U.S. Sending Humanitarian Aid To ISIS
The United States is helping ISIS with foodstuffs, medical supplies, clinics and even taxes. It’s being going to territory ISIS controls.
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The aid—mainly food and medical equipment—is meant for Syrians displaced from their hometowns, and for hungry civilians. It is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, European donors, and the United Nations. Whether it continues is now the subject of anguished debate among officials in Washington and European. The fear is that stopping aid would hurt innocent civilians and would be used for propaganda purposes by the militants, who would likely blame the West for added hardship…
…the aid convoys have to pay off ISIS emirs (leaders) for the convoys to enter the eastern Syrian extremist strongholds of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, providing yet another income stream for ISIS militants, who are funding themselves from oil smuggling, extortion and the sale of whatever they can loot, including rare antiquities from museums and archaeological sites.
“The convoys have to be approved by ISIS and you have to pay them: the bribes are disguised and itemized as transportation costs,” says an aid coordinator who spoke to The Daily Beast on the condition he not be identified in this article. The kickbacks are either paid by foreign or local non-governmental organizations tasked with distributing the aid, or by the Turkish or Syrian transportation companies contracted to deliver it…
The origins of the aid programs pre-date President Barack Obama’s decision to “degrade and defeat” ISIS, but they have carried on without major review. The aid push was to reach anyone in need. A senior State Department official with detailed knowledge of current aid programs confirmed to The Daily Beast that U.S. government funded relief is still going into Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zor. He declined to estimate the quantity. But an aid coordinator, when asked, responded: “A lot .”[su_csky_ad]
edmeyer_able October 20th, 2014 at 7:42 am
Wondering if I woke my neighbors up as I screamed out while reading this latest article.
OldLefty October 20th, 2014 at 8:02 am
I think it’s filled with half truths.
There is a reason why the author, (a neocon) does not write his op-eds for the BBC.
edmeyer_able October 20th, 2014 at 8:17 am
Actually anytime I read or listen to the news now days I pretty much hope they made the whole damn thing up.
OldLefty October 20th, 2014 at 8:30 am
Actually, I think the only accurate thing in this piece is that it’s complicated.
You have the UN, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Europeans…
It is a situation like how EVERYBODY in Iraq was a Baathist, whether they were or were not, (you could not get a job otherwise).
You can not get aid or food to those in the Palestinian refugee camps without Hamas.
I think this guy’s agenda leads him to cherry pick so that he can paint a story that suits his neocon agenda.
Carla Akins October 20th, 2014 at 7:45 am
And this is a surprise to whom?
rg9rts October 20th, 2014 at 8:46 am
How much of this is going to Kurds??
William October 20th, 2014 at 9:53 am
Oh yeah. Things just keep getting better and better ever since we bought FREEDOM to the middle east.
Maxx44 October 20th, 2014 at 1:32 pm
Does ISIS have an endorsement deal with Toyota? And, how hard is it to destroy a Toyota pickup with modern weapons?
Pilotshark October 20th, 2014 at 2:19 pm
well now we know where Toyota is sending they`er recalled vehicles ti ISIS, to bad we couldn’t get Ford to bring back the Pinto.