Erdoğan’s hope was to instigate an event that would force the US to cross the red line.

Fidan is known to be fiercely loyal to Erdoğan, and has been seen as a consistent backer of the radical rebel opposition in Syria.

‘One of the issues at that May summit was the fact that Turkey is the only avenue to supply the rebels in Syria,

When Syria wins the war, he knows the rebels are just as likely to turn on him – where else can they go? So now he will have thousands of radicals in his backyard.’

Advanced U.S. Weapons Flow to Syrian Rebels The Wall Street Journal by ELLEN KNICKMEYER, MARIA ABI-HABIB and ADAM ENTOUS April 18, 2014

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304626304579509401865454762

The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have supplied Syrian rebel groups with a small number of advanced American antitank missiles for the first time in a pilot program that could lead to larger flows of sophisticated weaponry

This shift is seen as a test of whether the U.S. can find a trustworthy rebel partner able to keep sophisticated weapons out of the hands of extremists

the two countries oversaw the delivery through neighboring Jordan and Turkey to vetted rebels inside Syria.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia offered to give the opposition Manpads for the first time. But the weapons are still stored in warehouses in Jordan and Turkey.


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Turkey's Syria borders an open door for smugglers

ALMONITOR

April 30, 2014

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ru/originals/2014/04/turkey-syria-borders-smuggling-guns-conflict-kurds-pkk-isis.html#

Akcakale crossing of Sanliurfa, has been under ISIS control since January 2014

While armed groups received logistics support from the Turkish border, smuggling reached incredible dimensions. Oil once smuggled out by hundreds — even thousands — of people in barrels is now smuggled out via plastic pipelines laid across the border.

Another absurdity along the border is the smuggling of cars stolen in Turkey to Syria.

It would be impossible for this activity to continue without the involvement of the organizations controlling the crossings.

Report: Qatar, Saudi Arabia Pay Monthly Salaries to Militants in Fallujah

FARS News Agency June 07, 2014

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930317000560

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants fighting against the Iraqi government in the city

of Fallujah in Anbar Province in Western Iraq receive a monthly salary of USD 700 from the

governments of Riyadh and Doha, the Iraq Al-Qanoun news website quoted member of Fallujah

Liberation Council Maki Al-Issawi as saying.

How Isil is funded, trained and operating in Iraq and Syria REUTERS, By Harriet Alexander, and Alastair Beach August 23, 2014


Five captured oilfields provide up to £1.8 million per day in revenue, with much of the oil smuggled across the border into Turkey and Iran.

Isil is thought to have between 7-12,000 fighters, of whom 3,000 are foreign. A quarter of those are estimated to be British, although Belgium is the largest per-capita European "source" of fighters.

Salaries reportedly range from $300 to $2000 per month depending on the job post. Imperialist war in search of a pretext World Socialist Web 25 August 2014

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/08/25/pers-a25.html

While increasingly apocalyptic administration comments and media headlines declare ISIS to be a deadly threat to the United States, there has been virtually no acknowledgement that the crisis in the Middle East is the direct product of the repeated US interventions.

Through war, occupation and CIA-backed regime-change operations, the American ruling class has created a social and political catastrophe, while stoking sectarian conflict and civil war. More immediately, the US directly aided, armed and trained Syrian “rebel” fighters who went on to form the core of ISIS, seeking to deploy them to overthrow the Assad government there.

The administration’s own claims to be horrified by the beheading of the journalist do not hold water. Its closest ally among the Arab states, Saudi Arabia, beheads people with great regularity—19 in just the month of August—including immigrant nannies fleeing slave-like conditions, and Saudi citizens “guilty” of religious offenses against the Wahabi version of Islam. There have been no condemnations of Saudi savagery from Washington, let alone demands for regime-change in Riyadh.



http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930317000560



http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/08/25/pers-a25.html


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Saudi Arabia executes 19 in one half of August in 'disturbing surge of beheadings' The Independent August 25, 2014

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-executes-19-during-half-of-august-in-disturbing-surge-of-beheadings-9686063.html

Saudi Arabia has beheaded at least 19 people since the beginning of August in a surge of executions, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. According to HRW, international standards require that capital punishment should only be reserved for the “most serious crimes” in countries that still use it. Offences that resulted in the Saudi Arabian death penalties in August ranged from drug smuggling and sorcery.

