‘England is helping Isis and an English reporter is here asking for information’
By Robert Fisk
We knew who they were the moment they approached us on the front line outside Aleppo. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards – no longer merely advisers but fighting troops alongside the Syrian army – emerged on the roadside in their grey-patterned camouflage fatigues, speaking good though not perfect Arabic but chatting happily in Persian when they knew we could understand them.
“When I heard that there was an English reporter asking for information in this area,” the man said, “I said to myself: ‘England is helping Isis and an English reporter is here asking for information’. The immediate thing in my mind was, ‘Where is this information going to go?’”
“If you were in my place and you were fighting a harsh and brutal enemy like Isis in this location – and this is our front line – you would ask yourself this question: ‘What is the English reporter doing here – why should he be allowed here?’”
I showed the Iranian commander my press card – and he recognised my name and newspaper.
“One of the problems of this place is that the enemy is very close,” the Iranian said, pointing through the dust haze. “You see those two silos over there? Well, that’s where Nusra are sitting right now and watching us at this moment. Any time, a mortar can arrive, you will be dead – and I will feel responsible, because in the last few hours I have already lost one man and had another wounded.” We were not there to die, I told the man. Reporters have to live to tell their tale.
He grinned at us. “We make a distinction between death and martyrdom,” he said. “In my view, because you are here and seeking the truth and bringing that truth to the world, if you die here in this spot, you are a martyr.”
“You should understand the kind of suffering these people have gone through – that’s what you should be writing about,” he said. He looked at us to see if we understood, and I suspect that for him this was a holy as well as a military mission
“And I’m sorry we can’t allow you to see our lines.” There were more smiles from yet more Iranians who had turned up on motor cycles and in Toyotas. And then the commander went to his vehicle and came back with a large box of Arab sweets and handed them to us. How very Iranian of him. England supports Isis, it seems, but he was ready to feed the English reporter on his front line.
There’s quite a lot of evidence that Britain supports al-Nusra’ – Journalist Peter Oborne on Syria
Everything you wanted to know about Turkmen, a few work with the YPG/SDF but mostly they are allied with Chechen terrorists.. But you can read th next 10 pages on all about their hopes, wishes, aspirations etc.. And if they did send 800 to Azaz to counter attack YPG/SAA then I really don’t want to know any more about them either..
HOW did Iran discover an easy way to take out the worlds most expensive and advanced tanks?
Yes yes Iranians made many innovations in US military complex.. but with this no one can say Iranians don’t have the smarts to develop cheap innovative ways to take out high tech and expensive toys.. These EFP’s killed 191 US soldiers..
Anyone with a basic understanding of the concept, which has been around for 70 years or more, with a little time for trial and error testing could machine up the dies on a lathe to a tolerance that would simply create a slug rather than a spray. The high tech precision comes in when you want to create say a rod penetrator or an aero dynamic slug.
40 ton press? any heavy machinery jack of 40ton or more lifting capacity along with a simple steel frame will do the job.
The EFPs may well come from Iran but the US reasons for saying they do is bullshit.
Remember, Obama is not to be trusted. He says one thing publicly and does the opposite privately.
Gareth Porter is totally wrong when he continues the trope that Obama was “reluctant” to do anything in Syria. Obama was ready to go to war with Syria INSTANTLY in August 2013 once he had the excuse of “chemical attacks.” We can’t forget that FACT – not opinion, not spin, not speculation – FACT.
I was wondering what evidence exists to back up this claim from Gareth Porter. Fwiw, I think Sy Hersh was closer to the truth when he said the Pentagon was at odds with the CIA and the State Department on America’s support for ISIS.
The CIA is like an iceberg. Only a seventh of its mass raises above water-level and is, to a very limited degree, accountable to the US constitution, the political process and such.
The bulk of of its colossal body is hidden from any public discourse, congressional oversight. The CIA is an extra-territorial state that takes no orders from no one and that is, together with its blood brothers – Mossad, MI6, the Gladio Network, etc. – the real super power that steers the Western world’s genocidal doomsday politics.
ps.
