Qatar, a partner in U.S. airstrikes, says Syrian regime main problem (C-r-e-e-e-e-e-ep)

[morningfog]

Qatar, which provided support for U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria this week, urged the international community to confront the Syrian regime, highlighting pressure by some of Washington’s Gulf Arab allies to widen its campaign against Islamic State.

Qatar is among five Arab nations including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain that joined in or supported U.S.-led airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria beginning late on Monday. U.S. officials said Qatar’s role consisted mostly of logistical support.

“The war of genocide being waged and the deliberate displacement carried out by the regime remain the major crime,” Qatar's ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, told the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The world should work to end "the systematic destruction of Syria" by the Syrian government, he said.

* * *

A source close to the Qatar government told Reuters Tuesday’s U.S.-led airstrikes would not solve anything. He said it was unfair to target only Islamic State when Assad "has been left to kill his people for years."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/24/us-un-assembly-qatar-idUSKCN0HJ24D20140924

It is worth noting that Qatar's role in the coalition is simply to add its name. They did not fly any missions or participate in any bombings.

[randome]

1. So...don't listen to our allies?

Creep is always possible no matter how carefully plans are laid out. No one has a crystal ball to show how this will play out.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Precision and concision. That's the game.[/center][/font][hr]

[Fantastic Anarchist]

3. If they want the Assad regime gone ...

... let them do it themselves.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. The friend of my enemy is my friend or the enemy of my friend is my friend or...never mind.

[woo me with science]

5. We have always been at war with...

This is shaping up to break records as the most incoherent, Orwellian war in memory. And that's a high bar.

[CentralMass]

6. Alledgedly wealthy inviduals from Qatar have been funding ISIS for some time.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/whos-funding-isis-wealthy-gulf-angel-investors-officials-say-n208006

"A small but steady flow of money to ISIS from rich individuals in the Gulf continues, say current and former U.S. officials, with Qataris the biggest suppliers. These rich individuals have long served as "angel investors," as one expert put it, for the most violent militants in the region, providing the “seed money” that helped launch ISIS and other jihadi groups.

No one in the U.S. government is putting a number on the current rate of donations, but former U.S. Navy Admiral and NATO Supreme Commander James Stavridis says the cash flow from private donors is significant now and was even more significant in the early fund-raising done by ISIS and al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the al-Nusrah Front."


"These rich Arabs are like what 'angel investors' are to tech start-ups, except they are interested in starting up groups who want to stir up hatred," said Stavridis, now the dean of the Fletcher School of Diplomacy at Tufts University. "Groups like al-Nusrah and ISIS are better investments for them. The individuals act as high rollers early, providing seed money. Once the groups are on their feet, they are perfectly capable of raising funds through other means, like kidnapping, oil smuggling, selling women into slavery, etc."

Stavridis and other current U.S. officials suggest that the biggest share of the individual donations supporting ISIS and the most radical groups comes from Qatar rather than Saudi Arabia, and that the Qatari government has done less to stop the flow than its neighbors in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. One U.S. official said the Saudis are "more in line with U.S. foreign policy" than the Qataris.

Groups like ISIS and al-Nusrah employ fundraisers who meet with wealthy Sunni Arabs. Most of the Arab states have laws prohibiting such fundraising, but U.S. officials say the Qataris do not strictly enforce their laws."

[woo me with science]

7. Two countries left on the PNAC list: Syria and Iran.

They tried a year ago. Of course Syria has been the goal all along.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025520459