Arab Nations Strike in Libya, Surprising U.S. The New York Times, By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and ERIC SCHMITT August 25, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/26/world/africa/egypt-and-united-arab-emirates-said-to-have-secretly-carried-out-libya-airstrikes.html?emc=edit_th_20140826&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=18131990

The United States, the officials said, was caught by surprise: Egypt and the Emirates, both close allies and military partners, acted without informing Washington, leaving the Obama administration on the sidelines.

Arrayed against them and backing the Islamists are the rival states of Turkey and Qatar.

“In every arena — in Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Libya, even what happened in Egypt — this regional polarization, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, or U.A.E., on one side and Qatar and Turkey on the other, has proved to be a gigantic impediment to international efforts to resolve any of these crisis,” said Michele Dunne, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former Middle East specialist at the State Department.

Libya in Chaos: Vijay Prashad on Rise of Islamist Militias & Bloody Legacy of 2011 U.S. Intervention Democracy Now, Amy Goodman August 25, 2014

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2014/8/25/libya_in_chaos_vijay_prashad_on

They bombed the country and opened the door for the different militias to now compete against each other. So the day Gaddafi was killed, from then onwards, the militias have basically been at each other’s throats.

There are two reasons why I was principally opposed to the use of American and NATO force. The first reason was I had a very clear sense of who was going to benefit from this. You know, countries take time to develop alternative leaderships. They take time to develop, you know, new forms of political power. If NATO was going to come in, bomb Tripoli, destroy the Libyan state immediately and allow these different archipelago militias to take power, it was going to lead to chaos.

In Syria, the military has very high morale. You know, it has often been amazing to me. I keep wondering, why did the Turks and others believe that the Syrian regime was going to fall like the Libyan regime? They have completely different military structures, and the morale is completely different.

Obama Approves Air Surveillance of ISIS in Syria The New York Times, By MARK LANDLER and HELENE COOPER August 25, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/26/world/middleeast/obama-syria-ISIS.html?emc=edit_th_20140826&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=18131990

Administration officials said the United States did not intend to notify the Assad government of the planned flights.

On Monday, Syria warned the White House that it needed to coordinate airstrikes against ISIS or it would view them as a breach of its sovereignty and an “act of aggression.”



http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/david_d_kirkpatrick/index.html




http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2014/8/25/libya_in_chaos_vijay_prashad_on

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/mark_landler/index.html

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/helene_cooper/index.html




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Some experts noted that the administration had another strong incentive not to do anything to help Mr. Assad. A central element of its strategy is to assemble a coalition in the region against ISIS, enlisting partners like Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Turkey struggles as "lone gatekeeper" against Islamic State recruitment REUTERS, By Nick Tattersall and Mariam Karouny August 26, 2014


Thousands of foreign fighters from countries including Turkey, Britain, parts of Europe and the United States are believed to have joined the Islamist militants in their self-proclaimed caliphate, carved out of eastern Syria and western Iraq, according to diplomats and Turkish officials

Some of the foreign fighters in their midst reached Syria via Turkey, entering the region on flights to Istanbul or Turkey's Mediterranean resorts, their Western passports giving them cover among the millions of tourists arriving each month in one of the world's most visited countries

"Thousands of Europeans have entered Turkey en route to Syria, and a large number of them we believe have joined extremist groups," said one European diplomat in Ankara, describing Turkey as a "top security priority" for the EU.

"If Turkey had not opened its border with Syria ... to Islamic State (IS), if so many fighters had not crossed the border into Syria with their guns and equipment, and if this group had not used Turkey as a base, IS could not have amassed its current strength in Syria," wrote columnist Kadri Gursel on Al-Monitor, a news website focused on the Middle East.

France admits it directly supplied arms to Syrian “rebels” World Socialist Web, By Pierre Mabut 27 August 2014


President François Hollande confirmed in a Le Monde interview on August 19 that France has been

directly supplying arms to the “rebels” of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in its proxy war to remove the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. This came ahead of the recent US decision to intervene militarily in Syria, ostensibly to crush the Islamic State (IS) opposition militia operating in Iraq and Syria.