Seymour Hersh is CIA, too. All poster boys of Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Washington, New York, London, Paris are. By default.
The guest in Beirut talked about the “Arab States” not accepting “Iran” winning a victory in Syria. But lets examine that a bit. What he was “really” meaning was the “fundamentalist” Sunni states. But he tries to cover that by saying the “Arab States”. Last time I looked,Syria,Iraq,Lebanon,Yemen,and even Oman,didn’t seem to have a problem with Iran. They are either allied with Iran,or at least friendly. And they are all “Arab States”. And I doubt the North African Arab States are very concerned about that either. The countries he is talking about are the tiny Gulf states,and Saudi Arabia with “maybe” Jordan and Egypt. So lets make that clear.What he (and some others) is doing is what the West does. When they say the “International Community” and they really are speaking about the “West”. Its an old propaganda trick. Which we see every day in the West,and now in the MENA as well.
@ Uncle Bob
I, too, question Beirut man’s comments about both Iran, and bringing the Sunnis on board (can’t recall his exact words—watch the segment yesterday). But I thought we were all in agreement now that the SAA and the Syrian govt includes many Sunnis, and so this is a false dichotomy and polarization: Everyone else vs. Sunnis.
Seems like, rhetorically, Sunnis are a rhetorical shield for Wahhabs, terrorists, states that mean Syria ill such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and maybe even USA nd Israel, etc.
Just as “moderates” function as a military shield for terrorists and extremists and head choppers (and also maybe US or CIA advisors/mercenaries etc. not to mention Israel)
So, let ‘s really call a spade a spade, and call out any of those who falsely frame the situation through the use of false or deliberately confusing labels.
‘England is helping Isis and an English reporter is here asking for information’
By Robert Fisk
We knew who they were the moment they approached us on the front line outside Aleppo. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards – no longer merely advisers but fighting troops alongside the Syrian army – emerged on the roadside in their grey-patterned camouflage fatigues, speaking good though not perfect Arabic but chatting happily in Persian when they knew we could understand them.
“When I heard that there was an English reporter asking for information in this area,” the man said, “I said to myself: ‘England is helping Isis and an English reporter is here asking for information’. The immediate thing in my mind was, ‘Where is this information going to go?’”
“If you were in my place and you were fighting a harsh and brutal enemy like Isis in this location – and this is our front line – you would ask yourself this question: ‘What is the English reporter doing here – why should he be allowed here?’”
I showed the Iranian commander my press card – and he recognised my name and newspaper.
“One of the problems of this place is that the enemy is very close,” the Iranian said, pointing through the dust haze. “You see those two silos over there? Well, that’s where Nusra are sitting right now and watching us at this moment. Any time, a mortar can arrive, you will be dead – and I will feel responsible, because in the last few hours I have already lost one man and had another wounded.” We were not there to die, I told the man. Reporters have to live to tell their tale.
He grinned at us. “We make a distinction between death and martyrdom,” he said. “In my view, because you are here and seeking the truth and bringing that truth to the world, if you die here in this spot, you are a martyr.”
“You should understand the kind of suffering these people have gone through – that’s what you should be writing about,” he said. He looked at us to see if we understood, and I suspect that for him this was a holy as well as a military mission
“And I’m sorry we can’t allow you to see our lines.” There were more smiles from yet more Iranians who had turned up on motor cycles and in Toyotas. And then the commander went to his vehicle and came back with a large box of Arab sweets and handed them to us. How very Iranian of him. England supports Isis, it seems, but he was ready to feed the English reporter on his front line.
