larry johnson on current events in syria, and muslim varieties;

Let’s start with this fact — the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not crazed, murderous fanatics. It is a meme the West uses to justify genocide against. In fact, we now have clear evidence, in the person of Syria’s new leader, that the US provided direct support to a terrorist group that descended from ISIS.

US Ambassador Jim Jeffrey described Syria’s current leader, Mohammad al Jolani, who was the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham HTSS, as necessary partners in the chaotic Syrian landscape, despite their extremist views, to prevent worse outcomes like full Russian/Iranian control or ISIS resurgence. Starting in 2017, the US State Department listed HTS as one of the top ten most active terrorist groups in the world, and the US placed a $10 million bounty on his head.

Jeffrey, in a Frontline piece produced by PBS, said the following:

Look, he’s [Jolani] the least bad option of the various options on Idlib, which is one of the most important places in Syria, which is one of the most important places right now in the Middle East…. When there is not the normal setup of nation-states and of international norms and rules, you wind up with groups like this, that do things you don’t like but in the here and now are the folks you have to deal with to avoid even worse things.

Jeffrey admitted to indirect communications with HTS during the Trump administration, including receiving and sending messages via intermediaries. He confirmed: “Yes” (to receiving messages from HTS), elaborating: “Basically, ‘We want to be your friend. We’re not terrorists. We’re just fighting Assad.'” He explained his response:.........more..........