Indeed, President Hollande and the US bear a “heavy responsibility”, but it is for fomenting the civil war, using reactionary jihadist forces such as the FSA and IS as proxies.

The growth of the jihadist forces in Syria is the direct result of the arming and financing by the CIA, France and the Gulf monarchies as proxy forces to overthrow Assad. Substantial sections of the FSA, which Hollande cynically called “democratic,” have defected to the Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front.

The Leninist in the White House ICH, by Paul Craig Roberts August 28, 2014


Laws do not prevent the US from attacking sovereign countries or from conducting military operations within the borders of sovereign countries.

In Syria has every right to be nervous. The reason ISIS is operating on Syrian territory is that Washington armed them and sent them to Syria. Washington’s air strikes on ISIS could very well be cover for air strikes on Syrian armed forces.

Washington coercion has supplanted the rule of law.

As in Libya, the Obama regime set jihadists lose on Syria, pretending that they were fighting for democracy against a dictator. But Washington lost control over its monster which has gobbled up large parts of Syria and Iraq and is forming them into a new country hostile both to the West and to the Muslim vassals of the West.





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Bombs Away Over Syria! Washington Has Gone Stark Raving Mad By David Stockman August 28, 2014


And when it comes to Syria, Washington avers that there are punishable malefactors virtually everywhere within its borders.

So Obama has already unleashed the drones and surveillance apparatus to identify targets of attack that will help bring down a regime in northern and eastern Syria—the so-called Islamic State—which did not even exist a year ago. And a regime that is now armed to the teeth with America’s own latest and greatest weaponry as previously supplied to the disintegrated Iraqi army and the Syrian rebels trained by the CIA in Jordan.

Adding to this blinding farce is the warning of Syria’s Foreign Affairs minister that Obama should please to request permission before he rains destruction from the sky on the Opposition—-that is, the opposition to the very same Damascus regime which the White House has vowed to eradicate.

How the Islamic State Sustains Itself: The Importance of the War Economy in Syria and Iraq Royal United Services Institute, By Tom Keatinge 29 Aug 2014

https://www.rusi.org/analysis/commentary/ref:C5400649A53E38/#.VAQZaPmSy8B

Even if Doha, Riyadh, and Kuwait – the acknowledged centre of private donor funding for the conflict in Syria – were to decide to stop turning a blind eye this would be unlikely to disrupt ISIS significantly.

Islamic State: Where does jihadist group get its support? BBC 1 September 2014


Islamic State fighters appear to be using captured US military issue arms and weapons supplied to moderate rebels in Syria by Saudi Arabia, according to a report published on Monday.

As Turkey turned blind eye, ISIS took advantage CBS News, by Holly Williams September 5, 2014


"We come in and out," he said at the time. "The Turkish they are closing eyes, when we cross."

Many militants have been treated in Turkish hospitals, and set up safe houses in Turkish border towns.

But Hursit Gunes, a member of Turkey's opposition, claims his government has allowed ISIS to flourish because it prefers the group to the Syrian regime. He even accuses the Turkish authorities of ignoring the militants' lucrative oil smuggling business on Turkey's border.

Report: Islamic State has anti-tank weapons taken from Syrian rebels Washington Post By Thomas Gibbons-Neff September 7, 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/09/07/report-islamic-state-has-anti-tank-weapons-taken-from-syrian-rebels/

Anti-tank weapons that appear to be from stocks transferred to moderate Syrian rebels have landed in the hands of Islamic State militants, according to a newly released field investigation conducted in both northern Iraq and Syria.

The new research suggests they have also amassed arms after overrunning the moderate Syrian rebels being supplied by the United States and other allied nations.

In March, the United States authorized the delivery of anti-tank guided missiles to moderate rebels, after long resisting such deliveries out of fears that advanced weaponry would fall into the hands of extremist


https://www.rusi.org/analysis/commentary/ref:C5400649A53E38/#.VAQZaPmSy8B






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factions in Syria. Long before then, however, U.S. allies including Saudi Arabia and Qatar were funneling weaponry to various rebel factions in the conflict.

