Syrian ‘Opposition’ Groups Funded By U.S. State Department

July 14th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Charlie Skelton
London Guardian
Friday, July 13, 2012

Comment: This article has really got the pro-interventionist warmongering leftists squealing with hissy fits. How dare Charlie Skelton point out that there is violence on both sides in Syria and that there is a wider geopolitical agenda behind the western-backed rebels and terrorists? Such a thought crime cannot go unpunished and Skelton is now being attacked via hastily written shoddy hit pieces.

Along with Kodmani and Ziadeh, Ausama (or sometimes Osama) Monajed is one of the most important SNC spokespeople.

Monajed turned up, just a few days ago, as a blogger on Huffington Post UK, where he explained, at length: “Why the World Must Intervene in Syria” – calling for “direct military assistance” and “foreign military aid”. So, again, a fair question might be: who is this spokesman calling for military intervention?

Monajed is a member of the SNC, adviser to its president, and according to his SNC biography, “the Founder and Director of Barada Television”, a pro-opposition satellite channel based in Vauxhall, south London. In 2008, a few months after attending Syria In-Transition conference, Monajed was back in Washington, invited to lunch with George W Bush, along with a handful of other favoured dissidents (you can see Monajed in the souvenir photo, third from the right, in the red tie, near Condoleezza Rice – up the other end from Garry Kasparov).

At this time, in 2008, the US state department knew Monajed as “director of public relations for the Movement for Justice and Development (MJD), which leads the struggle for peaceful and democratic change in Syria”.

Let’s look closer at the MJD. Last year, the Washington Post picked up a story from WikiLeaks, which had published a mass of leaked diplomatic cables. These cables appear to show a remarkable flow of money from the US state department to the British-based Movement for Justice and Development. According to the Washington Post’s report: “Barada TV is closely affiliated with the Movement for Justice and Development, a London-based network of Syrian exiles. Classified US diplomatic cables show that the state department has funnelled as much as $6m to the group since 2006 to operate the satellite channel and finance other activities inside Syria.”

A state department spokesman responded to this story by saying: “Trying to promote a transformation to a more democratic process in this society is not undermining necessarily the existing government.” And they’re right, it’s not “necessarily” that.

When asked about the state department money, Monajed himself said that he “could not confirm” US state department funding for Barada TV, but said: “I didn’t receive a penny myself.” Malik al -Abdeh, until very recently Barada TV’s editor-in-chief insisted: “we have had no direct dealings with the US state department”. The meaning of the sentence turns on that word “direct”. It is worth noting that Malik al Abdeh also happens to be one of the founders of the Movement for Justice and Development (the recipient of the state department $6m, according to the leaked cable). And he’s the brother of the chairman, Anas Al-Abdah. He’s also the co-holder of the MJD trademark: What Malik al Abdeh does admit is that Barada TV gets a large chunk of its funding from an American non-profit organisation: the Democracy Council. One of the co-sponsors (with the MJD) of Syria In-Transition mini-conference. So what we see, in 2008, at the same meeting, are the leaders of precisely those organisations identified in the Wiki:eaks cables as the conduit (the Democracy Council) and recipient (the MJD) of large amounts of state department money.

The Democracy Council (a US-based grant distributor) lists the state department as one of its sources of funding. How it works is this: the Democracy Council serves as a grant-administering intermediary between the state department’s “Middle East Partnership Initiative” and “local partners” (such as Barada TV). As the Washington Post reports:

“Several US diplomatic cables from the embassy in Damascus reveal that the Syrian exiles received money from a State Department program called the Middle East Partnership Initiative. According to the cables, the State Department funnelled money to the exile group via the Democracy Council, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit.”

The same report highlights a 2009 cable from the US Embassy in Syria that says that the Democracy Council received $6.3m from the state department to run a Syria-related programme, the “Civil Society Strengthening Initiative”. The cable describes this as “a discrete collaborative effort between the Democracy Council and local partners” aimed at producing, amongst other things, “various broadcast concepts.” According to the Washington Post: “Other cables make clear that one of those concepts was Barada TV.”

