Ex-Adviser Says Daesh Creation of US, European, Regional Allies

“Daesh, al-Qaeda and the many groups affiliated with them are the creation of the US and its partners in Europe, and the Middle East, Paul Larudee from San Francisco said in an interview with Tasnim.

“They are being used to destroy sovereign states like Libya, Somalia, Iraq and Syria, instead of sending US troops to do so,” he said, adding, “They are in effect mercenaries, and have received billions of dollars of funding and weaponry.”

Larudee is an Iranian-born American political activist and human rights volunteer, who works with the International Solidarity Movement. He is a former contracted US government adviser to Saudi Arabia and a founder of the Free Gaza and Free Palestine Movements.

Following is the full text of the interview:

Tasnim: US President Donald Trump declared last Sunday that Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dead after a US military raid in northwest Syria over the weekend. In reaction, the spokesman for Iran’s administration, Ali Rabiei, shrugged off the US president’s announcement and said Washington’s policies are the main reason for the emergence of Daesh, adding that the death of Baghdadi does not mean that Takfiri terrorism or “Daeshism” has ended. Do you think the killing of the Daesh leader would play a major role in the fight against terrorism in the region or bring an end to the phenomenon given its root causes?

Larudee: Daesh, al-Qaeda and the many groups affiliated with them are the creation of the US and its partners in Europe, and the Middle East. They are being used to destroy sovereign states like Libya, Somalia, Iraq and Syria, instead of sending US troops to do so. They are in effect mercenaries and have received billions of dollars of funding and weaponry. In Syria, the only place you find Daesh is in areas controlled by the US and its ally, Turkey. The assassination of al-Baghdadi is supposed to make the US lies about fighting Daesh appear more believable. The way to get rid of Daesh is to stop supporting them and to let the Syrian army and its Russian and Iranian and Hezbollah allies do the job.

Tasnim: The US claims that it has started the withdrawal of its troops from Syria and says its forces shouldn’t be there. What was the main reason behind the US military operation? What do you think about the developments behind the scenes?

Larudee: The US has withdrawn from the main Kurdish areas in Syria for two main reasons. One is to satisfy its ally, Turkey, and cooperate in stopping the Kurdish YPG attacks on Turkey across the border.  The other is to satisfy his (Donald Trump’s) election campaign promise to get out of Syria, since the next election is coming, and he doesn't want the embarrassment of accusations that he didn't keep this promise. Of course, pressure from the Zionist neoconservatives of the Washington "deep state" have forced him to keep two US bases in the non-Kurdish parts of Syria, one in the oil fields east of the Euphrates river in order to deny Syria its oil income, and the other near the point where the Jordanian, Iraqi and Syrian borders meet.  The two bases comprise a total of probably no more than 200-300 US troops, but they are a pretext for the US to maintain air cover in those areas, thus denying Syria its sovereignty in those locations, damaging its economy (in addition to the damage caused by the sanctions), and creating safe areas for Daesh and other terrorist groups out of reach of the Syrian army and the Russian air force.

Tasnim: According to some analysts, the killing of the Daesh leader changes some things for Trump. It temporarily changes the political conversation away from the impeachment inquiry which began a month ago. What do you think? Wasn’t the operation a show-off for media attention?

Larudee: The killing of al-Baghdadi definitely gives Trump a means of bragging in the media and to his constituency, and brings him support when he is battling impeachment proceedings. So, it is good for his image and gives him another way of trying to demonstrate that he deserves to be president. These motives were therefore also a factor in the decision to authorize this action.