ISIS™ Defined

(archived from October 9, 2014)

by Scott Creighton

Of terrorists and Ba’athists

ISIS™ is a trademark, it’s a catch-phrase, it’s a marketing slogan for an unpopular and unwanted war… at least, an unpopular and unwanted war if anyone really knew why we were there and who we were bombing.

That’s why ISIS™ always seems to be their own worst enemy; making fake beheading videos in which no one gets beheaded, producing said videos at just the right time to provide cover for U.S. or British legal actions against ISIS™, meeting with American politicians in order to get huge amounts of unconventional warfare cash, committing the Yasidi Genocide that turned out to be nothing at all, beheading babies that turned out to not have happened at all, recruiting toddlers and giving them guns bigger than they are and generally parading around in U.S. surplus military gear waving flags and looking about as menacing as your average Junior ROTC Float on Independence Day.

The “ISIS™ is EVERYWHERE!” story has become so ludicrous even the leading propagandist for everything Obama, Jon Stewart, had poke fun at the stupidity of it all last night.

“You guys said ISIS is the most evil thing since Hitler’s sliced bread. For God’s sakes, you broke into ‘Dancing With The Stars’ to tell us we’re hunting down members and assets wherever they are,” Stewart said. “Well, these guys are burning tank donuts on a Kobani hilltop and they are ISIS so what’s up?” Huffington Post

Of course, Stewart was “jokingly” prodding the Obama administration into bombing a Syrian town, getting his fake “liberal” audience to laugh along with his backhanded warmongering.

However, the point here is, the ISIS™ Crisis story is wearing thin and even those dedicated to it’s continual promotion are starting to poke fun at it if for no other reason than their instinct for self-preservation.

 

I’m often asked “if I don’t believe the stories about ISIS, then why are we there?” and that is a legitimate question. Here’s the answer:

“The stabilization of Iraq has become wedged on a plateau, beyond which further improvement will be a slow process” absent some critical catalyzing event or events like a New Pearl Harbor.

ISIS™ Defined Part 1: It Ain’t ISIS

In a June 2009 communiqué issued to celebrate the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq’s cities, Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri stressed the goal of “resistance unity on the battlefield.”[32] One U.S. officer noted: “We believe now that JRTN’s intent is to coalesce as many insurgent groups…under a common theme of removing the occupiers (the Coalition Forces) from Iraq and, second, to overthrow the government of Iraq for a Ba`athist regime or something similar.”[33] JRTN states that it would be willing to negotiate a cease-fire with the government of Iraq and the United States, but only once many of the changes wrought in Iraq since 2003 are reversed, including the unattainable stated aim of restoring all of the 600,000-odd security personnel to their former statuses and disestablishing all government organs and laws introduced since the occupation began.[34]…

…JRTN’s video productions have consistently focused on the concerns of mainstream Sunnis, such as the fear of an Iranian-influenced Shi`a government in Baghdad, concerns about Kurdish activities in the disputed areas (termed “the occupied territories” by JRTN), and general discontent about the apparent chaos and corruption since the end of Ba`athist rule.[35] Michael Knights, Combating Terrorism Center, July 2011

The 2008  U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement. signed by George W. Bush on Nov. 17th, 2008 (just AFTER the election), stipulated U.S. forces would begin leaving Iraq in mid-2009 and be completely withdrawn by Dec. 2011. The schedule was maintained as Nuri al-Maliki refused several offers by the Obama administration to extend the withdrawal date as he thought he could maintain control over the vast majority of the population who were rightly upset about how the New Iraq was going.

This is what motivated Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, Saddam’s Vice President, in 2009 to announce his call to arms to all Iraqis who wanted to see the neoliberal laws and organs of corruption installed by the Bush regime wiped clean from their nation in the wake of the occupier’s exit.

I mention his name because he is still involved in this insurgency as you can see from this June 2014 article from Reuters detailing the recent fall of Mosul:

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki blames his Sunni political opponents for conspiring against him and supporting armed groups like those that took Mosul, while his Kurdish and Sunni rivals – including Mosul governor Atheel Nujaifi and brother Usama, the outgoing speaker of parliament – say he failed to heed their warnings that Mosul’s implosion was coming.

While the politicians were deadlocked in charge and counter-charge, the Sunni militants grew in strength and took advantage of their divisions, which could lead to Iraq’s break-up into Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish territories.

It had long been known that Mosul, a city of 2 million people, hosted not just the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but also the Baathist militant group the Jaish Naqshbandi, believed to be headed by Ezzat Ibrahim al Douri, a former close aide to Saddam Hussein. Reuters

 

I toss that in there just so you understand this isn’t about some legitimate uprising that was hijacked by ISIS™ as I am sure many of the Cass Sunstein types in the alternative media will try to have you believe. Fact is, the Jaish Naqshbandi have been fighting and winning their insurgency against our corrupt client state in Iraq since early 2011, hitting targets that were instrumental to al-Malaki’s holding power. Their efforts have been so successful, they have pushed from the north to the very edges of the Green Zone in Baghdad and al-Maliki had to reverse his previous position and publicly ask for the U.S. to come back to Iraq to help him maintain control.

