by Webster Griffin Tarpley
June 15, 2016
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Trump Depends on Media Non-Feasance and Public Ignorance as Anti-ISIS Forces Cut Key Terrorist Supply Line at Manbij in Jarablus Corridor; Biggest Attacks on ISIS Now Ongoing; GOP Magical Thinking about Terrorism Exposed Here Six Months Ago
Tonight, the Erin Burnett Out Front program on CNN gave ample coverage to the testimony of Leydiana Puyanera, a wounded victim of the Orlando nightclub shootings, who categorically asserts that there was a second shooter on the scene who worked together with the accused suspect Mateen. The second shooter, she asserts, was white and did not appear to be afraid. Another wounded victim, Patience Carter, says she heard Mateen talking on the phone to a person or persons who sounded to her like an ally of the gunman. Both the FBI and the local police, the report notes, are still adamantly denying the presence of a second shooter. Here is the CNN report by reporter Nick Valencia:
No doubt to the disappointment of some of his more fanatical followers, Trump’s proposals in the wake of the Orlando massacre have fallen far short of the brutality and savagery he had demanded earlier in his campaign. So far, Trump has not demanded that the accused patsy’s first wife, second wife, child, and father be summarily executed in line with his tactic of exterminating entire villages and families in the manner of the Nazi SS. Trump has also not explicitly demanded that Mateen’s current wife be subjected to torture to make sure she tells the FBI what she knows. And although Trump has restated and expanded his call for measures against Moslems in the United States, he has so far stopped short of demanding that they wear a yellow crescent when they go in public.
So much of Trump’s rhetoric turns out to be an appeal to magical thinking, incantations, myths, and spells. This publication has repeatedly exposed the magical quality of GOP verbiage, as for example in the last Republican debate before Christmas, when we noted that “#Cruz believes in magic by pronouncing bogus incantation of “radical #Islamic terrorists” he imagines have accomplished something in reality.”1 Now, six months later, Obama and Clinton have taken up this analysis in what must be seen as yet another example of the intellectual leadership in the anti-Trump cause provided by the Tax Wall Street Party.
In the wake of the Orlando false flag event, Trump has called for the exclusion of other classes of persons from areas where terrorism is endemic. Does he mean Christian Arabs in their Maronite, Melkite, and Syriac? Does the billionaire dolt even know that these subdivisions exist? Trump also wants to start a neo-McCarthyite witch hunt in the Arab-American community to put the screws on Moslems who will be accused of failing to inform the police about terror attacks in advance.
The despicable opportunists who currently lead the Republican Party are profoundly worried about the backlash against such ideas at the polls in November. In some ways, they represent a new fault line for the breakup and splintering of the GOP. Up to now, Trump has attacked and antagonized most of the ethnic and demographic groups in the US population. In a very dangerous move, he has also begun to vilify members of the federal judiciary, which is a very dangerous place to pick a fight for nothing more than some inconsequential civil suit. Trump has singled out members of the media for personal aggression and slander, along the lines of his ego ideal Richard Nixon. Now he has also suggested that Obama is a supporter and enabler of terrorism. It is a safe bet that these tactics are generating more institutional enemies than followers.
The Republican Party already has plenty of demographic and other problems of its own. The crazed petty bourgeois Tea Party base is out of patience with the slick representatives of the elite billionaire donor class. The Buckleyite ideologues of the #NeverTrump movement cannot accept Trump’s opportunistic hodge-podge of demagogic populism and opportunism.
The scope of the Orlando massacre is also setting off anti-gun reactions in the Democratic Party and in large parts of the US population. If Trump and the GOP leaders stick to their slavish support of the doctrinaire National Rifle Association, this will be yet another public relations problem for them. The Democrats agree on the No Fly, No Buy slogan, meaning that persons on the government’s no-fly list should not be allowed to buy firearms. With proposals like this one commanding the support of a large majority of voters, the GOP’s embrace of the National Rifle Association may prove to be a disadvantage this time around.