Until a few months ago, the state department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative was overseen by Tamara Cofman Wittes (she’s now at the Brookings Institution – an influential Washington thinktank). Of MEPI, she said that it “created a positive ‘brand’ for US democracy promotion efforts”. While working there she declared: “There are a lot of organizations in Syria and other countries that are seeking changes from their government … That’s an agenda that we believe in and we’re going to support.” And by support, she means bankroll.

The money

This is nothing new. Go back a while to early 2006, and you have the state department announcing a new “funding opportunity” called the “Syria Democracy Program“. On offer, grants worth “$5m in Federal Fiscal Year 2006″. The aim of the grants? “To accelerate the work of reformers in Syria.”

These days, the cash is flowing in faster than ever. At the beginning of June 2012, the Syrian Business Forum was launched in Doha by opposition leaders including Wael Merza (SNC secretary general). “This fund has been established to support all components of the revolution in Syria,” said Merza. The size of the fund? Some $300m. It’s by no means clear where the money has come from, although Merza “hinted at strong financial support from Gulf Arab states for the new fund” (Al Jazeera). At the launch, Merza said that about $150m had already been spent, in part on the Free Syrian Army.

Merza’s group of Syrian businessmen made an appearance at a World Economic Forum conference titled the “Platform for International Co-operation” held in Istanbul in November 2011. All part of the process whereby the SNC has grown in reputation, to become, in the words of William Hague, “a legitimate representative of the Syrian people” – and able, openly, to handle this much funding.

Full story here.

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8 Responses to “Syrian ‘Opposition’ Groups Funded By U.S. State Department”

“pro-interventionist warmongering leftists”
You obviously have no clue what actual leftists say, rather than the fascists the msm likes to call leftists:
Here ya go, dillweed:

Part 1:
cpusa.org/communist-party-says-hands-off-syria/
“Communist Party says “Hands Off Syria”
The Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA) calls for peaceful negotiations to end the current standoff in Syria, and emphasizes that the future government of that country is a matter to be decided by the Syrian people only, without outside interference…”

socialistparty-usa.org/platform/internationalpolicy.html
“The United States is the sole remaining global superpower. The U.S. government uses its overwhelming military power to consolidate its strategic hold over the entire world and to defend and advance the interests of U.S. owned corporations as they exploit the working people and natural resources of the entire planet. We stand in total opposition to U.S. imperialism and the current “war on terror” which is just another subterfuge for U.S. imperialism.

We call for the closing of all U.S. military facilities at home and abroad that train foreign military and paramilitary personnel.
We call for the United States to immediately and unconditionally withdraw its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.
We call for an end to the U.S. occupation of the province of Guantanamo, Cuba.
We call for an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank-East Jerusalem and Gaza, and an end to all U.S. aid to Israel, as a precondition for peace.
We support an immediate cutoff of all U.S. military aid to Colombia, and all other recipients.
We call for the abolition of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and all other institutions of covert warfare.
We stand for unconditional disarmament by the United States.
We call for an international treaty outlawing all weapons of mass destruction, including the use of depleted uranium in conventional weapons.
We call for an immediate 50% cut in the military budget, followed by additional cuts, with the aim of rapidly reducing the military budget to less than 10% of its current level, with the “peace dividend” directed to essential social services and to the cost of cleaning up contaminated military sites.
We call for the disbanding of NATO and all other aggressive military alliances, and the closing of all overseas bases.
We call for an end to U.S. arms sales throughout the world.
We call for the U.S. to pay off its debts to the United Nations, an end to veto power in the UN, and an end to permanent membership on the UN Security Council.
We call for a constitutional amendment requiring a binding vote of the people on all issues of war or military intervention.
We support the right of soldiers to form unions to represent their views and interests.”
Part 2:
pslweb.org/party/who-we-are/#part2
“For the U.S ruling class, Iraq and the entire Persian/Arabian Gulf region is a prize it has sought since World War II. The conquest of Iraq was not only motivated by its rich oil resources, but was also seen as a key element in the virtual re-colonization of the entire region, which in turn was viewed as critical to the success of the strategy of U.S. global domination. There is no part of the world that the U.S. ruling class considers more critical than the Middle East.
The Washington perpetrators of the Iraq invasion and occupation promised that it would be a brief and easy operation. They argued, moreover, that it would lead to a fundamental reorganization of the region along lines favorable to imperialist interests. The Iraq war was to have a “demonstration effect;” it would “demonstrate” the futility of any other government even thinking about standing up to U.S. dictates. Instead, the rapid expansion of the Iraqi resistance—predictable but completely unanticipated by the arrogant Washington warlords—created a major crisis for the U.S. rulers. The occupation forces have inflicted immense casualties and destruction on both Iraq and Afghanistan, but have not succeeded in pacifying either country. For the empire, anything short of outright victory is a defeat.
U.S. attempts to bring about “regime change” in Lebanon, Syria and Iran have also so far failed, but these interventions are far from done…”

