French "Investigation" in Syria Neither Impartial nor Independent

April 28, 2017 (Ulson Gunnar - NEO) - After any crime, regardless of scale, a swift, impartial and independent investigation is required if any accountability at all is desired. The French government, in the wake of an alleged "chemical weapons attack" near Syria's northern city of Idlib, has claimed that it is “committed to ensuring that the perpetrators of this heinous attack are held accountable.”

The LA Times in an article titled, "Syrian chemical attack bears Assad's signature, France says," would report:

A six-page report by French intelligence services claims the nerve agent came from hidden stockpiles of chemical weapons that Damascus was supposed to have destroyed under an U.S.- and Russian-brokered deal in 2013.

Were it the case that France was seriously committed to holding the perpetrators of the alleged attack accountable, the French government would need to call for an impartial, independent investigation into the attack, and as soon as possible. Instead, it decided to carry out its own "investigation," ensuring neither impartiality nor independence, and by consequence, achieving no accountability.

Neither Impartial nor Independent  

France is one of several nations directly involved in a multi-year US-led effort to violently overthrow the Syrian government.

Terrorist organizations fighting in and along Syria's borders have, for 6 years now, brandished the black, green, white and red colonial flag of French-occupied Syria.

France itself has admittedly supplied militant groups fighting the Syrian government with financial, military and political support with many prominent members of the so-called residing within French territory, leading political efforts to overthrow the Syrian government remotely.

In a 2014  France 24 article titled, "France delivered arms to Syrian rebels, Hollande confirms," its revealed that:

President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that France had delivered weapons to rebels battling the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad “a few months ago.” 

The deliveries took place “a few months ago, when the Syrian rebels had to face both the armies of the dictator Bashar al-Assad and this terrorist group Islamic State,” Hollande told reporters on a tour of the French island of La Reunion. 

“We cannot leave the only Syrians who are preparing a democracy ... without weapons,” he added.

And French warplanes are flying over Syria, without a UN resolution or invitation by the Syrian government, bombarding its territory in an alleged effort to wage war on the very militant groups it has flooded with arms, cash and others forms of material support.

A nation directly involved in efforts to violently overthrow a government cannot in any rational way conduct an impartial, independent investigation into the actions of that targeted government.

France, by all legal metrics, is a compromised party with a direct stake in finding the Syrian government "guilty." The evidence France claims to possess must be verified by an impartial, independent party, but even at face value, French "evidence" appears illogical and intentionally misrepresented amid its most recent claims.

France's Self-Inflicted Refugee Crisis

January 22, 2017 (Ulson Gunnar - NEO) - Following rhetoric regarding Europe's refugee crisis, one might assume the refugees, through no fault of Europe's governments, suddenly began appearing by the thousands at Europe's borders. However, this simply is not true.

Before the 2011 wave of US-European engineered uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) transformed into Western military interventions, geopolitical analysts warned that overthrowing the governments in nations like Libya and Syria, and Western interventions in nations like Mali and the Ivory Coast, would lead to predicable regional chaos that would manifest itself in both expanding terrorism across the European and MENA region, as well as a flood of refugees from destabilized, war-racked nations.

Libya in particular, was singled out as a nation, if destabilized, that would transform into a springboard for refugees not only fleeing chaos in Libya itself, but fleeing a variety of socioeconomic and military threats across the continent. Libya has served for decades as a safe haven for African refugees due to its relative stability and economic prosperity as well as the Libyan government's policy of accepting and integrating African refugees within the Libyan population.

Because of NATO's 2011 military intervention and the disintegration of Libya as a functioning nation state, refugees who would have otherwise settled in Libya are now left with no choice but to continue onward to Europe.

For France in particular, its politics have gravitated around what is essentially a false debate between those welcoming refugees and those opposed to their presence.

Absent from this false debate is any talk of French culpability for its military operations abroad which, along with the actions of the US and other NATO members, directly resulted in the current European refugee crisis.

France claims that its presence across Africa aims at fighting Al Qaeda. According to RAND Corporation commentary titled, "Mali's Persistent Jihadist Problem," it's reported that:

Four years ago, French forces intervened in Mali, successfully averting an al Qaeda-backed thrust toward the capital of Bamako. The French operation went a long way toward reducing the threat that multiple jihadist groups posed to this West Africa nation. The situation in Mali today remains tenuous, however, and the last 18 months have seen a gradual erosion of France's impressive, initial gains.

