|
|
RIA Novosti Features EIR Editor Steinberg’s Demand that Obama’s De Facto Support of Jihadist Terrorism Be Reversed
4 October 2014
Russia’s RIA Novosti gave prominent coverage to an exclusive interview they conducted with Executive Intelligence Review senior editor Jeff Steinberg, in which he described U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s Oct. 2 remarks about Saudi, Turkish and other support for ISIS as “the first truthful statements since the outset of the Syria conflict,” but said that President Obama is not “prepared to make a clear public break from the Saudis and from his British friends who are equally deeply implicated in the promotion of jihadist terrorism.” In an Oct. 2 speech at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Biden admitted that “Our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syria,” because Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were “so determined to take down Assad” that they launched a “proxy Sunni-Shia war [pouring] hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons” to anyone who would fight against Assad. Somewhat disingenuously, Biden added: “We could not convince our colleagues to stop supplying them.” Nor did Biden explain how that failed approach differs in substance from Obama’s current policy of backing supposedly “vetted,” “moderate” jihadists who are out to overthrow Assad. RIA Novosti quotes Steinberg clarifying the matter: “The United States should be working closely with Russia, China, India, Iran, Syria— as well as the GCC countries— in defeating the Islamic State. The United States should be supporting the BRICS initiatives, including the Chinese promotion of the New Silk Road of Eurasian development,” Steinberg told RIA Novosti. “Biden’s identification of the Saudis and other Gulf allies along with NATO member Turkey in promoting the Islamic State, the al Nusra Front and other jihadists is a belated but welcome admission. He is clearly correct in his warning. I hope that this is a reflection of a larger about-face in US policy,” Steinberg claimed. RIA Novosti takes due note of Steinberg’s broadside against President Obama, who “opened the floodgates” with his call for Assad to step down and his ongoing violation of Syrian sovereignty: “President Obama has in the past been an ardent supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is why the US was so lax in recognizing the danger of the Sunni jihadists until the problem had gotten totally out of control... President Obama has continued to cover up the role of the Saudis, particularly the role of Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, in the original 9/11 attacks. He has perpetuated the coverup by the Bush-Cheney Administration of a crucial 28 page chapter from the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11, chaired by former Senator Bob Graham. That 28 page chapter detailed the role of Bandar and other top Saudi officials and Royals in supporting the 19 hijackers,” Steinberg emphasized. |