Author: Daniel McAdams

Here’s a perfect example of how convoluted our Middle East policy is: our Turkish NATO allies attacked our Kurdish anti-ISIS ground forces in Iraq and Syria this week, killing as many as 70 fighters. The Kurdish YPG fighters make up the bulk of the US-backed “Syrian Democratic Forces” who are leading the US fight against ISIS in eastern Syria. How will the Kurds respond to the fact that their chief sponsor’s close ally keeps killing them? And how does the US expect the Kurds to take over Raqqa once it’s “liberated” when the Turks keep killing them? And how will the Turks respond to the US at least tacitly pushing the Kurds toward de facto statehood? And…what is our Syria policy? Tune in to today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

President Trump has yet to provide any credible evidence that the gas attack in Syria earlier this month was carried out by Assad, and in the meantime very serious questions about the veracity of White House claims are arising from very credible experts. Yet the Administration seems ever more determined now that it has done a 180 degree turn and demanded regime change for Syria. Late last week the White House announced sanctions on 271 Syrian scientists who Trump claims are working on chemical weapons. The proof? None. How to explain this sudden embrace of the neocon line on Syria and elsewhere? It might be telling that according to recent press reports the architect of the disastrous Iraq war, Paul Wolfowitz, is lending advice on the Middle East to Defense Secretary Mattis and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. They have all apparently been friends for years. More in today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

President Trump’s about-face on Syria has left many of his supporters reeling. Repeatedly on the campaign trail – and over the past several years – he has mocked President Obama’s decision to get involved in a "regime change" project in Syria. He correctly warned Obama back in 2013 that if you attack Syria, "very bad things will happen." In his first several weeks in office the president has gone from praising Syrian President Assad for his fight against ISIS and al-Qaeda, to agreeing that "Assad can stay," to suddenly resurrecting the Obama mantra of "Assad must go!" All in a matter of two weeks!

But what happens if Trump, who is apparently under the spell of the neocons, is successful and Assad is finally overthrown? According to a new study by the prestigious, London-based IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre, the chief beneficiaries of such a "success" will be ISIS.

Continue reading “New IHS Jane’s Study: Overthrow Assad and ISIS Comes Out on Top”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday accused Iran of sending troops to fight in Syria and of destabilizing the region. He did not mention that Iranian troops were invited into the country while US troops are in Syria illegally. Tillerson condemned Iran as a leading human rights abuser while praising Saudi Arabia — the kings of head-chopping — as a great US ally. The Secretary of State vowed that the US would solve the Iran problem once and for all instead of leaving it to the next US Administration. Is Trump gunning for yet another major war in the Middle East? Will US allies follow Washington in new sanctions on Iran even as Trump has reluctantly admitted that Iran is living up to its end of the nuclear deal? This and more in today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

In late 2009, President Obama brought US troop levels in Afghanistan up to 100,000. This “surge” was modeled after the “successful” US surge in Iraq. Ultimately both failed, but the surge planners like General Petraeus are still being listened to as “serious” figures. Now, 16 years into the war in Afghanistan, we are witnessing a slow-motion surge. Some 300 US Marines are on their way to the “graveyard of empires” and the Commander of US troops in Afghanistan is on record requesting a “few thousand” more. Will another surge achieve what the previous surges have failed to achieve? We take a look at why the war on Afghanistan was lost long ago in today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.

John Kiriakou remains the only CIA officer to be jailed over the Agency’s illegal torture program — and he was the whistleblower who exposed it! But the story of how the FBI was able to send Kiriakou to prison on a 30 month sentence is fascinating, shocking, chilling. We discuss this dark chapter in our recent history as well as Mr. Kiriakou’s fascinating upcoming book, Doing Time Like A Spy: How the CIA Taught Me to Survive and Thrive in Prison, in today’s very special Ron Paul Liberty Report:

Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.