workersparty.org/syria-u.s.-imperialism-hands-off_2-10-12.htm
“U.S. Imperialism, Hands Off Syria!
February 10, 2012
The Obama administration is continuing to “decree” that the government of Syria step down from political power and to call on the Syrian people and government to remember that the U.S. keeps “all options on the table” to achieve its aims there.
At the same time, “dissident organizations” receiving U.S. and Western financing and branded by the U.S. as “revolutionary” continue to carry out a systematic campaign of armed attacks on civilians, law enforcement personnel and vital infrastructure with the avowed aim of carrying out “regime change.” These attacks are completely in line with U.S. imperialism’s efforts to strangle the Syrian economy and to “regime change” the Syrian government.
The Syrian people and government are defending the country’s legitimate peace and security in the face of U.S.-backed sabotage and aggression. The people are coming out in protests and other mass actions in defense of the country’s sovereignty and demanding an end to all foreign subversion and aggression against the government.
The Workers Party calls on democratic-minded people everywhere to remain vigilant and active against U.S. imperialism’s interference and aggression against Syria.”
I’m not paying taxes anymore if they are used to support terrorism. Besides, they don’t need my taxes, they have the federal reserve free money machine. Taxes are just another whip used on citizens.
Sir, thank you sir! May I have another sir?
I don’t think so.

upsidewaysdown Reply:
July 13th, 2012 at 4:41 pm

Your tax monies are used for making “FREEDOM BOMBS”. And Yes, You ARE and AMERICAN, you ARE, a citizen, YOU ARE NOT, NOT , NOT MERELY A TAX PAYING FREEDOM BOMB FUNDING STOOGE, NO YOU ARE NOT. Have a nice day and GOD bless….
Yes, I have only been censored here on this site when I once used horrid profanity whilst reading and getting all gunched up ’bout the state ‘o thangs. I let some nasty words rip, and then it was censored, BUT, then I re-wrote my sentiments in a clean fashion and it was immediately posted without censorship. So, one must be clever in one’s wordage in order to render one’s thoughts in a sharing and caring order. Ha!

Not a Drill! Reply:
July 13th, 2012 at 5:30 pm

I have used some profanity and nevr once censored for it. However, touch on subjects like this Israeli war mongering or the US lying through their teeth regarding Hilary’s ranting about Russia supplying weapons or who is killing Syrian civillians and my stuff disapears. Looks like we have NSA or the Hilary State department helping Alex edit content.
Wow damn near everyone who currently posts comments has been censored like myself ! Peace-Love-Freedom-Truth-and Justice love ones and ones ! P.s thanx for the heads ups
My stuff has been blocked repeatedly on this kind of stuff. It looks like the State department reads PP also!