Eric Zuesse
On September 4th, U.S. President Donald Trump came out publicly in support of Islamic terrorists.
He clearly stated that he is against eliminating the people who live in, and who have sought refuge in, the region of Syria that has the highest concentration — almost 100% of the people there — either supporting or being Islamic terrorists. This region has what is virtually certain to be the highest percentage of jihadists and of their supporters, anywhere in the world. No other locale on the planet has been shown to be even close to 100% supporting Islamic terrorism, jihadists, but this one has.
Idlib Governate, in Syria, is by far the most-pro-jihadist region in Syria, and has increasingly been collecting jihadists from abroad, for jihadists globally to overthrow and replace Syria’s secular Government.
Syria is the nation that, for seven years, has experienced an influx of jihadists from not only the Arab world, and not only from Muslim-majority countries, but from everywhere, including Europe and the United States, who have come into Syria to overthrow the only non-sectarian government in the entire Middle East. No other Arab country — and also not the Jewish theocratic state of Israel — is secular, and is founded upon equal rights for all of its citizens, regardless of religion. Only Syria is. Jihadists therefore especially hate its government.
For this very reason, Syrian Government forces, as they have been conquering jihadists in the other Governates of Syria, have been offering all conquered jihadist warriors a choice of either immediate death from Syria’s Army, or else surrender to the Government, and it has bussed all of those who have surrendered; it has bussed them into Idlib Governate, concentrated them there, for them to be amongst their own kind — amongst other supporters of jihad — supporters of the imposition of Sharia law and of either death or imprisonment to anyone who resists that.
Back in 2015 (as is documented at that last link), when one of Orb’s polling questions was support versus opposition to Syria’s secular Government and also to its current President, Bashar al-Assad, only 4% in Idlib said that they supported it and him. By contrast, throughout all of Syria (including Idlib) 47% of Syrians supported both it and him.
Therefore, by Trump’s now warning Syria’s Government and its allis Russia and Iran, not to invade that part of Syria, Trump is threatening Syrians, Russians, and Iranians, that any such invasion by them, into that part of Syria, will mean outright war between the U.S. and all three of those countries. Trump is so passionate in support of jihadists, as to threaten World War III if Syria and its allies go into the Idlib part of Syria to finish-off the jihadists who have been a curse to that country since at least 2012. 2012 was when the U.S. first determined to support Al Qaeda to lead its boots-on-the-ground fighters in Syria to overthrow the Government.
Trump tweeted, on September 4th: “President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province. The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don’t let that happen!”
By no means are all of the jihadists in Syria recruits from abroad; probably the majority of them are instead from Idlib and from other especially Sunni-fundamentalist parts of Syria. In December 2015, The Soufan Group (TSG), a private international-security firm, issued a study, “FOREIGN FIGHTERS: An Updated Assessment of the Flow of Foreign Fighters into Syria and Iraq”. It estimated “the numbers of foreign fighters traveling to join the so-called Islamic State and other violent extremist groups in Iraq and Syria.” It noted that three months earlier, “United States intelligence estimates put the number of foreign fighters in Syria at upwards of 30,000 from over 100 countries. TSG research, which includes information provided directly by officials, largely confirms these figures.” This report estimated that the top jihadist-supplying countries were: Tunisia 6,000; Saudi Arabia 2,500; Russia 2,400 (mainly from Chechnya amd Dagestan); Turkey 2,100; Jordan 2,000+; France 1,700; and Morocco 1,200. Soufan Group counted 87 countries-of-origin for jihadists in Syria. 900 were from Lebanon; 760 from Germany; 760 from UK; 470 from Belgium, 330 from Bosnia, and 150 from USA. None came from Iran — it wasn’t among the 87.
Trump is protecting all of the jihjadists, domestic and foreign, that are in Idlib, where almost all of the locals support the jihadist cause, even individuals who aren’t fighting do. For this purpose, Trump is now threatening WW III. Barack Obama protected Al Qaeda in Syria; Trump now is protecting even ISIS members who are in Idlib. The U.S. Presidential candidate who verbally obsessed against “Radical Islamic Terrorism” has been, during his Presidency, an even bigger supporter of that, than his predecessor was (who also spoke against Islamic terrorism and who actually did kill Osama bin Laden). What the voters want is irrelevant to what the U.S. Government does. But the U.S. Government still calls itself a “democracy,” instead of a dictatorship by the rich against everyone else — an “aristocracy.”
And that’s why WW III is being threatened and could soon happen.
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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.