Is NATO Ally Turkey Tacitly Fueling the ISIS War Machine? The Daily Beast, by Thomas Seibert September 8, 2014

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/08/is-nato-ally-turkey-tacitly-fueling-the-isis-war-machine.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thedailybeast%2Farticles+%28The+Daily+Beast+-+Latest+Articles%29

And the group widely known by the acronyms ISIS or ISIL is filling its war chest with millions of dollars earned by smuggling thousands of tons of of this black gold into neighboring Turkey, according to independent analysts and Turkish opposition leaders.

The Turkish government of former prime minister and now President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long offered at least tacit support to Syrian rebels fighting against President Bashar Assad. Many of the international volunteers who joined that fight passed through Turkish territory virtually unhindered.

The diesel smuggling is documented in official figures released by the Turkish military just days before U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s arrival in Ankara on Monday.

At a minimum it could boost the number of troops it has patrolling the 900-kilometer frontier,

Mahmut Tanal, a lawmaker from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told The Daily Beast he was trying to get an official government comment on reports saying that ISIS was exporting up to 4,000 tons of fuel to Turkey every day and earning $15 million every month from the trade. “I am expecting some answers here,” he said.

According to Turkish media reports, smuggled diesel sells for around $0.70 a liter (or $2.65 a gallon), while the official price in Turkey is more than $1.85 a liter ($7.00 a gallon).

Erdogan and his new prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, refused to call ISIS a terrorist organization. Islamic State fighters using US arms: study AFP 8 September 2014

http://news.yahoo.com/islamic-state-fighters-using-us-arms-study-085735376.html

The report said the jihadists disposed of "significant quantities" of US-made small arms including M16 assault rifles and included photos showing the markings "Property of US Govt".

Turkey Wary About Anti-ISIS Campaign CNS News, by Patrick Goodenoug 8 September 2014

http://www.ibtimes.com/nato-coalition-against-isis-turkey-role-mostly-symbolic-1680708

Turkey, supportive of the anti-Assad rebellion, has come under fire for allowing jihadists to flood across its border into Syria, although the State Department says the U.S. has been working with Turkey and other neighboring countries to clamp down on the flow.

ISIS Draws a Steady Stream of Recruits From Turkey New York Times by CEYLAN YEGINSU September 15, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/world/europe/turkey-is-a-steady-source-of-isis-recruits.html

It was only after he buried a man alive that he was told he had become a full ISIS fighter.

But one of the biggest source of recruits is neighboring Turkey, a NATO member with an undercurrent of Islamist discontent.

“There are now seven mosques in the vicinity, but not one school,” Mr. Arabaci said. “The lives of children here are so vacant that they find any excuse to be sucked into action.”




http://news.yahoo.com/islamic-state-fighters-using-us-arms-study-085735376.html

http://cnsnews.com/source/patrick-goodenough

http://www.ibtimes.com/nato-coalition-against-isis-turkey-role-mostly-symbolic-1680708

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/y/ceylan_yeginsu/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/world/europe/turkey-is-a-steady-source-of-isis-recruits.html


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“There are clearly recruitment centers being set up in Ankara and elsewhere in Turkey, but the government doesn’t seem to care,”

Someone’s Already Fighting ISIS: The Syrian Arab Army New Eastern Outlook (NEO), By Tony Cartalucci September 15, 2014

http://journal-neo.org/2014/09/15/someone-s-already-fighting-isis-the-syrian-arab-army/

Shortly after NATO carried out successful “regime change” in Libya in 2011 under the false pretext of a “humanitarian intervention,” sectarian-driven mercenaries it armed, funded, and provided air cover for in Libya began steadily streaming into Syria via its northern border with NATO-member Turkey.

CHP deputy Tanal: Hegemonic laws valid in Turkey

TODAYS ZAMAN, BY YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN September 21, 2014 http://www.todayszaman.com/news-359413-.html

I went to the border where Akçakale is without protection from public officials because they said they could not provide any. The border there is like a colander. You can buy and sell anything you like in the region, be it in Urfa, Hatay, Nizip or Ceylanpınar. We have to look at the properties owned by government ministers and deputies before they became ministers and deputies. Furthermore, I can safely say that they had not been to any five-star hotels before becoming deputies! Now, they are richer than ever -- they have new luxury cars, ships, apartments, houses and so forth. To have clean politics and a healthy society, we first have to confiscate all of their property! How do they not know about what ISIL does in the region? It is unbelievable. The government is responsible for the growth of ISIL. How is it possible that the government cannot call ISIL -- an organization that barbarically beheads people and degrades women -- a terrorist organization?