Not only did our puppet dictator have to humble himself and ask us for help, but he has also been seen cutting deals with the Russians in exchange for oil drilling rights in southern Iraq for their support as well. Piece by piece Maliki is pawning off what rightfully belongs to the people of Iraq in exchange for more time in charge of our client state. It doesn’t matter who he sells it too or how cheaply he gives these precious assets away just so long as he remains in power and Iraq remains a neoliberalized state.

The Jaish Naqshbandi (JTRN) are not ISIS. Not even close.

 Remember when they lied to us about Saddam supporting al Qaeda when they wanted to invade Iraq back in 2003? Remember how some of us pointed out that was a complete lie because the Ba’athists were secular and hated terrorist groups, especially al Qaeda. Learned scholars from the area repeatedly pointed out that Saddam had standing orders to capture and kill any al Qaeda members who strayed into his country and eventually even the MSM and the Bush administration had to give up on that particular lie.

Well, remember, the Jaish Naqshbandi (JTRN) are Ba’athists, they are in fact the remains of Saddam’s old regime and they have absolutely no interest in supporting terrorists of any kind, not even when one tries to claim “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. It didn’t work that way with Saddam (he was no friend of the U.S. in the end and supposedly neither was al Qaeda) and it doesn’t work that way with the Naqshbandi army nor the larger umbrella organization which the Naqshbandi army is part of, the General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries (GMCIR) which was founded later in the struggle in mid-2013 and announced in Jan. 2014.

“GMCIR members state that JTRN members and former Ba’athist officers are represented in their organization, including in its Political Council; however, they assert that these officers are not the most important figures within it. [9] Arabic media report that social media sites affiliated with JRTN claim it is operating in Ninewah and Salah al-Din governorates in close cooperation with the GMCIR and its affiliate, the Military Council of Iraqi Tribal Revolutionaries (Dunya al-Watan [Ramallah], June 12).” Jamestown Foundation

Let’s take a look at what one high ranking GMCIR had to say in a recent interview about “ISIS” and their revolution:

Maj. General Mizher Al Qaissi, Official Spokesman for The General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries:

on why

Today, the Tribal Revolutionaries have lit a flame for a Revolution that will never be put out; this Revolution began since our people asked for legitimate rights and they asked for them through their constitutional sit-ins but they were met with fire and brimstone...

The person who started it is Maliki – Maliki forced us to behave in this manner.   For when (army) divisions are sent to our areas and checkpoints and inspection points are set-up in our areas the intention is to degrade and subjugate people and this is what we will not accept and this is what we mentioned in our first statements when we stated and defined the enemy as whoever hurts the Iraqi people and insults their dignity as well as attacks them and their possessions…

on ISIS

There are no connections nor is there coordination.   As I have previously said – the organization exists and it has some fighters and it has some areas in which it moves, but this revolution is that of Tribes and this is what we want to get to the whole world – that this Revolution is a new Iraqi Spring and that it is an armed Revolution to end repression and injustice.   It has no connection with any other agendas.   And it has no relationship to any terrorism or any other parties…

We are not bombing ISIS™ in Iraq. We are bombing the Naqshbandi army , the  General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries (GMCIR), the Military Council of Iraqi Tribal Revolutionaries and various other tribal militias which have all risen up in response to the

repressive behavior and extremely harsh living conditions created by the neoliberal client state we illegally installed back in 2003.

But these are not random subgroups with opposing ideologies who have come together… there is something very specific that unites them… they are all socialist in nature. And God knows, Barack Obama can’t be the president who allows Iraq to return to a socialist state under his watch.

That’s what Ba’athist means – the slogan “Unity, liberty, socialism” is the key tenet in Ba’athist thought.

As you might imagine, socialist Ba’athists might find it a bit hard to align themselves with Salafist/Wahhabist far-right wing ISIS members.

In fact, the Salafists and Wahhabists hate socialists with a passion and do everything they can to destroy Arab socialist states. That’s why they were brought in to aid in the overthrow of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and the socialist leaning government of Morsi in Egypt. Curious now that one is threatening to form in Iraq and Obama has ISIS to justify his bombing campaigns… curious… and rather obvious when you think about it in those terms.

What is it exactly that the Sunnis and most Iraqis hate about the government that we installed in Iraq?

