WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration supported the terrorist group that became ISIS as the group struggled to gain control of the Syria-Iraq border where ISIS now claims its caliphate, according to an intelligence report sent to Hillary Clinton.
Breitbart News reported Tuesday on a “Secret” classified intelligence report sent to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top U.S. officials and agencies in August 2012. The report confirmed that Western and Gulf states were joining with Turkey to “support” the Syrian opposition to dictator Bashar al Assad. The report confirmed that the Syrian opposition was being led by three groups, including Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which later became ISIS. The report confirmed that AQI was communicating through spokesman Muhammad al Adnani, who is now the chief spokesman for ISIS.
Western and Gulf states and Turkey helped these Syrian opposition groups to control the Syria-Iraq border, according to the report. ISIS later violently formed its caliphate in the areas around that border. The report noted the potential for “safe havens under international sheltering” in this region similar to the situation in Libya, where the temporary government that formed after the U.S.-aided overthrow of Muammar Gadaffi established a “command center” at Benghazi.
The intelligence report goes into detail about how the West was actively helping opposition groups including AQI to control the eastern border of Syria near the Iraqi province of Anbar and the city of Mosul, both of which eventually fell in part to al Adnani’s group the Islamic State (ISIS), which continues to fight to hold control of the territory.
"DEVELOPMENT OF THE CURRENT EVENTS INTO PROXY WAR: WITH SUPPORT FROM RUSSIA, CHINA, AND IRAN, THE REGIME IS CONTROLLING THE AREAS OF INFLUENCE ALONG COASTAL TERRITORIES (TARTUS AND LATAKIA) AND IS FIERCELY DEFENDING HOMS, WHICH IS CONSIDERED THE PRIMARY TRANSPORTATION ROUTE IN SYRIA."
ON THE OTHER HAND, OPPOSITION FORCES ARE TRYING TO CONTROL THE EASTERN AREAS (HASAKA AND DER ZOR) ADJACENT TO THE WESTERN IRAQI PROVINCES (MOSUL AND ANBAR), IN ADDITION TO NEIGHBORING TURKISH BORDERS. WESTERN COUNTRIES, THE GULF STATES, AND TURKEY ARE SUPPORTING THESE EFFORTS. THIS HYPOTHESIS IS MOST LIKELY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DATA FROM RECENT EVENTS, WHICH WILL HELP PREPARE SAFE HAVENS UNDER INTERNATIONAL SHELTERING, SIMILAR TO WHAT TRANSPIRED IN LIBYA WHEN BENGHAZI WAS CHOSEN AS THE COMMAND CENTER OF THE TEMPORARY GOVERNMENT.
All of the areas cited in the memo have become the sites of ongoing ISIS terror or occupation.
ISIS subsequently conquered vast stretches of the Anbar province in Iraq, with major ISIS gains coming in 2014. Tribal leaders remain reluctant to expel ISIS in totality from the province as fighting continues in the area. The Islamic State conquered Mosul in June 2014 but the current Iraqi government made some incomplete gains earlier this year in re-taking some portions of ISIS territory.
In Syria, ISIS remains committed to conquering Hasaka, where ISIS attacked Syrian outposts in September and took some neighboring areas. ISIS decimated the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Der Zor in September.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump highlighted on Wednesday the 2012 memo sent to Clinton, prompting wide mainstream media coverage of its revelations.
The mainstream media has long confirmed the Obama administration’s sending of weapons to some Syrian opposition groups fighting Assad. The Obama administration publicly rolled out its plan in 2013 following Assad’s use of chemical weapons in the Damascus suburbs.
But President Obama’s secret authorization for U.S. support to Syrian rebels was first reported in 2012, including by Reuters in the same month that Clinton was sent the secret memo. CNN also reported on Obama’s secret authorization on August 1, 2012. Obama had made the order within the previous several months, according to U.S. officials who spoke to CNN.
Erik Prince, founder of the global security firm Blackwater, told Breitbart News that the Obama administration was using its Benghazi, Libya consulate in relation to its sending of weapons to Syrian opposition groups. That consulate was attacked in September 2012, the month after Clinton was sent the above intelligence report.
The State Department named al Adnani a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” in 2014.