• Foreign nations’ proxy war in Syria creates chaos - David Ignatius
    à retitrer : « I will send weapons to al-Qaeda if it will help »
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-foreign-nations-proxy-war-creates-syrian-chaos/2014/10/02/061fb50c-4a7a-11e4-a046-120a8a855cca_story.html

    A leading figure was a Qatari operative who had helped arm the Libyan rebels who deposed Moammar Gaddafi. Working with the Qataris were senior figures representing Turkish and Saudi intelligence.

    But unity within the Istanbul operations room frayed when the Turks and Qataris began to support Islamist fighters they thought would be more aggressive. These jihadists did emerge as braver, bolder fighters — and their success was a magnet for more support. The Turks and Qataris insist they didn’t intentionally support the extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra or the Islamic State. But weapons and money sent to more moderate Islamist brigades made their way to these terrorist groups, and the Turks and Qataris turned a blind eye.

    “The operations room was chaos,” recalls one Arab intelligence source. He says he warned a Qatari officer, who answered: “I will send weapons to al-Qaeda if it will help” topple Assad. This determination to remove Assad by any means necessary proved dangerous. “The Islamist groups got bigger and stronger, and the FSA day by day got weaker,” recalls the Arab intelligence source.

    The Saudi effort was run until late 2013 by Prince Bandar bin Sultan, at that time head of Saudi intelligence. Bandar was enthusiastic but undisciplined, adding to the chaos. Pushed by the United States, the Saudis in February replaced Bandar and gave oversight of the Syria effort to Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef. The program was less chaotic but no more effective in checking the rise of Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State.

    Retenir au passage que les Américains n’y sont pour rien, et que les Séoudiens n’y sont pas pour grand chose non plus (il n’est pas écrit que Bandar participait au soutien actif d’Al Qaeda, contrairement aux qataris, seulement qu’il « ajoutait au chaos » pour son « enthousiasme et son manque de discipline »).

    Avec Joe Biden, nouvelle narrative américaine ?
    http://seenthis.net/messages/298867