Senator John McCain, Foreign Relations “Adviser” to Al Qaeda Death Squads in Syria
In April 2011, Senator John McCain described the Al Qaeda affiliated rebels in Libya as follows:
“I have met with these brave
fighters, and they are not Al-Qaeda. To the contrary: They are Libyan
patriots who want to liberate their nation. We should help them do it.”
- Senator John McCain in Benghazi, Libya April 22, 2011.
One of the rebels’ leading figures was Abdel Hakim Belhaj (picture
below), a member of the defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group LIFG), a
terrorist organization on both the UN Security Council and the US State
Department lists.In September 2012, McCain met once more with the Al Qaeda linked Libyan fighters in Benghazi, Libya. (See picture below)
“Libyan Hometowns
The vast majority of Libyan fighters that
included their hometown in the Sinjar Records resided in the country’s
Northeast, particularly the coastal cities of Darnah 60.2% (53) and
Benghazi 23.9% (21).
Both Darnah and Benghazi have long been
associated with Islamic militancy in Libya, in particular for an
uprising by Islamist organizations in the mid‐1990s. The Libyan
government blamed the uprising on “infiltrators from the Sudan and
Egypt” and one group—the Libyan Fighting Group (jamaʹah al‐libiyah
al‐muqatilah)—claimed to have Afghan veterans in its ranks.14 The Libyan
uprisings became extraordinarily violent.” (Joseph Felter andBrian
Fishman, Al Qaeda’s foreign fighters in Iraq, US Military Academy, p.11-12, December 2007).
In 2011, McCain was calling on his country to arm the Al Qaeda affiliated rebels in Benghazi:
McCain called on all nations,
especially the U.S., to recognize the National Transitional Council in
Benghazi. He said some of the Gadhafi regime’s frozen assets should be
redirected to the rebels and the U.S. should facilitate the delivery of
weapons to rebel fighters. He clarified that by facilitate he meant not
directly arming the rebels, but ensuring that they receive weapons as
the U.S. did in the 1980s with the mujahideen battling the Russians in
Afghanistan.
Such a call raises alarm bells in some circles. Critics
recall that some of those fighters Washington helped arm and train in
Afghanistan later joined al-Qaida. McCain dismissed questions about who
the rebel leaders are, saying their histories are clear and none of them
has any record of supporting radical Islam. (Peter Kenyon, McCain On Libyan Rebels: ‘They Are My Heroes’, NPR, April 22, 2011)
According to a September 2012 Land Destroyer report:
The men McCain was defending were Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) militants, terrorists linked directly with Al Qaeda according to West Point reports (.pdf), and listed to this day by the US State Department, the UK Home Office (.pdf), and the UN as
a “foreign terrorist organization.” McCain was not only rhetorically
supporting listed terrorists, but calling for material support including
weapons, funds, training, and air support in direct violation of USC § 2339A & 2339B, “providing material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations.” Tony Cartalucci, US-Backed Terrorists Murder US’ Own Ambassador in Libya, Land Destroyer Report, September 2012)
Since the outbreak of the insurgency in Syria, John McCain has been
actively involved in meetings with rebel commanders. The Republican
Senator met with armed groups in Syria in May 2013 and posed in a
controversial “photo op” with leading Al Qaeda commanders. McCain
described this encounter on his twitter as an:
“…Important visit with brave fighters in #Syria who are risking their lives for freedom and need our help” (twitter.com/SenJohnMcCain/… (John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) May 28, 2013
Hawkish
US Senator John McCain (C) poses with infamous kidnapper in Syria,
Mohamed Nour (seen with his hand on his chest and holding a camera)
The Washington Post reported at the time:
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has pushed
back on a report claiming that the Syrian rebels he was photographed
with last weekend were involved in kidnapping Lebanese Shiite pilgrims a
year ago, saying none of the men identified themselves by the names
used in the article.
