Amid the growing tension in Egypt after the military counter-coup removing former President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from their posts, the U.S. State Department is considering naming former U.S. Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, as the new Ambassador to Egypt.
With the geographic size of Egypt, its geopolitical importance, and both its historic and contemporary influence in the Middle East, the post of Ambassador to Egypt is an immensely important position, particularly now that both sides in the Egyptian turmoil have legitimate reasons to distrust and detest the United States. As Michael Gordon of the New York Times writes,
The next American ambassador has the difficult task of repairing the United States’ image, expanding its influence and working with opposing groups inside the country, as well as diplomats from Arab and European nations, to try to stabilize Egypt and put it on a democratic course.[1]Obviously, putting Egypt on a “democratic course” is not the intention of the United States, evidenced by the support and assistance provided to Morsi and the fanatical Muslim Brotherhood by the U.S. government all the way until the counter-coup was launched by the Egyptian military in response to popular outrage. Morsi’s constant rewriting of the Egyptian Constitution,[2] capitulation to the IMF,[3] and flirtation with Muslim fundamentalists and warmongers[4] was anything but “democratic” rule of law.
However, with Egypt still finding itself in a state of transition and with increasing tension[5] produced by fanatical elements of the Muslim Brotherhood (itself a creation of Britain[6]) and Morsi supporters against the majority of the Egyptian people,[7] the possible appointment of Ford as Ambassador to the country is a concerning development. This is because, ever since his appointment to the position of Political Counselor to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and his subsequent appointment as Ambassador to Syria, Ford has been nothing more than a destabilization expert, who has sown division and discord between populations and societies as well as serving to weaken the national governments of wherever he is placed.
Although mainstream reports tend to portray Ford as if he were a man of the people always fighting on the side of the oppressed, the real Robert Ford is very different. Indeed, the reality is that he is nothing more than a globalist destabilization expert who is merely taking over from his mentor John Negroponte, who became quite refined as a enabler of mass slaughter in Central America and Iraq. Negroponte’s Iraq affair is where Ford himself honed his skills in the arming and assistance of ruthless death squads who target innocent people in campaigns of terror and mass murder.[8]
John Negroponte was the U.S. ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to 1985. In this role, he was instrumental in supporting and overseeing the Nicaraguan Contra killers who, although based in Honduras, engaged in horrific acts of terrorism inside Nicaragua. Ultimately, this operation claimed the lives of approximately 50,000 innocent civilians. This is the origin of the term “Salvador Option” when speaking of the formation of “death squads” for political purposes, an option that has become a hallmark of Negroponte and the system which he represents.
Negroponte was also responsible for the formation of the Honduran death squads who engaged in a mission of terror against opponents of the US-backed Honduran regime as well as the Sandinistas and civilian populations in Nicaragua.
As Peter Roff and James Chapin write in their article “Face-off: Bush’s Foreign Policy Warriors,”
The Sun described the activities of a secret CIA-trained Honduran army unit, Battalion 316, that used "shock and suffocation devices in interrogations. Prisoners often were kept naked and, when no longer useful, killed and buried in unmarked graves."
On August 27, 1997, CIA Inspector General Frederick P. Hitz released a 211-page classified report entitled “Selected Issues Relating to CIA Activities in Honduras in the 1980s.” This report was partly declassified on Oct. 22, 1998, in response to demands by the Honduran human rights ombudsman.[9]In 2005, Negroponte was appointed as ambassador to Iraq. In this role, he again oversaw the formation of death squads who targeted both the civilian populations and the Iraqi insurgency. The goal here was to foment division within the insurgency and turn it into a fragmented front. A divided opposition is obviously much easier to defeat than a united one. This theory has been proven accurate time and time again.
Indeed, in 2005, a story was leaked to Newsweek[10] where the Pentagon confirmed that it was “considering forming hit squads of Kurdish and Shia fighters to target leaders of the Iraqi insurgency in a strategic shift borrowed from the American struggle against left-wing guerrillas in Central America 20 years ago.”[11]
The Pentagon did more than “consider” this option. Not very long after this information was leaked, Iraq began to see the results of its implementation. As Dahr Jamail of Antiwar.com wrote in 2007,
Under the "Salvador Option," Negroponte had assistance from his colleague from his days in Central America during the 1980s, Ret. Col James Steele. Steele, whose title in Baghdad was Counselor for Iraqi Security Forces supervised the selection and training of members of the Badr Organization and Mehdi Army, the two largest Shi'ite militias in Iraq, in order to target the leadership and support networks of a primarily Sunni resistance.
