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Video: US declares core of Syrian resistance an AQ affiliate
Hot Air ^ | 8:41 am on December 11, 2012 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 12/11/2012 1:04:18 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach

They’re only about 10% of the rebel forces attempting to dislodge that noted reformer Bashar al-Assad, CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh reports, but Jabhat al-Nusra is the most effective and powerful part of the insurrection against the Iranian-backed dictator. The only problem for the US is that they’re closely affiliated with al-Qaeda in Iraq, which has been attempting to overthrow the democratically-elected government in Baghdad, too. If this is starting to sound familiar, just think …. Libya:

The Christian Science Monitor has more background on the “foreign terrorist organization” that’s staffed by veterans of some old, familiar places:

The speed with which the US government moved to designate a fairly new group that has never attacked US interests and is engaged in fighting a regime that successive administrations have demonized is evidence of the strange bedfellows and overlapping agendas that make the Syrian civil war so explosive.

The State Department says Jabhat al-Nusra (or the “Nusra Front”) is essentially a wing of Al Qaeda in Iraq, the jihadi group that flourished in Anbar Province after the US invaded to topple theBaathist regime of secular dictator Saddam Hussein. During the Iraqwar, Sunni Arab tribesmen living along the Euphrates in eastern Syria flocked to fight with the friends and relatives in the towns along the Euphrates river in Anbar Province. …

The Nusra Front has gone from victory to victory in eastern Syria and has shown signs of both significant funding and greater military prowess than the average citizens’ militia, with veterans of fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya among its numbers.

The US of course aided the fight in Libya to bring down Muammar Qaddafi. In Afghanistan and Iraq, the chance to fight and kill Americans was the major drawing card.

Their presence might tempt Barack Obama to send in US forces to keep chemical weapons out of the Nusra Front’s hands:

The Obama administration appears eager for Assad to fall, but is also afraid of what might replace him, not least because of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile. If the regime collapses, the aftermath is sure to be chaotic, much as it was in Libya, where arms stores were looted throughout the country. The presence of VX and sarin nerve gas, and the fear of Al Qaeda aligned militants getting their hands on it, has the US considering sending in troops to secure the weapons.

That’s the context in which today’s designation was made – part of an overall effort to shape the Syrian opposition to US liking, and hopefully have influence in the political outcome if and when Assad’s regime collapses. But while the US has been trying to find a government or leadership in waiting among Syrian exiles, Nusra has been going from strength to strength. Aaron Zelin, who tracks jihadi groups at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, notes in a recent piece for Foreign Policy that 20 out of the 48 “martyrdom” notices posted on Al Qaeda forums for the Syria war were made by people claiming to be members of Nusra.

This Arab Spring-destabilization business is pretty dangerous after all, no?


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; arabspring; jabhatalnusra; syria

1 posted on 12/11/2012 1:04:25 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: TigersEye; Marine_Uncle; justa-hairyape; 2ndDivisionVet; F15Eagle

fyi


2 posted on 12/11/2012 1:10:28 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
This is why PIAPS has to wait to retire.

SOS Clinton is a well known antisemite and her hate for the Jews melds well with Obama’s love for the Islamonazis (who don't just want to murder Jews but all who are not Islamonazis—but first things first).

But Obama cannot enable the Sharia totalitarian Caliphate while America is strong...

...well, he's working on it now isn't he? And Billy Boy's old worn out whore and now sad and desperate lesbian is helping him, isn't she?

3 posted on 12/11/2012 1:16:14 PM PST by Happy Rain ("The 2nd Amendment is our Fail Safe--by God believe in it and be prepared to embrace it!")
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To: Happy Rain

The video is from CNN,...at the Hot Air website....points out some coming problems ....


4 posted on 12/11/2012 1:19:31 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; FARS; Fred Nerks; little jeremiah; devolve; ntnychik; onyx

The Obama administration appears eager for Assad to fall, but is also afraid of what might replace him

No, Hussein-Hillary-Huma are not "afraid" of sharia ascendant.

It is their jihad.

See also Horowitz on the Left-Islamic alliance.


5 posted on 12/11/2012 1:19:53 PM PST by PhilDragoo (Hussein: Islamo-Commie from Fakistan)
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To: PhilDragoo
Well, since Islamonazi women are forbidden to enjoy men (they would be stoned to death as sluts) old pathetic bull dyke sows like Clinton can find their sexual paradises in the arms of young nubile innocents damned to perversion by a damned and perverse faith.

Hillary and Obama are Sunni and Shia.

6 posted on 12/11/2012 1:30:05 PM PST by Happy Rain ("The 2nd Amendment is our Fail Safe--by God believe in it and be prepared to embrace it!")
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To: annieokie; penelopesire; maggief; Protect the Bill of Rights; thouworm; SE Mom; Nachum; onyx; ...
Busted. They knew this from the jump. So did we. But they thought we were stupid and would believe their lies and propaganda.

Anyone wanting on or off this ping list, please advise.


Benghazi Index

7 posted on 12/11/2012 1:34:36 PM PST by MestaMachine (It's the !!!!TREASON!!!!, stupid!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Friends of 0bama.


8 posted on 12/11/2012 2:19:54 PM PST by TigersEye (Who is John Galt?)
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To: MestaMachine
And if that does not make your blood boil, this will.

Benghazi explained: Interview with an “Intelligence Insider” (Part III)

9 posted on 12/11/2012 2:30:08 PM PST by justa-hairyape
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I cannot help but think my nephew who was with the 2nd Marine LAR (Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion) in upper al-Anbar during the 2005 period, perhaps “interviewed” some of the Jabhat al-Nusra hadji, as they where being retina scanned and finger printed in remote villages and towns in that region such as ar-Rutbah. That one at least will show up on northern Iraqi maps.


10 posted on 12/11/2012 7:18:47 PM PST by Marine_Uncle (I'm going John Galt.... But. Honor must be earned.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; ...

Thanks Ernest.

Obama: US recognizes Syria’s main rebel group
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2967799/posts


11 posted on 12/11/2012 9:09:04 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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