2 degrees of separation between US & ISIS...Video shows U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert S. Ford, the leader and spokesman of the Free Syrian Army Col. Okaidi, and the well-known ISIS commander Emir Abu Jandal.
The FSA was always more of a branding campaign to sell the rebels as “moderates” to a gullible Western media than a reality on the ground; it was a loose coalition of various groups espousing militant jihad.
Video above: April 2017, Robert S. Ford, Ambassador to Syria (Jan 2011 – Feb 2014)
The Obama administration had as a goal to get to a negotiation between the Assad government and the opposition - a negotiation to create a new goverment.
Video above: September 2016, John Kerry, Secretary of State (Feb 2013 – Jan 2017)
Daesh was threatening to go into Damascus. That's why Russia came in - because they didn't want a Daesh government... We saw ISIS growing in strength. We thought we could probably manage that Assad might then negotiate.
The end goal is not clear but if I was to speculate on what I know, it was to:
- US: Threaten Assad with force in order to negotiate a new government
- Saudi/Qatar: Bring about an Islamic polity in Syria & Lebanon
- Israel: Balkanise Syria along ethnic/sectarian lines
- Turkey: ???
Bonus video: ISIS escaping after battle with US forces in Mosul - heading from Iraq to Syria WITH BLACKHAWK OVERHEAD
Bonus video: ISIS escaping after battle with US forces in Raqqa