College of William & Mary Professor and Ron Paul Institute Academic Board Member Lawrence Wilkerson frankly assesses that former United States General and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director David Petraeus’ proposal that the US support al-Qaeda to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) is a “crazy idea” that creates a blowback danger for Americans. Wilkerson declared this assessment in an interview Thursday with RT host Thom Hartman.
In the interview, Wilkerson, a former US Army colonel and chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell, elaborates on his conclusion by warning:
I would point out that this is just the kind of thing we do that gives us this enormous blowback later. There is a direct line between our support for the mujahideen — the training and arming of al-Qaeda in particular in Afghanistan — and 9-11. And there will be a line, I assure you, between any support we give al-Qaeda or al-Qaeda-like elements in Syria and any future attack on the United States overseas, or here, by them. It’s just something that happens, and it’s extremely dangerous to be playing with this sort of thing.
The wide-ranging interview also contains Wilkerson’s frank insights regarding several other matters, including the paid lobbyists in America for the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) — “one of the most brutal terrorist organizations in the world,” the Saudi Arabia government — or some elements of it — “financing and supporting” ISIS, and former Vice President Dick Cheney who Wilkerson calls “an obscene blemish on the American reputation” who “ought to be in jail for war crimes.”
Watch the complete 12-minute interview at the beginning of Thom Hartman’s show here:
On June 30, RPI Chairman Ron Paul and Executive Director Daniel McAdams discussed on the Ron Paul Liberty Report some earlier advocacy for the US government to overtly supporting al-Qaeda in the Middle East. Watch their discussion here:
