Patrick Henningsen - ISIS Crisis & Israel’s Strategy

HOUR1 mp3: http://www.redicemembers.com/secure/radio/2014/8/RIR-140829-patrickhenningsen-hr1.mp3

HOUR2 mp3: http://www.redicemembers.com/secure/radio/2014/8/RIR-140829-patrickhenningsen-hr2.mp3

Henrik: How have you viewed ISIS since it emerged only really a few months ago on the media's radar of what this is about, and who's behind it, Patrick?

Patrick Henningsen: I've been following ISIS long before it has hit the headlines. Recently, of course, with the Islamic State of Iraq in the Lavant in Syria as part of the so-called "Opposition", fighting against the Syrian government alongside the FSA. But its important that people understand, particularly since this ISIS issue is getting wall-to-wall coverage in the U.S. media. I mean, it will not turn itself off on any of the news channels, be it CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS, which are just banging on about ISIS... That ISIS is targeting the Pope, they said today. ISIS wants Lady al Qaeda freed from a US jail. ISIS is coming to America to attack Americans. So, they are really ramping-up the fear. But it doesn't have the emotional hold that al Qaeda had after 911, obviously, because there hasn't been any US-based terror attack or tragedy as part of the story.

So, where does ISIS come from?
Right now, if you've listened to the US State Department, or if you've listen to the Pentagon spokespeople, like Rear Admiral Kirby or Anderson Cooper on CNN, or Wolf Blitzer, they will have you think that ISIS somehow sprung out of Syria. That is not true.

ISIS essentially, the elements of ISIS, have come from two places.
The first is Irag before the Syrian civil war. The second is Libya. So, if we look back at Libya, when we saw the black al Qaeda flags flying over the courthouse in Benghazi in 2011 & 2012, that is essentially the first kind of sighting of that kind of group. And we also saw the same flags flying in places in Iraq.

So, what happened?
NATO basically allied itself with jihadist groups in order to overthrow the Gaddafi government. And, one in particular leader & organizer that they had employed & his name was Abdel Hakim Belhaj who happened to be detained in Guantanamo Bay for a number of years. Somehow, for unknown reasons released, appears in Libya at the perfect time of the downfall of Gaddafi. And now, he's the governor of Tripoli who was also organizing the recruitment of fighters to transfer to Syria in 2012.

Here's another one, named Airat Vakhitov who was from Chechnya, he was also interned in Guantanamo Bay at the same time as Bekhadj, he was then released. And he is leading fighting force in Syria, very extremist Islamic fighting forces, I might add.

So, you can kind of see these are the roots of ISIS. And in addition, we have a group called Front Victory [Front victory for the Syrian people] , who was operating as a part of the insurgency in Iraq, and I believe receiving funding probably from Saudi Arabia. And they also were moved into Syria in 2012 & 2013. So, you have this kind of movement from Libya from Iraq, as part of the insurgency, and then moved into Syria as the civil war began. The US has turned a "blind eye" to just about everything going on with Islamic fighters in Syria, because they believe it helped to mitigate the Asad government & the Syrian army's efforts to quell the opposition. So basically, they turned a blind, they turned a blind eye to terrorists - young kids coming from Europe and US or further afield - easily track-able. They have every ability to know where these kids are coming from & where they're heading. But they turned a 'blind eye' because they saw this as part of the effort for regime change in Syria. So again, allowing this thing to build up.

And so, we have the consolidation of the al-Nusra Front, that is a Saudi Arabian Prince Bandar definitely had, I believe, full control & financial control over the al-Nusra Front. They consolidated a number of terror groups into a bigger al-Nusra Front operating in Syria. And splinter groups were broken off, people moved from one group to another, maybe one group paid more than another.

So you had this movement. Everybody - most of them are getting paid from the officer level up, $50 a month up to $2000 if you're a general or co-odinator. And all these salaries are being paid for by Saudi Arabian financial sources & Qatar financial sources. So, that emirate, along with Saudi Arabia, are basically funding the ISIS Crisis. So you could the whole thing in about fourteen days if you were to cut off funding. Both of those countries are allies of the United States & Great Britain. The United States has its central command & control based in Doha, Qatar & also the 6th Fleet based in Doha.

So, its not that we don't have very deep ties with the country of Qatar. And of course, I don't need to tell you about U.S. & British ties to Saudi Arabia & how deep those go on the political & economic level. So, its not as if we don't have some influence, but we are allowing this to happen.

And you have to be skeptical of the ISIS Crisis. I mean, back in the 1980s, the open recruitment at various U.S. cities were mujahideen to go to Afghanistan to fight. That was common. You had recruitment centers in places Tuscon, Arizona & places like Seattle, Washington. This was back in the 80's. So this thing has happened with ISIS around Europe, but the recruitment is done a little more under the radar through mosques & through other assorted Islamic community groups. And also with most - absolutely, more than likely, with the involvement of informants from the Intelligence agencies - they're all over the place in all these mosques & groups. So, you'd be very naive to think that they're not aware & don't have a visual on all this recruitment activity coming from Europe.

So, that's the picture we're looking at. And we also have the Muslim Brotherhood really stalked the ranks of what is now ISIL & ISIS between 2012 & 2013 running recruitment activities out of Egypt. They had a Muslim Brotherhood armed & active in Syria from 2010, and also working in Tunisia & Morocco. And there's alot of fighters from that recruitment drive still active in the region. You have to remember, massive unemployment throughout these Muslim countries. A university professor makes $200 per month. So, any salary from $50 to $100 a month is a good wage. And when you can pocket your wages & you can plunder your food & everything else through your conquest activities, obviously, it seems a good financial deal for alot of people.

And they use the Islamic fundamentalist fervor as the kind of 'hook' to get the soldiers involved. And, basically, the psychological profile of these fighters are two-fold. One of them will be a very disturbed - not quite all there. And all the other ones that are absolutely guns-for-hire, like a gang member, will do anything for a buck, shoot anybody for a buck. That's what you basically have - is the unstable, identity crisis, confused religious, mentally disturbed man, and the mercenary. So basically its those two.

(Alot more there in the interview)


turiya