And of course, a French military presence in Mali will do nothing to stem Al Qaeda's activities if the source of Al Qaeda's weapons and financial support is not addressed. In order to do this, France and its American and European allies would need to isolate and impose serious sanctions on Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two nations who exists as the premier state sponsors of not only Al Qaeda, but a myriad of terrorist organizations sowing chaos worldwide.

Nice, France: A Harvest of Horror

July 20, 2016 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - While the Western media poses as perplexed over the recent string of horrific attacks across Europe and particularly in France, the latest of which unfolded this week in the seaside city of Nice leaving over 80 dead and many more injured, it is clear that France itself has cultivated the soil within which terrorism and violence has taken root.

Through France's own domestic and foreign policy, it has created the perfect storm to continue "watering" terrorism at home and abroad, while its political leaders carefully cultivate the predictable division, fear, hysteria, and violence that is now unfolding. Between attacks in 2015 and 2016, over 200 people have now died in France as a result of violent domestic attacks.

French Foreign Support of Terrorism 

Since 2011, France has played a key role in destabilizing North Africa and the Middle East. In 2011, it participated in the US-led NATO assault on Libya, as well as sending troops to other African nations including the Ivory Coast and Mali. France also currently maintains troops in Sahara, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Central African Republic, and Sahel in Africa, as well as troops still participating in the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan.

While France has portrayed these operations as essential for maintaining global stability and security, it has done anything but. In addition to creating chaos from which torrents of refugees are now fleeing - all the way to Europe - it should be noted that a component of French involvement abroad is also the arming and funding of militant groups. This was especially so in Libya, where France helped install into power terrorists affiliated with Al Qaeda.

The London Telegraph's 2011 article, "France supplying weapons to Libyan rebels," would report that:

France has begun supplying weapons to the Libyan rebels despite the UN arms embargo, confirming on Wednesday it had dropped assault rifles into the Nafusa Mountains south-west of Tripoli.

It would also report that:

The air drop would appear to be in violation of the arms embargo against Libya instituted by the United Nations. But Nato officials believe that the UN security council resolution 1973 which authorised the bombing campaign allows for a wide range of actions in furtherance of the mission to "protect civilians".

It retrospect, it was clear that France's actions had little to do with an interest in "protecting civilians" and instead led directly to the overthrow of the Libyan government. The militant forces, armed, backed, and even provided air cover by NATO would be later revealed to be extremists directly affiliated with Al Qaeda and would later transform into the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS) in Libya.

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi had for decades subdued and kept in check extremist elements centered primarily in eastern Libya's Cyrenaica region, particularly in the cities of Benghazi, Tobruk, and Derna which would later go on to become epicenters of US military and diplomatic activity after the war as well as a springboard for Western-backed terrorism in Syria.

Refugee Crisis: EU Cites Missing Libyan Navy It Destroyed in 2011

February 29, 2016 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - News agencies are reporting on a Wikileaks report detailing the EU's "Operation Sophia," an allegedly covert military operation aimed at stemming the flow of refugees into Europe.

The International Business Times in their report, "WikiLeaks leak 'classified report' indicating EU Operation could move into Libyan territory," would report that:

WikiLeaks has released a "classified report" about the first six months of Operation Sophia, the EU military intervention against refugee boats in Libya and Mediterranean. 

The leaked report is dated 29 January 2016 and written by the operation commander, Rear Admiral Enrico Credendino of the Italian Navy. It allegedly provides statistics on refugee flows and outlines the phases of Operation Sophia, including future strategies of the operation. The report has been published for the European Union Military Committee and the Political and Security Committee of the EU.

Perhaps the most ironic aspect of "Operation Sophia" is the EU's ultimate exit strategy, creating a functioning Libyan navy capable of policing its own shores. The Times would report:

The report published by WikiLeaks notes that their "exit strategy" involves ensuring that a "well-resourced Libyan Coastguard can protect their own borders and prevent irregular migration taking place from their shores". It also mentions an "EU comprehensive approach to help secure their invitation to operate inside [Libyan] territory".

It is particularly ironic that the EU now sorely needs a Libyan navy to police its own coasts because until 2011, it already had one. Some may wonder what happened to that navy. Within the answer lies the irony.

US-EU Destroyed the Navy in 2011 it now Needs to Restore Order Back to the Med 

In broad daylight in the middle of May, 2011, NATO laid waste to three separate locations in the North African nation of Libya. The targets, more specifically, were ports used by the nation's navy. Several warships would be sunk, among many more that would be destroyed during the conflict. In addition to ships, the facilities supporting them were also utterly destroyed.