Planned or not, these death squads promptly spiraled out of control to become the leading cause of death in Iraq. Intentional or not, the scores of tortured, mutilated bodies which turn up on the streets of Baghdad each day are generated by the death squads whose impetus was John Negroponte. And it is this U.S.-backed sectarian violence which largely led to the hell-disaster that Iraq is today. Of course, the fact that the death squad option was implemented so quickly after the release of the report suggests that the mercenaries were being organized and applied long before Newsweek was made aware of them.[12]Nevertheless, serving in Iraq at the same time that the death squads were beginning to make their bloody mark on the cohesion of the “insurgency” was Robert Ford who, at the time, had been appointed political counselor to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. Ford remained in this post from 2004-2006 where he worked closely with Negroponte. He was also heavily involved in the organization of the death squads. Ford was instrumental in helping make “contacts” with these individuals, as well as developing and maintaining relations with them for other purposes such as continued and future terror campaigns.
In fact, Ford was once described by Negroponte as “one of these very tireless people . . . who didn’t mind putting on his flak jacket and helmet and going out of the Green Zone to meet contacts.” In short, Ford acted as a foot soldier in death squad formation.
Attempting to summarize the death squad plan, Michael Hirsh and John Barry of Newsweek wrote in 2005:
[O]ne Pentagon proposal would send Special Forces teams to advise, support and possibly train Iraqi squads, most likely hand-picked Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Shiite militiamen, to target Sunni insurgents and their sympathizers, even across the border into Syria, according to military insiders familiar with the discussions. It remains unclear, however, whether this would be a policy of assassination or so-called 'snatch' operations, in which the targets are sent to secret facilities for interrogation. The current thinking is that while U.S. Special Forces would lead operations in, say, Syria, activities inside Iraq itself would be carried out by Iraqi paramilitaries. [emphasis added][13]Notice that the authors mention Syria as a potential target of destabilization as far back as 2005.
With this in mind, Ford’s action in Syria served the exact same purpose as his presence in Iraq only a few years previous.[14] This time, however, it seems that Ford took on a more central role in the affair. Indeed, many Syrians, if not aware of the more sinister acts of Ford, are at least aware that he has been instrumental in fomenting violent rebellion and negative Western public opinion against the ruling government. This is why Ford’s convoy was attacked by “pro-government” Syrians[15] as he rode through town meeting with his terrorist pets[16] early on in the Syrian destabilization operation.
Ford’s very presence in Syria was clearly a destabilization tactic.[17] Indeed, he drew quite a bit of international attention to himself by traveling across the country at will, “meeting with protestors” and turning terrorists into martyrs in the minds of the gullible Western public.
Of course, by “meeting with protestors” one can read “instigating terrorism.” The mainstream media, however, reports Ford’s terror encouragement tour as a heroic act of solidarity with “the people.”
Eventually, after a succession of terror tours the Assad regime finally slapped restrictions on Ford’s travel, requiring him not to leave the boundaries of Damascus. However, Ford openly disregarded those limitations and brazenly began traveling all over Syria, meeting with his terrorist brethren.[18]
Yet the Western agitators did not give up. This much was made clear by the recent “secret” visit by Ford to the then death squad leader, Gen. Salim Idriss.