US launches air strikes inside Syria

World Socialist WebPeter Symonds

23 September 2014

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/09/23/syri-s23.html

The attacks on ISIS are the pretext for stepping up the US-backed regime-change operation against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and mark the expansion of a reckless and illegal war that will have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and beyond.

it is allied with autocratic Middle Eastern monarchies that are among the most despotic in the world.

The air strikes are an illegal act of war against a country that has never posed a threat to the United States. The Obama administration launched the bombing without even the fig leaf of a UN Security Council resolution and against the expressed opposition of the Syrian government…

…the reactionary ISIS Islamists are a direct product of US imperialism’s previous criminal wars, including the CIA’s covert war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the 2003 invasion of Iraq and regime-change operations in Libya and Syria from 2011. In fact, the very allies that joined in today’s bombing—Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States—have been funding, training and arming ISIS and other Islamist militias inside Syria for the past three years to topple Assad.

The Obama administration has initiated the attacks on Syria without the semblance of Congressional authorisation or any explanation to the American people. It is a war being waged on behalf of a tiny bloated financial aristocracy, for which US hegemony is essential to its criminal looting operations.

'It Never Happened' - US Intervention in Syria ICH, By Ian Sinclair

September 24, 2014 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article39772.htm

Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature acceptance speech continues to resonate nearly ten years later. "It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn't happening. It didn't matter. It was of no interest", Pinter explained about the death and destruction

http://journal-neo.org/2014/09/15/someone-s-already-fighting-isis-the-syrian-arab-army/

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-359413-.html

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/09/23/syri-s23.html



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caused by the United States across the globe. He went on: "The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them."

By refusing to inform their readers that the US has been arming the rebels in Syria since 2012 the mainstream liberal media have done exactly what best suits the US and UK governments. And by so closely following the US and UK Governments' preferred narrative, the media continues to minimise the US's responsibility for the on-going carnage in Syria and the rise of Islamic State.

UN Security Council issues subtle warning to Turkey Al-Monitor, Ahmet Insel 26 September 2014

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2014/09/turkey-un-security-warning-radical-syrian-groups.html#

The security council’s decision directly concerns Turkey from two angles. First, given the high number of fighters who continue to go to Iraq and Syria through Turkey, the Turkish government may well come under UN pressure in the next phase. Second, Turkey is the main route traveled by individuals going to fight with the Islamic State (IS) and in the ranks of many other Islamic jihad organizations.

About a year ago, international human rights organizations based along the border reported that Islamist Turkish nongovernmental organizations were transferring humanitarian assistance that was actually combat materiel. The Turkish state itself was caught secretly transporting to Syria three truckloads of ammunition — swept under the carpet as humanitarian assistance — so there is no reason for state supported nongovernmental organizations not to do the same.

If the Turkish government does not undertake a serious policy change and adopt appropriate measures, our NATO and UN memberships won’t protect us. This Security Council decision gives any country the right to issue a complaint regarding Turkey’s negligence, intentional or not.

Becoming Hezbollah’s Air Force Truthdig, Chris Hedges 28 September 2014

http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/becoming_hezbollahs_air_force_20140928

Thirteen years of war, and the rise of enemies we did not expect, have transformed Hezbollah fighters inside Syria, along with Iran, into our tacit allies. We are intervening in the Syrian civil war to assist a regime we sought to overthrow. We promised to save Iraq and now help to dismember it.

More violence is not going to rectify the damage. Indeed, it will make it worse. But violence is all we know. Violence is the habitual response by the state to every dilemma.

Endless war, which results in endless terror, leaves the arms manufacturers and generals giddy with joy. It is a boon to the state, which is possessed of an excuse to extinguish what few liberties we have left.

Violence as a primary form of communication has become normalized. It is not politics by other means. It is politics.