Even before the first NATO bomb dropped on Libya in 2011, geopolitical analysts had warned of the refugee crisis that would be triggered along with a variety of other humanitarian and security concerns that would evolve with the destruction of not only the Libyan navy, but the stabilizing effects of the Libyan government itself.

Indeed, many migrants and refugees from across Africa came to Libya to live and work. They were supported by and supporters of the Libyan government, but reviled by US-backed terrorists based in eastern Libya's Cyrenaica region. During the conflict, the Western media disingenuously depicted these Libyans as "African mercenaries" to account for the subsequent racist genocide carried out by NATO-backed terrorists.

West Leverages Paris Attacks for Syria Endgame

November 18, 2015 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - The terrorist attacks carried out in the heart of the French capital, either coincidentally or intentionally, have served as the perfect point of leverage for the West on the very eve of the so-called "Vienna talks" regarding Syria.

With its serendipitously strengthened hand and with France taking a more prominent role, the West is attempting to reassert not only its narrative, but its agenda regarding the ongoing conflict in Syria, an agenda that has - as of late - been derailed by Russia's military intervention and recent gains made on the battlefield by Syrian military forces.

The London Guardian stated in its article "Paris attacks galvanise international efforts to end Syria war" that:

The Isis attacks in Paris have galvanised international efforts to end the war in Syria, with a new deadline set for negotiations between the warring parties and for a country-wide ceasefire. 

There is still no sign of agreement, however, on the key question of the future of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.

It should seem extraordinary to the global public that even after the attacks in Paris, the West still insists on undermining the Syrian government toward its goal of "regime change," which includes continued material support to armed militants - all of which are extremists, and many of which have either coordinated with, or fought under the banner of Al Qaeda and even the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (ISIS).

This is also considering the fact that the Syrian government is now currently engaged in battle with ISIS in and around Aleppo, and is currently threatening to sever its supply lines leading out of NATO-member Turkey's territory.

Regarding this point, the Guardian would even report:

It was clear, however, that Russia and the US have again had to agree to disagree about Assad. The Paris attacks “show that it doesn’t matter if you’re for Assad or against him,” said the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. “Isis is your enemy.”

However, to explain the West's apparent failure to prioritize, the Guardian claims:

Isis, in their [the West's] view, is a symptom of political failings in both Iraq and Syria. The Vienna participants are to meet in Paris before the end of the year to review progress toward a ceasefire and the selection of delegations for the Syrian talks. 

In reality, ISIS is not a "symptom of political failings." It is the result of concerted, immense, multinational state-sponsorship. Entire armies of the immense scale ISIS operates on do not rise out of "political failings," they rise from huge, preexisting financial networks, region-wide logistical support, multinational political support, intelligence networking, and experienced military planning and organizational skills.

CONFIRMED: French Government Knew Extremists BEFORE Attack

November 14, 2015 (Tony Cartalucci - LD) - As predicted and previously reported, terrorists who took part in an unprecedented attack in the center of Paris killing over a 100 and injuring hundreds more, were well-known to French security agencies before the attack took place.

The UK Daily Mail reported in its article, "Hunt for the Isis killers: One terrorist identified as 'young Frenchman known to authorities' - another two found with Syrian and Egyptian passports," that:

One of the terrorists involved in last night's attacks in Paris has been officially identified as a Parisian, according to local media reports. 

The man, who was killed at the Bataclan, was identified using his fingerprints and was from the southern Parisian neighbourhood of Courcouronnes. 

French reports say that the man, who was around 30 years old, was already known to French anti-terrorist authorities prior to last night's attacks. 

Similarly in January 2015 in the wake of the "Charlie Hebo attack" which left 12 dead, it was revealed that French security agencies tracked the perpetrators for nearly a decade beforehand, having arrested at least one terrorist a total of two times, incarcerating him at least once, tracked two of them overseas where they had trained with known terrorist organizations and possibly fought alongside them in Syria, before tracking them back to French territory.

Astoundingly, French security agencies never moved in on the terrorists, claiming that after a decade of tracking them, they had finally decided to close their case for precisely the amount of time needed for them to plan and execute their grand finale.

Attack in France = State Sponsored Terror, But Which State?

November 14, 2015 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - Reports indicate an unprecedented terrorist attack has unfolded in France, with over 150 dead, many more injured and reports still trickling in regarding the full-scale of the violence. The  BBC in its report, "Paris attacks: Bataclan and other assaults leave many dead," stated:

France has declared a national state of emergency and tightened borders after at least 120 people were killed in a night of gun and bomb attacks in Paris. 

Eighty people were reported killed after gunmen burst into the Bataclan concert hall and took dozens hostage. 

