Iraq's al-Malik gave ISIS $500 Million?

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Aug 12, 2014 at 16:41

I don't expect the "Caliphate" to grow significantly beyond Iraq and Syria, so the maps aren't important to me. I AM interested, however, in the complex web of support that this "Caliphate" has been getting.

1. Initially, ISIS/ISIL/IS/the Caliphate, or whatever one wants to call these bandits, was clearly funded, supplied and otherwise fully abetted by Turkey.

2. With the "taking of Turkish hostages" by ISIS during the attack on Mosul, the Turkish-ISIS alliance supposedly ended. But did it? Whereas other prisoners of ISIS are routinely beheaded and worse, these Turks have been unmolested. In return, Turkey, a NATO ally, has offically taken a "hands off" stance against ISIS, while banning press coverage of their activities. When the US began token attacks against ISIS, Turkey would not participate "because of the hostages".

3. The strongest ally of Turkey in the area is the Barzani government of the Iraqi Kurdish Autonomous Region; and the strongest enemy is the Syrian Kurdish Autonomous Region, which backs the anti-Turkish Kurdish guerillas in Turkey. With the recent ISIS conquest of Kurdish-controlled areas in Iraq (which led to US air strikes against ISIS), the Kurdish PEOPLE are solidly united against the Turkish client ISIS. Needless to say, Kurdish oil exports to Turkey keep Barzani in power. ISIS' attack has therefore opened a wound among the Kurds -- much to the advantage of Iraq's divisive Prime Minister, Nuri al-Malik. This leads us to the next intrigue:

4. This, from the Kurdish press:

August 12, 2014

Every since the fall of Mosel, a city of 1.5 Million, I have been thinking of how and why the city fail so fast and so easily. No one can refute the fact that the Iraqi military is very ineffective, corrupt, lazy and most importantly, has no desire to fight but still one must wonder why they fled so fast in huge numbers even before the arrival of ISIS to Mosel. Furthermore, the Iraqi army/government not only left huge military hardware to the terrorists, but they left a bank with $500 Million in cash for the taken!!

...Could it be that ISIS is actually working for the benefit Al-Maliki? Is there a connection/relationship between Al-Maliki and ISIS? How is it that a small government owned bank in Mosel contains $500 Million in cash and that was placed there only few days prior to ISIS moving into Mosel? Why was the money there to begin with? Is it possible that Al-Mailki provided ISIS with money and weapons in order to fight the Kurds?

-- http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2014/8/state8301.htm

5. Elsewhere on the web, we are told that the Turks are now supporting both ISIS and the Kurds -- of all their opposing factions, even those carrying out a rebellion in Turkey -- in order to create a bleeding buffer zone between them and the Iraqi government.

As things stand, I count Turkey and the Barzani Kurdish Regional Government on the side of ISIS strategically (even though they may be fighting each other, with a slack hand, on the ground). I count the opposition Kurdish area in Iraq, that which supports the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), as well as the Syrian Kurdish region of Rojava, as being allied with the Shi'ite Iraqi government (soon to be sans al-Malik, if the US has its way), and with their allies: Iran, Hizbullah and Syria's Bashar al-Assad.

With this bundling, one can successfully make some sense of the regional connections in the Middle East (the Turkey-Barzani bloc is tied in with Qatar and HAMAS; and the bulk of Arab States are generally allied to Saudi Arabia). The Turkish bloc is now actively engaged in a proxy war against Israel in Gaza, where it is strategically aligned with its otherwise enemy, Iran.

As Middle Eastern alliances go, that actually isn't too hard to comprehend. What is hard to put a fix on, however, is the position of the US: President Obama is seemingly on the side of the Turks, Iraqis (and hence Iranians) and all the diverse Kurdish factions against ISIS; and in Syria the US indirectly supports ISIS against Bashar al-Assad. The US is also allied with Turkey, which backs the anti-government forces in the Egyptian Sinai -- which, in turn, are working in collusion with Iranian-backed forces who are currently at war with both Egypt and Israel.

Confusing? Not if you consider that it is in the interest of Turkey, the US and Iran to generally destabilize the region via a bloodbath. The odd man out in this is Israel, which actually wants stability. The queer thing is that the US has actually been working more closely with Israel than with any of the other players (Obama still talks to Netanyahu on the phone, even though he hates him; but the Turks and Iraqis can only talk to Biden).

The big question in my mind, is which side Obama is really on: Is it Israel? or the Seven-Headed Islamic Hydra?

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".