State Department official Daniel Rubenstein spoke March 6 at a World Affairs Council luncheon in California [i].
When asked about ISIL and the radical Islam it espouses, Rubenstein told the audience, ISIL are "fakers...they're not Muslim." He said in that region, ISIL is "not considered to be the real thing." He said they are actually "criminals".
This admission by the State Department comes after months of controversy over the nature of ISIL/ISIS/Daish.
Rubenstein is Special Envoy for Syria, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, a Middle East expert. He served as Consul General in Jerusalem, with previous posts including Amman, Sinai, Tel Aviv, and Baghdad.
If ISIL is not radical Muslim, why is it destroying archaeological sites and treasures? If it is under no radicalized mandate to destroy human representations, what is the motivation?
An audience member asked about reports from the Iraqi Parliament that the U.S and Great Britain are actually supplying ISIL.
On February 23, the Iraqi military shot down two British military planes delivering weapons to ISIL. On February 26, a U.S. military helicopter delivering supplies to ISIL was shot down by Iraqi popular forces Al-Hashad Al-Shabi. The Iraqi Parliament stated it is receiving daily reports of U.S. military planes dropping supplies to ISIL. Head of the Parliament's National Security and Defense Committee Hakem al-Zameli says he has documents and photos showing that U.S. Apache helicopters airdrop foodstuff and weapons for ISIL. [ii] Coordinator of Iraqi popular forces Jafar al-Jaberi reported that U.S. planes carried additional Takfiri fighters to areas that had just been liberated from them. [iii]
Mr. Rubenstein declined to comment.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
1
1