As for the patsy Mateen, he is resembling his fellow Floridian Mohamed Atta of 9/11 fame more and more . Atta was allegedly a strict observant Moslem who cohabited with a prostitute, frequented discotheques, and made ample use of liquor and cocaine. Mateen is now revealed as a frequenter of gay bars like Pulse and an assiduous user of gay cell phone apps. Anything but strict religious observers, what will the FBI try to prove out of this narrative?
Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan gave an awkward press conference today to repudiate Trump’s speech of yesterday. Along with GOP House Majority Leader McCarthy, Ryan was attended by Congressman Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a close political ally of the Ku Klux Klan whom Trump was so reluctant to repudiate a few months back. Scalise fits the new look of the pro-Trump and openly racist GOP perfectly: for years, he has been exposed for his close cooperation with white supremacist groups from the David Duke machine in his state of Louisiana.2
Starting from Trump’s absurd megalomaniac tweets, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post speculates today that Trump may be helping himself by goading his Moslem and other targets into reactions against him:
‘He does deserve congratulations — for a new wave of radicalization. Trump’s anti-Muslim hostility makes it easier for terrorists to recruit and to inspire disaffected young Muslims. Trump warned Monday that the terrorism seen in Orlando “is going to get worse and worse” — and, thanks to him, that’s probably true.’3
One premise of Trump’s demagogy which deserves more scrutiny is his assumption that ISIS is winning on the battlefield of armed conflict. The reverse is true; ISIS is now under the most severe military pressure in its history. The most important prong of four offensives against the Islamic State is the attack on its principal supply line from Turkey. This offensive is being conducted by the YPG-Kurdish-SDF push against Manbij, the most important remaining road junction in the Jarablus corridor.
'The Manbij offensive comes at the same time as other enemies of Islamic State, the governments of Syria and Iraq, also launched major offensives on other fronts, in what amounts to the most sustained pressure on the militants since they proclaimed their caliphate in 2014 ….The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance launched the advance two weeks ago to seize Islamic State’s last territory on the Syria-Turkey border and cut the self-declared caliphate off from the world …. Having seized control of the last route into Manbij on Friday, the SDF has yet to enter the town …. ”We are closing in on Manbij,” [a member of the anti-ISIS Manbij Military Council] said, adding that fighting continues on the city’s outskirts …. Syrian government and allied forces are trying to advance against the Islamic State south-west of their de facto capital in Syria, Raqqa.’4
Obama personally called attention to the losses being sustained by ISIS after a special National Security Council meeting held at the Treasury Department:
'At the outset, I want to reiterate our objective in this fight. Our mission is to destroy ISIL. Since I last updated the American people on our campaign two months ago, we’ve seen that this continues to be a difficult fight -– but we are making significant progress. Over the past two months, I’ve authorized a series of steps to ratchet up our fight against ISIL: additional U.S. personnel, including Special Forces, in Syria to assist local forces battling ISIL there; additional advisors to work more closely with Iraqi security forces, and additional assets, including attack helicopters; and additional support for local forces in northern Iraq. Our aircraft continue to launch from the USS Harry Truman, now in the Mediterranean. Our B-52 bombers are hitting ISIL with precision strikes. Targets are being identified and hit even more quickly –- so far, 13,000 airstrikes. This campaign at this stage is firing on all cylinders.
‘And as a result, ISIL is under more pressure than ever before. ISIL continues to lose key leaders. This includes Salman Abd Shahib, a senior military leader in Mosul; Abu Sa’ad al-Sudani, who plotted external attacks; Shakir Wahayb, ISIL’s military leader in Iraq’s Anbar province; and Maher al-Bilawi, the top ISIL commander in Fallujah. So far, we’ve taken out more than 120 top ISIL leaders and commanders. And our message is clear: If you target America and our allies, you will not be safe. You will never be safe.