Well, let’s go back to what Maj. General Mizher Al Qaissi said: this Revolution began since our people asked for legitimate rights and they asked for them through their constitutional sit-ins but they were met with fire and brimstone...

Though the revolution really started quite a bit earlier than that with the rise of the Arab Spring (some real, some manufactured), what the general is referring to is the Al-Hawija Massacre of 2013. Exact numbers on how many protesters were killed are hard to come by. The al-Maliki government had shut down access to the 4,000 or so protesters who had been sealed off by government soldiers for days with no food or water or medical supplies.

GICJ has informed UN officials that the army and militias stormed the demonstration area at about 5 a.m. Iraqi time, Tuesday, 23 April 2013, attacking protestors who have been demanding that their basic rights be respected. This was a direct attack where forces went in and began to shoot heavily and indiscriminately using live ammunition, tanks and helicopters. Forces also brought in trucks with water hoses and hosed demonstrators down using extremely hot water, causing serious burns and deaths. According to our direct source in Hawija, at least 50 demonstrators have been killed, an additional 150 injured, and more than 400 have been arrested. Forces were also reported to have attacked the injured and set fire to civilian vehicles. Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) April 29, 2013

It’s curious isn’t it that this slaughter received so little attention here in the states while the fake revolution in China gets constant airtime if one of the police there teargases some protester. Well, actually, it isn’t all that hard to understand, now is it?

After the slaughter, al-Maliki was emboldened by his relative success… no one in the international community condemned his brutality and certainly the “socialist” president in America didn’t say anything… so, he promised through his generals, to continue the behavior:

Recently, General Ali Ghaidan Majid, Iraqi Land Forces Commander, openly threatened protestors around the country affirming that he is both authorized and determined to take serious actions against all demonstrators, calling them terrorists and Ba’athists. This is a commonly used excuse by Maliki and his forces to arrest, detain, torture and execute citizens. Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) April 29, 2013

You notice how those two are intertwined? Terrorists and Ba’athists? They were peaceful protesters who were slaughtered by our puppet regime in Baghdad and since then countless more have been murdered by Maliki’s death squads or arrested and whisked off to black site prisons, probably run by U.S. contractors, for simply believing in an alternative form of government… a more inclusive form of government, of the people, by the people and ultimately for the people.

“if I don’t believe the stories about ISIS, then why are we there?”

Well that is simple folks.. we are there for the same reason we supported the Batista dictatorship in Cuba, theAtlacatl Battalion in El Salvadore that killed 70,000 or so in support of the far-right fascism we established there… for the same reason we overthrew the liberal government of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954 and for the same reason the CIA and the U.K.’s MI6 overthrew the popular, elected government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran in 1953. It’s the same reason we destroyed Aristide’s Lavalas movement in Haiti.

“In 1965, General Suharto seized effective power from President Sukarno on the pretext of combatting a failed coup and unleashed an orgy of mass murderthat killed at least half a million people. U.S. diplomats later admitted providing lists of 5,000 Communist Party members to be killed. Political officer Robert Martens said, “It really was a big help to the army. They probably killed a lot of people, and I probably have a lot of blood on my hands, but that’s not all bad. There’s a time when you have to strike hard at a decisive moment.”

Obama’s mother and adoptive father both worked for the Suharto regime while President Peace Prize was a little boy just then forming his views on socialism.

And yes, there was the Iraqi death squads or the Salvador Option from back in 2005-2006

After the U.S. invaded Iraq on false pretenses in 2003, the CIA recruited 27 brigades of “Special Police,” merging the most brutal of Saddam Hussein’s security forces with the Iranian-trained Badr militia to form death squads that murdered tens of thousands of mostly Sunni Arab men and boys in Baghdad and elsewhere in a reign of terror that continues to this day.

There is a long sordid, horrific list of crimes against humanity we have either endorsed or created in pursuit of our special brand of democracy, freedom and social justice. Most would just call it fascism.

Today’s story is not entirely unique or new for that matter. It’s really just more of the same. The only difference is, because of an open and free internet, a world of information is readily available for you at the touch of a button. These are not conspiracy theories I reference, but historical fact many coming straight from the horse’s mouth at the CIA and State Department’s archives. They are as undeniable as the fact that we aren’t bombing ISIS anywhere except in our imaginations. And we’re only still bombing them there because we choose to as the brutal reality of our even more brutal foreign policy is simply too ugly to look at anymore.

Yeah, I would love to BELIEVE in the goodness of our cause. I would love to hate on ISIS as everyone else does. It’s so simple a child could do it. Which may in fact be a hint if you know what I mean.

But the real world is a bit more complicated than “they hate us for our freedom” and it’s only if we choose to understand it that we will. So, you asked, I told you. Now do with it what you will. But you can’t ignore it. Once your eyes adjust to the light, you have to leave the darkness behind whether you want to or not.