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[Syria] abu Muhammad al Jolani is forgiven.

Juin

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At this stage Syrian politics has to be the most intricate, most complicated, most unfathomable in the world today. Everything is in a flux and morphing.

An example of this state of affairs is as regards the individual abu Muhammad al Jolani. The US had a 10 million dollar bounty on his head. No more. Yesterday the US withdrew that bounty. This was after a meeting yesterday, Friday, in Damascus between al Jolani and a US delegation led by Barbara Leaf. According to numerous sources, lately, al Jolani has been quite profuse in expressions of contrition to all willing to give him an ear. And by all accounts Barbara Leaf, finding al Jolani sufficiently contrite, and by the full powers granted to her as a Confessor, granted this formerly dangerous truant full absolution! al Jolani's sins are washed away.

And what sins!


<<<
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Foreign Policy: Bashar al-Assad is gone, and HTS has taken over in Syria. Can you talk about the evolution of Jolani and HTS and how we got to this point?

Aaron Zelin: Jolani was originally a foreign fighter in the Iraq War. He went from Syria to Iraq and joined up with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and [his organization] al Qaeda in Iraq. He spent some time in the infamous Camp Bucca prison. And then he became the emir or leader of the Nineveh region in western Iraq for the Islamic State of Iraq, which was essentially the predecessor group to what we now call the Islamic State.

After the Syrian uprising began, Jolani talked to [Islamic State leader] Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi about a project in Syria. By summer 2011, Jolani went to Syria to build a new organization called Jabhat al-Nusra. It was essentially an official branch of the Islamic State of Iraq. They began to conduct operations once the Syrian civil war became militarized, and they became more integrated within some of the insurgency, especially those that were more Islamist in nature.
<<<


From just this short excerpt from an interview about al Jolani one is left with little doubt the mountains of skeletons behind al Jolani. The size of the bounty also suggests the magnitude of the atrocities associated with him. But there is no sin too atrocious to be forgiven, provided the supplicant is contrite and penitent enough. And since US Diplomat Barbara Leaf granted him full absolution I must imagine he must have been most convincing in professions of contrition! As well as promises of future acts of contrition.

But while al Jolani was granted full absolution his crew was not. His crew, HTS, Hayat Tahrir al Shams is still on US Terror Lists.


I get the impression the world is returning to the Cold War days. What counts is the side you are on. al Jolani is an experienced Jihadi and terrorist; and in a war on terror what better tool than a veteran terrorist to fight against other terrorists?








What to Know About the Man Who Toppled Assad

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani has worked for years to rebrand himself, but has he truly broken from his al Qaeda past?
foreignpolicy.com
 
Craig234 said:
The dishonesty of US foreign policy is exposed - if they don't like you you're a terrorist, if they like you you aren't.
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I have tried for weeks but cannot shake off that impression. Now the road to Damascus is jam packed with pilgrims on the way to the shrine of abu Muhammad al Jolani.

Latest on the road to Damascus is the Green Frau from Germany, Annalena Baerbock. This was unfortunate. The meek and pious, albeit extremely brutal abu Muhammad al Jolani does not care for Fraus in public without a leash.

And Annalena was dressed like she deliberately intended to offend the pious al Jolani. No hijab. A clingy, white shirt. Clingy white pants. Six inch stilettoes. A Mahometan's worst nightmare. The anti thesis of a proper femme musulmane. Baerbock was like the personification of that billboard on the gates at the entrance to hell in Dante's Inferno: Abandon all hope any Homo Islamicus man who so much as sets eyes on her.

To further compound matters the forward Frau took in tow on her trip Jean Nöel Barrot, France's Foreign Minister. Barrot happens to be a male with a solid pair of iron testicles; a credential that makes him admissible into the presence of the infamous ISIS veteran. Barrot can do business with al Jolani. They can even shake hands as equals. No problem. Or so it seemed.

They underestimated the guile of the Frau from Germany. She was a poisoned chalice. This chalice she proceeded to profer to the testicles of Germany and Syria. The pious Jolani would have to shake her hands if he shook Barrot's hand, or cause a scandal outside Damascus. Jolani did not care, he was going to shake hands with the French testicles, but not with the Frau from Germany laden with all kinds of original sins. Europe be damned. It was his own eternal spot in Mahomet's paradise at stake.

In the end Barrot saved the day. He did not shake hands with Syria's top testicles. In all likelihood in solidarity with Baerbock. But also by so doing saving Jolani from guilt of favouritism.




Handshake-gate in Syria

Syria’s de-facto leader extended a hand to France’s foreign minister, but not to Germany’s Baerbock. Women’s rights were a focus of the trip.
www.politico.eu
 
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Jack Wolfskin winter jacket—somewhere in excess of $200 on Amazon.
 