This visit took place Wednesday, May 9, 2013 and was likely initiated via the Bab al-Salama crossing on the Turkey/Syria border. According to Deborah Thomas of NPR,
Ford met with the head of the Aleppo military council, Abdul Jabbar Okaidi, who thanked him for the shipment of nonlethal aid. Seven trucks transported some 65,000 MREs, or meals ready to eat, the U.S. military's battlefield rations.[19]Although no mention is made of the actual lethal aid that has been provided to the death squads by the generosity of the American taxpayer via Gulf State feudal monarchies such as Saudi Arabia,[20] Thomas points out that the MREs were part of “an additional $10 million aid package” dedicated to the death squads by the U.S. government. Likewise, Secretary of State John Kerry announced in April that the United States would be donating $123 million to the Syrian death squads, despite facing a worldwide economic depression, drastic levels of unemployment at home, and a manufactured crisis such as the “sequester” and a host of other domestic crises. Later, in July, the effectively “Secret Congress” authorized the open shipment of arms to the death squads.[21]
Ford’s visit to Syria[22] is both part of the overarching attempt to further destabilize the country, organize death squad activity, and create a public relations campaign aimed at forming an image of Idriss as a figure around which popular support can be rallied. This, of course, is at least the third time Western interests have attempted to create a “freedom fighter” lead image for the Syrian death squads – Moaz al-Khatib[23] and Ghassan Hitto[24] being the more recent failures. Idriss, although being heavily supported by the West, is now flailing[25] amongst an increasing trend in division amongst the ranks of the death squads.[26]
As Webster Tarpley commented on PressTV on May 10, 2013,
Well, I think we have some mixed signals from the Obama regime here. Let us hasten to say that anybody calling themselves “Free Syrian Army” is, in fact, a representative of the al-Nusra Front because we’re getting reports everyday of more and more units of the so-called FSA showing their true colors or going over to Nusra and proclaiming themselves full-fledged terrorists, al-Qaeda disciples, death squads in every sense of the word. Now, we had, in the last twenty four hours, Ambassador Robert Ford of the State Department, somebody who did a lot to get this tragic rebellion going in the first place . . . Ambassador Robert Ford who is a taskmaster of death squad deployments, having learned it from Negrponte in Baghdad some years ago, he crossed into Syria, not with the permission of the Syrian government, but to go and meet General Idriss. And this General, Salim Idriss, is the new golden boy here. He is the new darling of the CIA and the State Department. And it looks like Ford is trying to coordinate the next move with Idriss. You can think of Idriss as the new Ahmed Chalabi – somebody the U.S. is grooming to become dictator of the country.[27]Of course, this was not the first time that Ford engaged in a publicity-based visit to the Syrian death squads inside Syria, thus drawing the ire of the Syrian government.[28] In 2011, after his travel as U.S. Ambassador had been restricted due to the destabilization efforts already taking place, Ford traveled to Hama in order to promote and encourage the violent assault waged by the Western-backed death squads against innocent Syrian civilians as well as Syrian soldiers.
At the very least, Ford’s history should be enough to cause some level of concern from both the Egyptian government and from any Westerner of good will. Ford, in virtually all of his appointments has done nothing but serve as a destabilization agent and a hands-on architect of death and destruction.
For this reason and for those listed discussed in this article, the Egyptians would be wise to reject Robert Ford as Ambassador to their country, even if the United States Senate does not.
Notes:
[1] Gordon, Michael R. “Former Envoy to Syria Said to be Choice for Cairo Post.” New York Times. August 4, 2013.http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/05/world/middleeast/kerry-picks-former-syria-envoy-as-ambassador-to-egypt.html?ref=michaelrgordon&_r=0
[2] Radwan, Tarek. “Morsi Rewrites the Rules of the Game, Again.” EgyptSource of the Atlantic Council Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. November 22, 2012. http://www.acus.org/egyptsource/morsi-rewrites-rules-game-again
[3] “Morsi says IMF loan compatible with Islamic banking.” AFP. October 6, 2012. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j2lFa7wUsqUyO_t9zmJxKebOKx-g?docId=CNG.bd6e4881b495ca106dfcf0314731157d.931
[4] Hendawi, Hamza. “Morsi seen to endorse holy war in Syria.” Times of Israel. June 17, 2013. http://www.timesofisrael.com/morsi-seen-to-endorse-holy-war-on-syria/
[5] “Over 200 injured as Morsi supporters, opponents clash north of Cairo.” RT. June 26, 2013. http://rt.com/news/egypt-clashes-mansoura-morsi-281/
[6] Draitser, Eric. “Unmasking the Muslim Brotherhood: Syria, Egypt, and Beyond.” Stop Imperialism. December 12, 2012. Reposted by Global Research. http://www.globalresearch.ca/unmasking-the-muslim-brotherhood-syria-egypt-and-beyond/5315406
[7] Jones, Brandon. “Egypt Protest Largest In History, Anti-Morsi and Anti-Obama Signs Fill The Streets, PHOTOS.” The Global Dispatch. July 3, 2013. http://www.theglobaldispatch.com/egypt-protest-largest-in-history-anti-morsi-and-anti-obama-signs-fill-the-streets-photos-58277/
[8] Turbeville, Brandon. “Syria Under Attack By Globalist Death Squad Experts.” Activist Post. May 27, 2012. http://www.activistpost.com/2012/05/syria-under-attack-by-globalist-death.html
[9] Roff, Peter; Chapin, James. “Face-off: Bush’s Foreign Policy Warriors.” United Press International. July 18, 2001.http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/ROF111A.html
[10] Hirsch, Michael; Barry, John. “The Salvador Option.” Newsweek. January 9, 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20050110030928/http:/www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6802629/site/newsweek/
[11] “El Salvador-style ‘death squads’ to be deployed by US against Iraq militants.” Times Online. January 10, 2005. As quoted and sourced by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky of GlobalResearch.ca in his article, “ The Pentagon’s ‘Salvador Option’: The Deployment of Death Squads in Iraq and Syria.”