The siege ended when security forces stormed the building. 

People were shot dead at bars and restaurants at five other sites in Paris. Eight attackers are reported to have been killed.

The BBC has also released a graphic indicating at least 5 separate locations where the attacks unfolded, while other media organizations have reported that both bombs and small arms were employed, including military rifles.

How Did France's Expanding Surveillance State Miss This? 

On a scale significantly larger than the previous Paris terror attack carried out against several targets across the capital in January of this year ending in the death of 12, the Western media is already assigning blame to the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS/ISIL) or those "inspired" by ISIS.

It was in the wake of the January attacks that France expanded its already towering surveillance state. The Guardian in an article titled, "France passes new surveillance law in wake of Charlie Hebdo attack," reported:

The new law will allow authorities to spy on the digital and mobile phone communications of anyone linked to a “terrorist” inquiry without prior authorisation from a judge. It forces internet service providers and phone companies to give up data upon request.

Intelligence services will have the right to place cameras and recording devices in private homes and install so-called keylogger devices that record every key stroke on a targeted computer in real time. The authorities will be able to keep recordings for a month and metadata for five years.

One of the most contentious elements of the bill is that it allows intelligence services to vacuum up metadata, which would then be subject to analysis for potentially suspicious behaviour. The metadata would be anonymous, but intelligence agents could follow up with a request to an independent panel for deeper surveillance that could yield the identity of users.

Despite having allegedly lacked these capabilities before the "Charlie Hebo attack," it would be revealed shortly after that indeed, French security agencies were extensively familiar with the attackers years beforehand - letting the suspects "drop from their radars" just 6 months before the attack occurred, precisely the amount of time generally required for planning and executing such an attack.

America's Multinational Ramadan Assault

July 1, 2015 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - It is not hard to fathom who on Earth possesses both the resources and the motivation to coordinate multiple, horrific militant attacks, ending scores of lives and provoking both fear and anger on a global scale such as seen during the recent Ramadan attacks that unfolded in France, Tunisia, Kuwait, and reportedly in China's western Xinjiang region.

Only a few nations on Earth possess the operational capacity to run coordinated, multinational operations such as this. Only one axis among them has the motivation to do so.

The Attacks 

In Tunisia, nearly 30 were killed in a brazen attack targeting British tourists with assault rifles. Tunisia, which had been for years a bastion of stability in an otherwise troubled region, saw street demonstrations and violence during 2011 amid the wider US-engineered "Arab Spring" which sought to overturn regional political orders in favor of those selected by Wall Street and Washington. After briefly ousting Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power, his allies appear to have made a comeback. With their rise back to power, Al Qaeda and now the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS) have conveniently stepped up operations within the country to match.

Tunisia is in close proximity to Libya, a nation destroyed by NATO's intervention in 2011, and one that has become a hotbed of terrorist activity, particularly in the nation's eastern most region where the US has been literally running weapons to Al Qaeda militants both in Libya and as far as Syria via NATO-member Turkey. With US-backed terrorists flowing from Libya to as far as Syria, it is clear that this terrorist nexus possesses the necessary logistics to carry out operations in neighboring Tunisia as well.

French Surveillance Law Amid Terror of Own Creation

Can a new surveillance law help stop terrorists the government is already tracking and simply choosing not to stop? 

May 15, 2015 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - France has announced that in the wake of the so-called "Charlie Hebdo Shooting," it will be passing a controversial new bill granting security agencies unprecedented powers to tap the communications of France's population without judicial overview.

Impossible to pass without having first provoked fear, hatred, division, and hysteria across the French population, and still facing stiff resistance from civil liberty activists, the bill's passage raises further suspicions regarding the fatal January 2015 shooting in regards to who organized the incident and who stood most to benefit.

The Guardian in its article, "France passes new surveillance law in wake of Charlie Hebdo attack," would report:

The French parliament has overwhelmingly approved sweeping new surveillance powers in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris in January that killed 17 people at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery in Paris. 

The new bill, which allows intelligence agencies to tap phones and emails without seeking permission from a judge, sparked protests from rights groups who claimed it would legalise highly intrusive surveillance methods without guarantees for individual freedom and privacy.

The Guardian would also claim that:

The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, defended the bill as “necessary and proportionate”, saying that to compare it to the mass surveillance Patriot Act introduced in the United States after the 9/11 attacks was a lie. 

He said that the previous French law on wiretapping dated back to 1991, “when there were no mobile phones or internet,” and the new bill was crucial in the face of extremist threats.

