Military to Military

Seymour M. Hersh on US intelligence sharing in the Syrian War

Barack Obama’s repeated insistence that Bashar al-Assad must leave office – and that

there are ‘moderate’ rebel groups in Syria capable of defeating him – has in recent years provoked quiet dissent, and even overt opposition, among some of the most senior officers on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff. Their criticism has focused on what they see as the administration’s fixation on Assad’s primary ally, Vladimir Putin. In their view, Obama is captive to Cold War thinking about Russia and China, and hasn’t adjusted his stance on Syria to the fact both countries share Washington’s anxiety about the spread of terrorism in and beyond Syria; like Washington, they believe that Islamic State must be stopped.

The military’s resistance dates back to the summer of 2013, when a highly classified assessment, put together by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then led by General Martin Dempsey, forecast that the fall of the Assad regime would lead to chaos and, potentially, to Syria’s takeover by jihadi extremists, much as was then happening in Libya. A former senior adviser to the Joint Chiefs told me that the document was an ‘all-source’ appraisal, drawing on information from signals, satellite and human intelligence, and took a dim view of the Obama administration’s insistence on continuing to finance and arm the so-called moderate rebel groups. By then, the CIA had been conspiring for more than a year with allies in the UK, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to ship guns and goods – to be used for the overthrow of Assad – from Libya, via Turkey, into Syria. The new intelligence estimate singled out Turkey as a major impediment to Obama’s Syria policy. The document showed, the adviser said, ‘that what was started as a covert US programme to arm and support the moderate rebels fighting Assad had been co-opted by Turkey, and had morphed into an across-the-board technical, arms and logistical programme for all of the opposition, including Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State. The so-called moderates had evaporated and the Free Syrian Army was a rump group stationed at an airbase in Turkey.’ The assessment was bleak: there was no viable ‘moderate’ opposition to Assad, and the US was arming extremists.

HR158

Apparently, the new bill, HR158, has puzzled many Iranians. Those who are familiar with the politics of American government understand that this bill is consistent with other government policies, and they can find many other historical instances. Many Iranians, such as the author of this article, have selected the United States as the country of their citizenship, because of the democratic values this country is famous for, through mass media, movies, and international broadcasting systems. The longer one becomes accustomed to the culture of American society, the more one discovers a brand of nationalism mixed with some self-righteousness and racism that has become the fabric of the American society. Children from early school age are indoctrinated into this type of nationalism.

اچ آر ۱۵۸

به نظر می‌رسد که عده‌ای از ایرانیان از اینکه لایحهٔ (اچ آر ۱۵۸) تصویب شده است شگفت‌زده شده‌اند. ولی‌ ایرانیانی که به سیاستهای دولت آمریکا آشنائی دارند این لایحه را کاملا در مسیر سیاست کلی‌ دولت دیده، و میتوانند تشابه‌های تاریخی بسیاری را به خاطر بیاورند. بسیاری از ایرانیان، مانند نویسنده این نوشتار، آمریکا را به این دلیل که همواره در جراید و وسائل ارتباط جمعی‌ و در فیلمهای هالیودی به عنوان مهد دمکراسی معرفی‌ شده، وطن دوم خود قرار داده‌اند. شخص هر چه بیشتر در این کشور اقامت می‌کند، عمیق‌تر به ناسیونالیزم آمریکایی که با نوعی نژاد پرستی‌ گره خورده است، پی میبرد. ملی‌گرایی از کودکی به بچه‌های آمریکایی آموزش داده میشود.

What Donald Trump and ISIS Have in Common- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

What Donald Trump and ISIS Have in Common

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar @kaj33 Dec. 9, 2015

TIME columnist Abdul-Jabbar is a six-time NBA champion and league Most Valuable Player. He is also a celebrated author, filmmaker and education ambassador whose life and career are the subject of Minority of One, a new documentary on HBO Sports.

The 2016 candidate has more in common with the terrorist group than he does with America

The terrorist campaign against American ideals is winning. Fear is rampant. Gun sales are soaring. Hate crimes are increasing. Bearded hipsters are being mistaken for Muslims. And 83 percent of voters believe a large-scale terrorist attack is likely here in the near future. Some Americans are now so afraid that they are willing to trade in the sacred beliefs that define America for some vague promises of security from the very people who are spreading the terror. “Go ahead and burn the Constitution — just don’t hurt me at the mall.” That’s how effective this terrorism is.

I’m not talking about ISIS. I’m talking about Donald Trump.

حاجی ملایری

حاجی ملایری را کسانی‌ که در کسب و کار در سطح بالائی بودند بخوبی میشناختند. او نه تنها با اعتقاد کامل مذهبی‌ بود و اینرا در هر حرکت و یا هر جمله‌اش نمایان میکرد، بلکه بسیار به حرفه‌اش علاقمند بود. گر چه تجارتش را از پدرش به ارث برده بود، ولی‌ در کارش بسیار وارد بود. پدر حاجی ملایری با پدر من در ملایر زندگی میکردند و از دوران دبستان با یکدیگر رفاقتی صمیمی‌ داشتند. پدرم تا کلاس ششم در ملایر درس می‌خواند. چون به تحصیلات علاقه داشت قول داده بود که چنانچه والدینش وسایلِ تحصیلات او را فراهم میکردند، او هم در مقابل دست خواهر و برادرهای کوچکترش را که در سنین مختلف بودند میگرفت و آنها را بجائی میرساند. پدر بزرگم نخست با این کار مخالف بود، و بزرگترهای پدر بزرگ هم او را از این کار منع میکردند، بخصوص که شهر ملایر تا کلاس ششم ابتدائی بیشتر نداشت و کسی که خواستارِ تحصیلاتِ مافوقِ ابتدائی بود بالاجبار باید برای ادامهٔ تحصیلات به شهر بزرگتری میرفت. عاقبت پدرم توانست همه را قانع کند که او را نزد عمویش به تهران بفرستند. پدر بزرگم هم چند شاهی از پولهایی را که در زیر دخل ذخیره کرده بود، همراه با پنجاه نان ملایری و یک پیت روغن و یک کیسه توت خشک به پدرم داد که برای عمویش ببرد و چند صباحی تا پایانِ تحصیلات در منزل عمویش باشد.