[12] Jamail, Dahr. “Managing Escalation: Negroponte and Bush’s New Iraq Team.” Antiwar.com. January 9, 2007. http://antiwar.com/jamail/?articleid=10289
[13] Hirsch, Michael; Barry, John. “The Salvador Option.” Newsweek. January 9, 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20050110030928/http:/www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6802629/site/newsweek/
[14] Turbeville, Brandon. “Syrian Under Attack By Globalist Death Squad Experts.” Activist Post. May 27, 2012. http://www.activistpost.com/2012/05/syria-under-attack-by-globalist-death.html
[15] “U.S. envoy’s convoy stoned; Turkey offered Syria support if Brotherhood given posts.” Al-Arabiya. September 20, 2011.http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/09/29/169334.html
[16] Oweis, Khalid Yacoub. “Syrian crowd stones U.S. envoy’s convoy.” Reuters. September 29, 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/29/us-syria-idUSTRE78S5TD20110929
[17] Shadid, Anthony. “U.S. Ambassador to Syria Leaves Damascus Amid Threats To Safety.” New York Times. October 24, 2011.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/world/middleeast/us-ambassador-to-syria-leaves-damascus-amid-threats-to-safety.html
[18] Rogin, Josh. “Is Robert Ford Trying to get thrown out of Syria?” The Cable. August 23, 2011. http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/08/23/is_robert_ford_trying_to_get_thrown_out_of_syria
[19] Amos, Deborah. “Top U.S. Official Meets With Rebels Inside Syria.” NPR. May 9, 2013. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/05/09/182665171/top-u-s-official-meets-with-rebels-inside-syria
[20] Chivers, C.J.; Schmitt, Eric. “Arms Airlift to Syrian Rebels Expands, With Help From the CIA.” New York Times. March 24, 2013.http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/world/middleeast/arms-airlift-to-syrian-rebels-expands-with-cia-aid.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld&_r=2&
[21] “US Intel committees approve arming Syrian rebels, top general warns of costs.” RT. July 23, 2013. http://rt.com/usa/joint-chiefs-us-options-syria-445/
[22] “Azaz and the Arrival of food aid into the countryside. 04/30/2013.” Youtube. Posted on May 1, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7rncsu_O8M
[23] Bayoumy, Yara; Maclean, William. “Moaz al-Khatib, Syria Rebel Leader, Slams NATO Refusal To Provide Patriot Missile Support.” Huffington Post. March 27, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/27/moaz-al-khatib-syria-patriot-missiles_n_2962101.html
[24] Dettmer, Jamie. “The Texan Leader of the Syrian Rebels.” The Daily Beast. March 23, 2013. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/23/the-texan-leader-of-the-syrian-rebels.html
[25] Enders, David. “Syrian rebel leader Salim Idriss admits difficulty of unifying fighters.” McClatchy. May 7, 2013. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/07/190602/syrian-rebel-leader-salim-idriss.html#.UgFYRKzODTo
[26] ‘They are killing each other:’ Western weapons for Syrian rebels will intensify war.” RT. June 21, 2013. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/07/190602/syrian-rebel-leader-salim-idriss.html#.UgFYRKzODTo
[27] Tarpley, Webster. “Al Qaeda’s Nusra Front Now Dominant Partner in ‘Free Syrian Army.’” PressTV. May 10, 2013. (Posted on May 13, 2013). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcfpXEAL3jA&feature=player_embedded#!
[28] Rogin, Josh. “Is Robert Ford Trying to get thrown out of Syria?” The Cable. August 23, 2011. http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/08/23/is_robert_ford_trying_to_get_thrown_out_of_syria
Read other articles by Brandon Turbeville here.
Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor's Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of three books, Codex Alimentarius -- The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, and Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident. Turbeville has published over 200 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville's podcast Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.
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