The Beirut Daily Star reported Thursday that
according to family members of the kidnapped pilgrims and one released
captive, two of the men in pictures taken with McCain are Anwar Ibrahim and Mohammad Nour. [see image above]
The senator traveled to Syria last
weekend to meet with rebels fighting in the civil war against
President Bashar al-Assad, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official
to visit the country since the conflict started. He has called on the
Obama administration to provide weapons to the rebels. (Rachel Weiner, McCain responds to Syria photo accusations, Washington Post, May 30, 2013)
In late August Washington Free Beacon reported that Benghazi and
Darnah, the Libyan home towns of Islamic militancy mentioned in the West
Point Study cited above, was a training ground for jihadists fighting
in Syria:
U.S. intelligence agencies
earlier this month uncovered new evidence that al Qaeda-linked
terrorists in Benghazi are training foreign jihadists to fight with
Syria’s Islamist rebels, according to U.S. officials.
Ansar al-Sharia, the al
Qaeda-affiliated militia that U.S. officials say orchestrated the Sept.
11 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound and a CIA facility in
Benghazi, is running several training camps for jihadists in Benghazi
and nearby Darnah, another port city further east, said officials who discussed some details of the camps on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the terror
training camps have been in operation since at least May and are part of
a network that funnels foreign fighters to Syrian rebel groups,
including the Al-Nusra Front, the most organized of the Islamist rebel
groups fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime in Damascus.
The officials said the jihadist
training is a clear indication that Ansar al-Sharia continues to conduct
terrorist activities and is linked to jihadists in both Syria and North Africa. (Bill Gertz, U.S.: Al Qaeda-linked group behind Benghazi attack trains jihadists for Syrian rebel groups, August 28, 2013)
John McCain Supports TerrorismIn requesting weapons for the Libyan and Syrian rebels which clearly have ties to terrorist organisations, Senator John McCain is supporting terrorism.
The United States Code is unequivocal: “providing material support to terrorists” is a crime:
18 USC § 2339A – Providing material support to terrorists
(a) Offense.— Whoever
provides material support or resources or conceals or disguises the
nature, location, source, or ownership of material support or resources,
knowing or intending that they are to be used in preparation for, or in
carrying out, a violation of [numerous sections of this and
other titles], or in preparation for, or in carrying out, the
concealment of an escape from the commission of any such violation, or
attempts or conspires to do such an act, shall be fined under
this title, imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both, and, if the
death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any term of years
or for life […]
(1) the term “material
support or resources” means any property, tangible or intangible, or
service, including currency or monetary instruments or financial
securities, financial services, lodging, training, expert
advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or
identification, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal
substances, explosives, personnel (1 or more individuals who may be or
include oneself), and transportation, except medicine or religious
materials;
[…]
(3) the term
“expert advice or assistance” means advice or assistance derived from
scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge. 18 USC § 2339A – Providing material support to terrorists
Senator McCain met with terrorists in Libya and Syria, has called for
his country to provide weapons to terrorist groups in Libya and Syria
and should therefore be prosecuted for the assistance he provided them
with. There is ample evidence that the armed groups supported by John
McCain have committed horrible terrorist acts, which resulted in deaths.Here is what McCain’s heroes have done in Libya:
According to witnesses, McCain’s Syrian “heroes”, have, among other atrocities, been blamed for the Houla massacre in 2012.
Is it “politically correct” for a US
Senator to mingle with leaders of a terrorist organization, while at the
same time paying lip service to the “Global War on Terrorism”?
While this may be “business as usual” for the US Secretary of State, American servicemen and women are now “refusing to fight” [see image below] a war in favor of terrorism under the emblem of the “Global War on Terrorism”.
Channeling money and weapons to Al Qaeda
in Syria is now carried out “in the open”, via the US State Department
and the Pentagon rather than in the context of a covert CIA operation. (Ibid)
In contrast, John McCain’s “heroes” are known to be or have links to terrorist organisations designated by the US State Department as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, such as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and Al-Nusra now fighting against the government of Bashar Al Assad in Syria.
These actions are far more scandalous than slacking on the job playing poker on a cell phone. Yet, this is what makes the news: focus on what is irrelevant and trivial while excluding the “forbidden truth” on the criminal nature of US foreign policy.
Senator John McCain is a criminal who provided support to terrorist groups. He belongs in jail, not in the US Senate. And certainly not in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations which has granted Obama the “Green Light” to bomb Syria.
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