There’s quite a lot of evidence that Britain supports al-Nusra’ – Journalist Peter Oborne on Syria
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-civil-war-on-the-front-line-with-the-iranian-revolutionary-guards-battling-outside-aleppo-a6891891.html
Everything you wanted to know about Turkmen, a few work with the YPG/SDF but mostly they are allied with Chechen terrorists.. But you can read th next 10 pages on all about their hopes, wishes, aspirations etc.. And if they did send 800 to Azaz to counter attack YPG/SAA then I really don’t want to know any more about them either..
http://warontherocks.com/2016/01/a-cause-for-all-turks-turkey-and-syrias-turkmen-rebels/
HOW did Iran discover an easy way to take out the worlds most expensive and advanced tanks?
Yes yes Iranians made many innovations in US military complex.. but with this no one can say Iranians don’t have the smarts to develop cheap innovative ways to take out high tech and expensive toys.. These EFP’s killed 191 US soldiers..
This cap only says how they deduced it was Iran who did it.. Not about the discovery itself..
https://twitter.com/wesleysmorgan/status/702524995910524929
Anyone with a basic understanding of the concept, which has been around for 70 years or more, with a little time for trial and error testing could machine up the dies on a lathe to a tolerance that would simply create a slug rather than a spray. The high tech precision comes in when you want to create say a rod penetrator or an aero dynamic slug.
40 ton press? any heavy machinery jack of 40ton or more lifting capacity along with a simple steel frame will do the job.
The EFPs may well come from Iran but the US reasons for saying they do is bullshit.
I’ll just leave this here:
Remember, Obama is not to be trusted. He says one thing publicly and does the opposite privately.
Gareth Porter is totally wrong when he continues the trope that Obama was “reluctant” to do anything in Syria. Obama was ready to go to war with Syria INSTANTLY in August 2013 once he had the excuse of “chemical attacks.” We can’t forget that FACT – not opinion, not spin, not speculation – FACT.
I was wondering what evidence exists to back up this claim from Gareth Porter. Fwiw, I think Sy Hersh was closer to the truth when he said the Pentagon was at odds with the CIA and the State Department on America’s support for ISIS.
The CIA is like an iceberg. Only a seventh of its mass raises above water-level and is, to a very limited degree, accountable to the US constitution, the political process and such.
The bulk of of its colossal body is hidden from any public discourse, congressional oversight. The CIA is an extra-territorial state that takes no orders from no one and that is, together with its blood brothers – Mossad, MI6, the Gladio Network, etc. – the real super power that steers the Western world’s genocidal doomsday politics.
ps.
Seymour Hersh is CIA, too. All poster boys of Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Washington, New York, London, Paris are. By default.
I seem to recall that the 2012 Bildeburger meetings were on Syria, for what it’s worth.
The guest in Beirut talked about the “Arab States” not accepting “Iran” winning a victory in Syria. But lets examine that a bit. What he was “really” meaning was the “fundamentalist” Sunni states. But he tries to cover that by saying the “Arab States”. Last time I looked,Syria,Iraq,Lebanon,Yemen,and even Oman,didn’t seem to have a problem with Iran. They are either allied with Iran,or at least friendly. And they are all “Arab States”. And I doubt the North African Arab States are very concerned about that either. The countries he is talking about are the tiny Gulf states,and Saudi Arabia with “maybe” Jordan and Egypt. So lets make that clear.What he (and some others) is doing is what the West does. When they say the “International Community” and they really are speaking about the “West”. Its an old propaganda trick. Which we see every day in the West,and now in the MENA as well.
@ Uncle Bob
I, too, question Beirut man’s comments about both Iran, and bringing the Sunnis on board (can’t recall his exact words—watch the segment yesterday). But I thought we were all in agreement now that the SAA and the Syrian govt includes many Sunnis, and so this is a false dichotomy and polarization: Everyone else vs. Sunnis.
Seems like, rhetorically, Sunnis are a rhetorical shield for Wahhabs, terrorists, states that mean Syria ill such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and maybe even USA nd Israel, etc.
Just as “moderates” function as a military shield for terrorists and extremists and head choppers (and also maybe US or CIA advisors/mercenaries etc. not to mention Israel)
So, let ‘s really call a spade a spade, and call out any of those who falsely frame the situation through the use of false or deliberately confusing labels.
Katherine