4/11/16 — JO’D was BANNED from Ben Taub’s Facebook discussion for the following responses to his article (and his insulting response to my first comment): http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/18/bashar-al-assads-war-crimes-exposed?intcid=mod-most-popular
And here is the exchange:
James Charles O’Donnell III Wow, and here I’ve been reading The New Yorker for Jane Mayer and Seymour Hersh! Turns out, all along, in addition to offering GREAT journalism, The New Yorker also offers UNMITIGATED NEOCON PROPAGANDA (Ben Taub, I certainly hope you’re connected somehow to the Clinton campaign or Dick Cheney, because that’s where you belong). Allow me to share a comment I recently posted on Huffington Post explaining the origins of the conflict in Syria, complete with links to articles that should begin a Westerner’s education on the modern GWOT (a “war” which has the U.S. in bed with radical Salafists for the first time since the CIA, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia birthed the FIRST “mujaheddin” in the 1980s — and for the same reason):
The CIA and its allies in Riyadh, Doha, and Ankara have been arming the Salafists, including al Qaeda and ISIS, for close to a decade now. Washington, hell bent on regime-change in Damascus, has effectively revamped its 1980s “Mujaheddin” strategy.
As most of the world figured out years ago, the U.S. strategy in Syria has nothing to do with “democracy promotion” or anything the Syrian people want. The proof of that statement? Washington and the West systematically chose to ignore and marginalize Syria’s indigenous resistance — actual Syrians who vehemently opposed the influx of arms and extremist “rebels” and rejected U.S. entreaties to incite a sectarian war in their country (in fact, the Syrians opposed all of the neocon-advised Western front groups’ calls for violent revolution and “no-fly zones”). That left matters to freshly-concocted “exile” groups and radical Wahhabist proxies happy to turn Syria into a charnel house, with the CIA as their enablers.
Two years ago, Assad had all but defeated the unpopular, foreign “rebellion,” but that was before the U.S. began “bombing ISIS” — actions that saw ISIS, strangely, recover almost all of the territory it had lost (somehow we “bombed ISIS” back into a position of strength — winning again). But when Russia began *actually* bombing ISIS the government of Syria was able to regain its footing. Funny that…
Time to wake up, America: Our leaders haven’t the slightest interest in defeating ISIS or al Qaeda, groups that were created and financed by our despotic Gulf Allies at Washington’s behest. Try reading some non-propaganda, for a change:
1) My own overview (with plenty of linked mainstream sources): https://invitation2artivism.org/?p=944
2) And here’s Pulitzer Prize winner, Seymour Hersh, detailing the choice (under Bush, not Obama, who merely continued the policy) to “Redirect” U.S. Middle East policy after the disastrous Iraq invasion, backing the same people who attacked us on 9/11, simply because they could be counted on to attack Shi’ites and challenge Iran’s influence in the region: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/05/the-redirection
3) Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) has also exposed the MSM’s refusal to honestly report Washington’s support for al Qaeda: http://fair.org/home/reporting-or-not-the-ties-between-us-armed-syrian-rebels-and-al-qaedas-affiliate/
A Striking Lack of Empathy, Part III: The Neocons Keep Killing, Americans Keep…
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Emmi Bee Lol dude.
James Charles O’Donnell III Emmi Bee — No need for the “Lol dude” deflection. Don’t be ashamed, just come right out and admit that you can’t read… OR RESPOND TO THE INFORMATION IN MY LINKED ARTICLES. Either way…. dude.
Ben Taub This is more evidence that there’s a direct correlation between randomly pressing the “caps-lock key” and willingness to believe + propagate conspiracy theories.
James Charles O’Donnell III Ben Taub — CLEVER DUCK!
James Charles O’Donnell III Ben Taub — P.S. [oh dear, more caps!] You, Ben, may return to propagandizing the American public. Had you read my linked materials, you might have noticed that my sources include Pulitzer Prize winners and mainstream sources, rather than anonymous government officials and establishment neocons. But you go on calling yourself a “journalist,” you blithe minion, you. Hack away! For empire! What’s a few million dead Muslims to the establishment you serve? Nothing, so long as REGIME-CHANGE wars are pursued, without question — and brother, that’s no “conspiracy theory,” see Saddam-through-Qaddafi-through-Assad! You also might have noted (as a pretend journalist) a short while back, when Gen. Michael Flynn, the former HEAD of the DIA (the Pentagon’s intelligence outfit), admitted to Mehdi Hasan (a real journalist) that the U.S. played a critical role in the creation of ISIS and the proliferation of radical Salafist groups bent on REGIME-CHANGE in Syria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOTiuszCl0c
You might also have noted, some years back, Ben, when the American Enterprise Institute’s representative, Danielle Pletka, acknowledged on C-Span’s “Washington Journal” that Americans pursuing regime-change in Syria made the mistake of “outsourcing” that objective to Qatar and Saudi Arabia — you know, the folks *bankrolling and arming al Qaeda and ISIS* (along with the CIA, as has been reported in the New York Times).
Please, Ben, please, please, quadruple-PLEASE, stop unthinkingly shilling for a policy that is tantamount to genocide. Assad’s no prince, but the people he’s fighting are NOT primarily Syrians. They are radical Salafists backed by Washington and its allies in the Middle East. Just as the Mujaheddin in the 1980s was no conspiracy theory but an actual, shameful part of our history, SO IS THIS DARK CHAPTER. Along with a few despotic, head-chopping, deeply corrupt allies, WE (the US of A) have all but obliterated Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and Syria. (So stop with the debunked neocon talking points about Assad’s “use of chemical weapons” — PLEASE. Stop supporting terrorists and their deranged imperialist masters. STOP being a tool.)
(Ya’ see that, Ben? Sometimes ALL CAPS is simply a way of adding emphasis — “italicizing” when doing so is not an option. Capiche?)
Mehdi Hasan goes Head to Head with Michael T…
[Minutes after posting my response to Ben Taub, he DELETED MY COMMENT and BANNED ME from participating in the conversation on his FB page.]