Juin said:
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If we're 'against' the people who did that, it's hyped as how horrible they are and to justify war on them. If we're 'for' the people who did that, silence or excuses. I'm more concerned about the former than the latter. They are who they are and have a right to be, we have a right to be critical and peacefully oppose the lack of equality. I.e., we do more than we should if we're against them, and not enough if we're for them.
 
Craig234 said:
The dishonesty of US foreign policy is exposed - if they don't like you you're a terrorist, if they like you you aren't.
Click to expand...
Yep; Russia illegally attacks Ukraine to global condemnation and is heavily sanctioned. Israel does exactly the same with Gaza, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon, and gets millions in weapons as a reward. Remember, this is the country, Israel, which made an extended attack, in broad daylight, on an unarmed US Navy vessel in international waters, USS Liberty, with both fighter jets and torpedo boats, killing 34 men and wounding 170, and claimed it was an accident. Smfh.
As a survivor said; "If it was an accident it was the best planned accident I ever heard of". And these are supposed to be allies?
 
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One the on hand, I wouldn't judge the nation over one terrible ~1967 action, but on the other, another incredible part of that story is that LBJ and every president since covered up their guilt, ordering the military to do a phony investigation clearing them, which the 2nd in command of the investigation confirmed.
 
Al Jolani was once a top commander in IS in Iraq, then in ISIS ( Islamic State Iraq Syria) now he's the Wests boy in Syria


What to Know About the Man Who Toppled Assad

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani has worked for years to rebrand himself, but has he truly broken from his al Qaeda past?
foreignpolicy.com

If this sort of obvious bs doesn't make people sit up and take note of just how false this " War on Terror " then nothing will.

I prefer the phrase " The War Against Terror " myself, the acronym at least has some honesty to it.
 



The "War on Terror" is a Phony War. Any doubts on that is dispeled by al Jolani.

I wont trust Turkey at all in this business. From everything I have read al Jolani is Ergogan's man. There is no doubt it is Erdogan who has overseen his rapprochement with the powers of the west.

With the fall of the Assad regime the last of the States for Palestinian resistance is gone. Egypt and Jordan having baled out decades ago. Lebanon was always a cacaphony of factions. Hezbollah relied on Syria as a lifeline. With Syria gone, I am not sure what lies ahead for Hezbollah. Most likely the Sunni factions will be empowered to evict Hezbollah. That just about leaves Palestinian resistance with no rear areas.

But Erdogan knew all that, right???

And the plot thickens. After the overthrow of the Assad regime, naturally the new regime has to evict the Russians. But no, al Jolani wanst the Russians to keep their bases; why? My impression is it cannot be al Jolani's decision, or preference. Nor can it be the preference of the rank and file of al Jolani's outfit. I suspect that is an Erdogan demand. Why?

With al Jolani now controlling a swathe of territory from Aleppo in the north to Damascus on Israel's border, one can say Erdogan finally has a border with Israel, thanks to his proxies. He has always talked like lack of a common front is what keeps him from confronting Israel, why is he acting like having reached Israel he will rather keep a distance? Is that why he pushed al Jolani to offer the Russians the bases? He wants Russians to stay to do the job he wont do?
 
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watsup said:
That was neat of her to wear what was essentially a white pants-suit with a sexy sweater. Take that, you male chauvinists!
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Have to give her that. The finger to chauvinism
 
Juin said:
Have to give her that. The finger to chauvinism
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And to the fundamental Islam that is its foundation in the Middle East. Not so in other "Muslim" countries such as Indonesia.
 
Later after the event the Israelis reluctantly paid reparations, thus absolving themselves of guilt.
 
That fine line between al-Qaeda terrorist and bounty withdrawn it's complicated "forgiven" potential ally is even more of a fine line than it used to be.
 

Still playing the USS Liberty card?

So 1960s...
 
Juin said:
The question is not what the original is. The claim is that the Jihadists censored in their own official chanels.
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According to your shit source.
 
Fledermaus said:
Still playing the USS Liberty card?

So 1960s...
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So true though; and the survivors of the deliberate attack don't care how long ago it was-just like Holocaust survivors and their descendants keep reminding us of horrific events, nearly a century ago. So 1940s.
 
snakestretcher said:
So true though; and the survivors of the deliberate attack don't care how long ago it was-just like Holocaust survivors and their descendants keep reminding us of horrific events, nearly a century ago. So 1940s.
Click to expand...

Except multiple reviews and investigations all determined it was a friendly fire incident. Something very common in a war zone (where the Liberty wasn't supposed to be).

It was a deliberate attack. On what was believed to be an Egyptian ship.

But, hey....

Them damned IDF....
 
A "friendly fire incident" which went on for hours in bright sunshine, despite the ship being positively identified by IDF fighter pilots as American by the big flag she was flying? The positive identification was relayed to controllers in Israel who confirmed the attack should continue, despite the pilot's reservations. The USS Liberty was in international waters, and the excuse used of the Egyptian vessel is also bogus; it was quite different. I strongly recommend you watch the following, if you haven't already, which includes eyewitness testimony from survivors:
 
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