‘ISIL continues to lose ground in Iraq. In the past two months, local forces in Iraq, with coalition support, have liberated the western town of Rutbah and have also pushed up the Euphrates River Valley, liberating the strategic town of Hit and breaking the ISIL siege of Haditha. Iraqi forces have surrounded Fallujah and begun to move into the city. Meanwhile, in the north, Iraqi forces continue to push up the Tigris River Valley, making gains around Makhmour, and now preparing to tighten the noose around ISIL in Mosul. All told, ISIL has now lost nearly half of the populated territory that it once controlled in Iraq -– and it will lose more.
‘ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well. Assisted by our Special Operations Forces, a coalition of local forces is now pressuring the key town of Manbij, which means the noose is tightening around ISIL in Raqqa as well. In short, our coalition continues to be on offense. ISIL is on defense. And it’s now been a full year since ISIL has been able to mount a major successful offensive operation in either Syria or Iraq.
‘As ISIL continues to lose territory, it also continues to lose the money that is its lifeblood. As a result of our strikes against its oil infrastructure and supply lines, we believe that we’ve cut ISIL’s revenue from oil by millions of dollars per month. In destroying the storage sites where they keep their cash, we’ve deprived ISIL of many millions more.
‘Thanks to the great work of Secretary Lew and many others here today -– and working with nations and financial institutions around the world –- ISIL is now effectively cut off from the international financial system. Cutting off ISIL’s money may not be as dramatic as military strikes, but it is critically important. And we’re seeing the results. ISIL’s cash reserves are down. It has had to cut salaries for its fighters. It’s resorting to more extortion of those trapped in its grip. And by ISIL’s own admission, some of its own leaders have been caught stealing cash and gold. Once again, ISIL’s true nature has been revealed: These are not religious warriors, they are thugs and they are thieves.’5
Obama’s mention of Manbij in the Jarablus corridor is especially significant. Right now there are thought to be two US aircraft carriers in the eastern Mediterranean, both focusing on ISIS. Compared to this overview, Trump is simply a defeatist.
Other NATO countries, including France and Germany, have also sent small numbers of special forces to this critical Turkish-Syrian border area. They may have been attracted by the impending doom of ISIS. Unfortunately, the intentions of these forces are not at all clear.
‘French special forces have been tasked with training the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and building a military base near Kobani ahead of a major offensive on the Daesh-held city of Manbij, political analyst Idris Nessan, who served as deputy foreign minister of the Kobani Canton, told Sputnik. The French on the ground are not expected to take part in combat, at least for now. “French soldiers arrived in Kobani along with US troops to take part in liberating Manbij. They are primarily tasked with coordinating airstrikes of the [US-led] coalition, consulting and providing training to Manbij’s Military Council and the Syrian Democratic Forces,” he said. Nessan could not disclose how many French soldiers were present in Kobani, but added that additional troops could arrive if required. Manbij is a strategically important city located southwest of Kobani in northern Syria. It has been surrounded by Kurdish and Arab fighters, but Daesh militants are still maintaining their grip on the urban area itself. The siege has dealt a major blow to the terrorist group that relies heavily on unfettered access to Turkey that has allowed the organization to regroup, rearm and resupply. Manbij has also served as a key link between the border region and the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Daesh caliphate.’6
A small contingent of Special Forces of the German Bundeswehr are also on the scene:
‘Tens of German special forces troops entered the Syrian territory on Tuesday joining French and US troops that are participating in a military operation near the northern Syrian city of Manbij, Arab media reported. The Al Mayadeen pan-Arabic TV channel noted it was the first announcement of the German forces’ presence in Syria. German servicemen are supporting their Western allies’ forces stationed near the Tishrin hydropower plant, the channel said, citing its sources. In late May, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic forces announced an offensive against the Islamic State group. One of the goals of the operation supported by the US-led coalition is to liberate the city of Manbij.’7
