Did the US DIA see ISIL as a strategic Ally against al-Assad in 2012?

[unhappycamper]

http://www.juancole.com/2015/05/strategic-against-assad.html

Did the US DIA see ISIL as a strategic Ally against al-Assad in 2012?
By Juan Cole | May. 25, 2015

The answer, in a word, is “no.” Fabius Maximus is right that this is just a clickbait story or an unfounded conspiracy theory.

The Defense Intelligence Agency’s correct assessment of where things were going in Syria, done in 2012, doesn’t say that the US created sectarian groups and it does not say that the US favors al-Qaeda in Syria or the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq.” It says that those powers (e.g. Turkey and the Gulf monarchies) supporting the opposition wanted to see the declaration of a Salafi (hard line Sunni) breakaway statelet, in order to put pressure on the al-Assad regime.

~snip~

The answer, in a word, is “no.” Fabius Maximus is right that this is just a clickbait story or an unfounded conspiracy theory.

The Defense Intelligence Agency’s correct assessment of where things were going in Syria, done in 2012, doesn’t say that the US created sectarian groups and it does not say that the US favors al-Qaeda in Syria or the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq.” It says that those powers (e.g. Turkey and the Gulf monarchies) supporting the opposition wanted to see the declaration of a Salafi (hard line Sunni) breakaway statelet, in order to put pressure on the al-Assad regime.

..

http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-defense-state-department-documents-reveal-obama-administration-knew-that-al-qaeda-terrorists-had-planned-benghazi-attack-10-days-in-advance/

Administration knew three months before the November 2012 presidential election of ISIS plans to establish a caliphate in Iraq

Judicial Watch: Defense, State Department Documents Reveal Obama Administration Knew that al Qaeda Terrorists Had Planned Benghazi Attack 10 Days in Advance
MAY 18, 2015

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it obtained more than 100 pages of previously classified “Secret” documents from the Department of Defense (DOD)and the Department of State revealing that DOD almost immediately reported that the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was committed by the al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood-linked “Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman” (BCOAR), and had been planned at least 10 days in advance. Rahman is known as the Blind Sheikh, and is serving life in prison for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other terrorist acts. The new documents also provide the first official confirmation that shows the U.S. government was aware of arms shipments from Benghazi to Syria. The documents also include an August 2012 analysis warning of the rise of ISIS and the predicted failure of the Obama policy of regime change in Syria.

The documents were released in response to a court order in accordance with a May 15, 2014, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against both the DOD and State Department seeking communications between the two agencies and congressional leaders “on matters related to the activities of any agency or department of the U.S. government at the Special Mission Compound and/or classified annex in Benghazi.”

~snip~

A Defense Department document from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), dated September 12, 2012, the day after the Benghazi attack, details that the attack on the compound had been carefully planned by the BOCAR terrorist group “to kill as many Americans as possible.” The document was sent to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Obama White House National Security Council. The heavily redacted Defense Department “information report” says that the attack on the Benghazi facility “was planned and executed by The Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman (BCOAR).” The group subscribes to “AQ ideologies:”

The attack was planned ten or more days prior on approximately 01 September 2012. The intention was to attack the consulate and to kill as many Americans as possible to seek revenge for U.S. killing of Aboyahiye ((ALALIBY)) in Pakistan and in memorial of the 11 September 2001 atacks on the World Trade Center buildings.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Heh.

Tangential thought, but, it would have been so funny (in a dark humour sense) if it turned out John McCain's photo-op was with ISIL terrorists. People would simply post it every time he was mentioned anywhere.

[jakeXT]

2. ISIS leader: "If there was no American prison in Iraq, there would be no ISIS"

"HERE, WE WERE NOT ONLY SAFE, BUT WE WERE ONLY A FEW HUNDRED METERS AWAY FROM THE ENTIRE AL-QAEDA LEADERSHIP"

http://www.vox.com/2014/12/11/7377165/isis-us-prison

[leveymg]

3. Does the US tolerate the Saudis and Qataris funding ISIS? The answer is, in a word, "yes".

Juan takes a myopic view, at times, especially on the subject of Syria.

[bemildred]

4. I agree with Cole, to the extent that what it shows is intelligence failure rather than conspiracy.

The fact still is that our so-called protectors again failed to appreciate the real dangers and picked the wrong horse to back again.

[Man from Pickens]

5. Problem with that conclusion

is that this is the exact same "mistake" that has been made time and time again in US interventions overseas - at some point Occam's Razor tells us that they're probably doing it on purpose.

[bemildred]

6. Yeah, I get it, but I still think incompetence and herd-think will do the job.

I'm not trying to say we are above such things, I'm saying we really are that stupid and we believe our own bullshit. What sort of military dumbshit does not know that colonial levies cannot be relied on without strong incentives?

And I definitely am advocating for some criminal process for the parties involved.

But I don't believe they really set out to make this mess the way it is, it looks much too bad, it is a political disaster.