Yet again a US-backed group in the Middle East/South Asia region has thrown in their lot with ISIS. Antiwar.com blog reports that Jundallah, a terrorist organization based in southern Iran and western Pakistan which fights to overthrow the Iranian government, has pledged loyalty to ISIS and will back “any plans they have.”
The CIA has long backed Jundallah as part of the US regime change strategy against Iran. The organization is responsible for terrorist attacks spanning more than a decade that have claimed the lives of more than 100 people. Relations between Iran and Pakistan have been strained because of cross-border attacks by the Pakistan-based faction of Jundallah and the cross-border response from Iran.
The group has an Israel connection as well. In 2012, the popular website Foreign Policy featured an article outlining a secret operation by Israel’s Mossad to have agents pose as American spies in attempt to recruit fighters into Jundallah.
This is another in an emerging pattern of US-backed groups pledging support and/or passing US-provided weapons to ISIS and other groups said to be enemies of the US. Earlier this month two groups operating in Syria surrendered their US-supplied weapons to al-Qaeda.
US foreign policy seems to be unfazed by these revelations, as it has recently been announced that the US will team up with the Turkish government —which has actively encouraged foreign jihadists to enter Syria — to provide training to a new group of “moderate” Syrian rebels.
Meanwhile the neoconservatives who still dominate US foreign policy are stepping up demands that the US immediately attack the Assad government, the only army actually fighting ISIS on the ground. In an excellent article today, Patrick Buchanan draws our attention to a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece by neocons Reuel Marc Gerecht (a former CIA operative) and Mark Dubowitz, both of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, which demands a wider war:
Taking Mr. Assad down would let Tehran know that America’s withdrawal from the Middle East and President Obama’s dreams of an entente with Iran are over.
Who is funding the Foundation for Defense of Democracies? Buchanan cites an analysis by Mondoweiss showing that the Foundation is:
A War Party think tank that in 2011, according to Philip Weiss of Mondoweiss website and Eli Clifton of Salon, took in $19 million from five rabidly pro-Israel givers.
Home Depot’s Bernard Marcus gave $10.7 million, hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer $3.6 million. Sheldon Adelson, the Vegas-Macau casino kingpin, chipped in $1.5 million.
The US government plan is to attack the ground troops fighting ISIS while supporting factions handing US weapons to ISIS. Does anyone else get the feeling we are being lied to?