In evaluating whether this Franco German military presence will be a plus or a minus in the struggle to wipe out the Islamic State, it will be well to bear in mind warnings coming from Thierry Meyssan of the Voltaire Network, who has been pointing to a plan to establish a pseudo-Kurdish state in northern Syria which risks coming under the control of a Kurdish renegade:
‘Washington and Moscow are working together to develop the military strength of the Syrian Kurds, allegedly to combat Daesh, but in reality to fight President Erdogan, whom the two great powers would be happy to remove. But the apprentice dictator of Ankara is preparing to turn the tables. He has begun to re-shuffle the population at the Syrian frontier in order to catch the Turkish Kurds in a vise, and is preparing to use his Syrian Kurdish spy, Salih Muslim -– armed by the United States and Russia –- to create a Kurdistan in Syria to which he can expel the Turkish Kurds …. But in reality, the YPG is the armed branch of the PYD (Democratic Union Party), which has two co-Presidents -– a woman, Asya Abdullah, and a man, Salih Muslim. Asya Abdullah is faithful to the principles of Abudllah Öcalan –- the founder of the PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party) -– and intends to create a Kurdistan on Turkish territory …. Salih Muslim is a traitor who, in a secret meeting at the Elysée on the 31 October, negotiated an agreement’8
The supporters of the pseudo-Kurdish state are thought to include the United Kingdom, France, and Turkey, with the US and Russia opposed. These developments merit enhanced scrutiny.
On the US domestic front, Trump may be losing ground against his opposition. Polls are now including not just the two major parties, but the Libertarians and the Green Party as well. Email and direct mail fundraising appeals now start from the assumption that Trump is losing, and that his dupes must send money to rescue the fascist billionaire. Trump, of course, was supposed to be a plutocrat so opulent that he could self finance everything without batting an eye. The Trump myth is crumbling as it crashes on the rocks of objective reality. The relevant polling is that Hillary is leading Trump by 42% to 38%, with the libertarian Johnson at 9%, and the Green Party at 5%:
‘The four-way horserace question — in addition to asking about Clinton and Trump — also listed Gary Johnson (the Libertarian candidate) and Jill Stein (the Green Party candidate) as additional third party options. The results from this question also show Clinton gaining on Trump. She now enjoys 42 percent support; Trump has 38 percent, Johnson has 9 percent support and Stein has 5 percent. Support for Johnson and Stein remained consistent from last week’s results — but Clinton now leads Trump by 4 points. In last week’s four-way horserace results, Clinton trailed Trump by a single point — 39 percent to 40 percent.’9
At the same time, it should be recalled that the Strategy of Tension in favor of Trump probably does not represent a single isolated event, or even a series of separate attacks, but rather is more likely to be a complex psychological warfare plan, which proceeds through phases towards some kind of October Crescendo. We should also remember that the Benghazi attacks of September 11, 2012 were supposed to represent an October Surprise in favor of Romney, but that this operation misfired because of Romney’s total political ineptitude in exploiting the event. Trump’s political ineptitude is of course far greater than that of Romney. All these plans tend to underestimate the well-known Rally Round, which generally sees the American people coming together to support the President when the nation is considered to be under attack. Trump’s speech of yesterday, in which he accused Obama of collusion with terrorists, risks running afoul of this Rally Round reflects, much to the detriment of the fascist billionaire.
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Notes:
TWSP Livetweet of GOP debate, December 15, 2016.
http://tarpley.net/gop-debates-a-grotes ... s-ready-to…
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government ... ends-scali…
Dana Milbank, “Trump exploits Orlando’s tragedy to smear Muslims and Obama,” Washington Post, June 14, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... n-is-trump…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-midea ... SKCN0Z01JP
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-of ... -president…
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160 ... roops-koba…
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160 ... orces-syri…
http://www.voltairenet.org/article192128.html
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-el ... ands-lead-…