More evidence recently emerged indicating that the Obama administration is using the pretext of fighting one set of Islamic State terrorists in a way to help support another set of Islamic State terrorists—those fighting Syria’s Bashar Assad.
Back on September 10, Reuters reported that
Saudi Arabia has agreed to host training camps for moderate Syrian rebels as part of President Barack Obama’s broad strategy to combat Islamic State militants who have taken over parts of Syria and Iraq…. Obama announced he had authorized stepped-up U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and for the first time would extend the aerial assault into Syria, where he also vowed to beef up support for moderate rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (emphasis added).
However, according to Arabic sources, Khalid bin Bandar, chief of Saudi intelligence, said that “Any Syrian fighter who will enter Saudi land is, in the end, from the Islamic jihadi camps. There is no presence of any armed moderate nationalist or democratic movement inside Syria.”
Accordingly, the head of intelligence warned that allowing any Syrian rebels access to Saudi land and training camps “would pose a great danger to the internal security” of the Arabian kingdom.
And in regards to U.S. announcements that Saudi Arabia had agreed to provide training camps to the “moderate” Syrian rebels, Bandar said that no final decision was ever given.
In a way, this is good news in that it simplifies the situation for us. We don’t have to wonder and debate endlessly about which groups are our friends and which are not. Thank you Khalid bin Bandar for letting that cat out of the bag!