Syria: The Faces Behind The Terror

What is most revealing about the above-mentioned Time Magazine piece of 2006 is that America's efforts to aid the opposition and undermine Assad were run through a foundation operated by Amar Abdulhamid, a Washington-based member of a Syrian umbrella-opposition group known as the National Salvation Front (NSF).    Abdulhamid was a visiting Fellow at the Saban Center (2004-2006) before moving on to the Neocon-run National Defense of Democracies.  

When, in 2008, Israel-firster Dennis Ross met with the "opposition" to discuss "Syria in Transition", Saban's fellow, Amar Abdullhamid, was present.   In February 2009, Dennis Ross joined the Obama Administration team.   In April 2009, the US-funded, London-based Baraada TV started its anti-Assad propaganda into Syria (the epicenter of the uprisings was Baraada over water distribution).   Baraada TV's chief editor, Malik al-Abdeh, is a cofounder of the Syrian exile group Movement for Justice and Development headed by Anas al-Abdah, who was in attendance at the 2008 meeting with Dennis Ross.   

It came as no surprise that John McCain, who was a member of the   Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) formed to rid Iraq of Saddam Hossein, and a cheerleader for the Libya intervention, the Egyptian opposition to Mubarak, for bombing Iran, and so on, visited Syrian "opposition" (via Turkey) in order to encourage more bloodshed.   And expectedly, he was de-briefed -- not at the White House, but at the Saban Center!        

Soon after McCain's presentation at the Saban Center, the White House disputed UN's account and claimed that that Syria had crossed the "red line' and used chemical weapons.

It is not the intention of this article to exclude the plethora of other individuals, think tanks, forums, and media pundits who have institutionalized Israel's policies and promoted them as 'America's   interests'; these are too numerous to mention here.  However, a notable other Israel supporter must be named.  

The Evangelical Factor 

While various groups in Washington perpetuate and support Israel's aggressive and expansionist policies -- at a cost to America, none have the zeal and the zest of the evangelicals who support Israel to death.    According to the dispensational model, a time of turmoil lies ahead, but believers will be "raptured" away before it begins. This period of tribulation will culminate in the final battle at Armageddon, a valley northwest of Jerusalem.     

The close association between American evangelicals and Israel has been a clear goal of Israeli politicians, especially those in the Likud party.  According to Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum of AJC, "the evangelical community is the largest and fastest-growing bloc of pro-Jewish sentiment in this country" [iv].    Israel and Jewish organizations continue to rely on the support of evangelicals to justify Israel's occupation of Arab land even as Christian Zionists' zest for evangelizing Jews remains a point of tension.      

For example, within days of the June 1982 invasion of Lebanon (with a green light from Reagan), full-page ads appeared in leading papers requesting evangelical support for the invasion [v].   In 1998, when Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington, he met with Jerry Falwell and numerous fundamentalist Christians before meeting with President Clinton.   Similarly, as recently as April 2013, Pat Robertson warned that brokering peace between Israel and Palestine would bring   punishment on America.      

It has been alleged that funds raised in America by right-wing Christians is funneled to West Bank settlements.   The mayor of Ariel on the West Bank had estimated that two-thirds of all Jewish settlements were funded by Christian Zionists. [vi]    

Building for Armageddon? 

While evangelicals (not all) are rapture-ready and encourage Israel's expansionist agenda, Israeli politicians are not yet Armageddon-ready; at least, not yet.

In March 2013, Business Inside revealed that the United States is spending hundreds of millions of dollars building bunkers in Israel due to be completed 900 days from February 13, 2013.   The project called Site 911 "will have five levels buried underground and six additional outbuildings on the above grounds, within the perimeter. At about 127,000 square feet, the first three floors will house classrooms, an auditorium, and a laboratory -- all wedged behind shock-resistant doors -- with radiation protection and massive security.   Only one gate will allow workers entrance and exit during the project and that will be guarded by only Israelis". 

Each door of the facility will have a detailed description of the mezuzahs written in "in-erasable ink".

This should be heartwarming news to Americans whose taxes are spent on such projects while the bridges at home are crumbling.     

The future 

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