In endless war it does not matter whom we fight. Endless war is not about winning battles or promoting a cause. It is an end in itself. In George Orwell’s novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” Oceania is at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia. The alliance then suddenly is reversed.

But endless war is not sustainable. States that wage endless war inevitably collapse. They drain their treasuries, are hated by the wretched of the earth, and militarize and strangle their political, social and cultural life while impoverishing and repressing their populations.

Foreign nations’ proxy war in Syria creates chaos Washington Post, David Ignatius 2 October 2014


The squabbling factions that make up the Syrian “moderate opposition” should get their act together. But so should the foreign nations — such as the United States, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan —

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2014/09/turkey-un-security-warning-radical-syrian-groups.html

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2014/09/casualties-anti-islamic-state-attacks-syria.html



http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/becoming_hezbollahs_air_force_20140928




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that have been funding the chaotic melange of fighters inside Syria. These foreign machinations helped open the door for the terrorist Islamic State group to threaten the region.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar all wanted to topple Assad, but they competed with each other as regional rivals, too. At various points, all three nations provided Sunni rebel groups with money and weapons that ended up in the hands of extremists.

The United States, Saudi Arabia and Jordan joined forces in 2013 to train and arm moderate rebels at a CIA-backed camp in Jordan.

But the chaos was worsened by foreign powers that treated Syria as a playground for their intelligence services. This cynical intervention recalled similar meddling that helped ravage Lebanon, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq and Libya during their civil wars.

The story of how Syria became a cockpit for rival intelligence services was explained to me by sources here and in Reyhanli, a rebel staging area on the Turkey-Syria border. Outside efforts to arm and train the Syrian rebels began more than two years ago in Istanbul, where a “military operations center” was created, first in a hotel near the airport.

A leading figure was a Qatari operative who had helped arm the Libyan rebels who deposed Moammar

Gaddafi. Working with the Qataris were senior figures representing Turkish and Saudi intelligence.

But unity within the Istanbul operations room frayed when the Turks and Qataris began to support Islamist fighters they thought would be more aggressive.

But weapons and money sent to more moderate Islamist brigades made their way to these terrorist groups, and the Turks and Qataris turned a blind eye.

The Saudi effort was run until late 2013 by Prince Bandar bin Sultan, at that time head of Saudi intelligence. Bandar was enthusiastic but undisciplined, adding to the chaos. Pushed by the United States, the Saudis in February replaced Bandar and gave oversight of the Syria effort to Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef.

Biden’s admission: US allies armed ISIS World Socialist Web, Patrick Martin 6 October 2014


Asked about US policy in Syria, Biden touched on the dirty secret of the current US-led war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. ISIS (or ISIL as the Obama administration terms it) is essentially the creation of the United States and its allies who fomented civil war in Syria against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Referring to Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Biden said, “They were so determined to take down Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war, what did they do? They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens, thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad—except It is testament to the degeneracy of the American political system that the circumstances behind ISIS’s rise, alluded to in Biden’s remarks, have not been the subject of any investigation. that the people who were being supplied were al Nusra and al Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world.”

It is testament to the degeneracy of the American political system that the circumstances behind ISIS’s rise, alluded to in Biden’s remarks, have not been the subject of any investigation.

Whatever the level of “intentionality” involved, ISIS was the recipient of the US-supported arms aid to the Syrian rebels, routed by the CIA through Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey and other Mideast client states.

In other words, as Biden admits, ISIS was created by the methods pursued by the US government and its allied reactionary regimes, both the Islamist government of Erdogan in Turkey and the Gulf monarchies like Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Another confirmation of this relationship came in the form of a Washington Post report Sunday on the supposedly contradictory role of the sheikdom of Qatar, another of the Persian Gulf despotisms that is a




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client state of American imperialism. Qatar hosts the huge Al-Udeid Air Base, headquarters for US air operations in the region and the directing center of the air war in Syria and Iraq.

…there is nothing surprising in Qatar hosting the US Air Force and raising money for al-Qaeda militants in Syria.

The main target of American imperialism remains the Syrian government, which is also the reason why Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and other countries that fostered ISIS and are hostile to the Assad regime are now supporting the operation.