Not a Lack of Surveillance 

As seen in nearly every recent terror attack both in Europe and North America including the "Charlie Hebdo shooting" and the more recent Garland, Texas attack, the alleged suspects behind the attacks all have one thread in common - they were all already under the watch of security agencies for years, some even imprisoned one or more times for terror-related and/or other violent offenses, some even having traveled overseas to fight alongside Western-backed terrorists in Syria, Iraq, and beyond.

UN Peacekeepers: Enemies of International Law

May 6, 2015 (Valery Kulikov  - NEO) - The recent scandal involving the sexual abuse of African children carried out by members of a UN peacekeeping mission, despite numerous efforts of this international organization to play it down, will not be ignored. And the international community must finally recall what was the original purpose of the UN as established by allied powers after the Second World War in the name of peace and security for all people on the planet.

According to a series of publications by Bruxelles2, France Info, Guardian and a number of other media outlets, a number of French and Georgian soldiers that were employed in the UN peacekeeping operation “Sangaris” in Central Africa, are responsible of child sexual abuse.

It should be recalled that an armed conflict between the government of the Central African Republic and Muslim rebels, many of which took part in the civil war of 2004-2007, resulted in the French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announcing that France would deploy a thousand soldiers in CAR to carry out a UN peacekeeping mission. On December 9, 2013 the United States decided to take part in this operation, while the Georgian parliament also agreed to send its soldiers to CAR a year later, on February 22, 2014. By June 2014 the number of Georgian Armed Forces in the Central African Republic reached 140 members.

According to the French news agency France Info, French and Georgian soldiers were raping children aged 8 to 15 years in the area near M’Poko airport and were subjecting them to sexual exploitation.

Oops - Paris Attackers Funded by Pentagon Dinner Guest

January 11, 2015 (Tony Cartalucci - LD) Corroborating claims by French security agencies, a bizarre interview conducted just before the death of terror suspect Chérif Kouachi reveals that he had been in Yemen and in direct contact with none other than Anwar Al Awaki - the notorious Al Qaeda leader allegedly killed in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011. 

Image: The Kouachi brothers, arrested twice for terrorism, convicted and imprisoned for terrorism, having met senior leadership of Al Qaeda, having trained with and fought alongside Al Qaeda, French intelligence would - 6 months ago - deem the dangerous duo a "low risk." 6 months also happens to be the perfect time frame within which they could plan, fund, and begin executing their grand finale. Are we to believe it is a coincidence French intelligence turned the spotlight off just in time for them to piece together the worst terror attack in France in decades? Who is it French intelligence considers "high risk" and isn't immediately arresting? 

The UK Mirror in an article titled, "Paris shootings: Listen to terrorist Amedy Coulibaly's bizarre conversation with hostage during supermarket siege," quoted Kouachi as saying: 

We are just telling you we are the defenders of the prophet and that I Chérif Kouachi have been sent by Al Qaida of Yemen and that I went over there and that Anwar Al Awaki financed me.

Not only was Anwar Al Awaki a senior leader in Al Qaeda, he also infamously spent dinner with top brass at the Pentagon shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks in Washington, New York, and over Pennsylvania.

CBS News would report in their article, "Qaeda-Linked Imam Dined at Pentagon after 9/11," that:  

Anwar al-Awlaki - the radical spiritual leader linked to several 9/11 attackers, the Fort Hood shooting, and the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an airliner - was a guest at the Pentagon in the months after 9/11, a Pentagon official confirmed to CBS News. 

Awlaki was invited as "...part of an informal outreach program" in which officials sought contact "...with leading members of the Muslim community," the official said. At that time, Awlaki was widely viewed as a "moderate" imam at a mosque in Northern Virginia.

At the same time, the FBI was also interviewing Awlaki about his contacts with three of the 9/11 attackers - Nawaf al-Hazmi, Khalid al Midhar and Hani Hanjour - who were all part of the crew of five that hijacked the American Airlines jet that hit the Pentagon.

Image: Just another coincidence... Senior Al Qaeda leader Anwar Al Awlaki
was clicking glasses together at the Pentagon with American military brass
just months after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Also, "coincidentally," he had in
fact met at least one of the several alleged hijackers. He also, just before
being liquidated by a US drone attack in 2011, allegedly funded the terror cell
responsible for the recent Paris shootings. 

Indeed, Anwar Al Awaki would admit to having met Hazmi - in yet another incident the general public is supposed to believe is simply an astonishing coincidence.

The list of "coincidences" and "accidents" is so far impressive and include the following:

1. French authorities arrested and imprisoned Chérif Kouachi in 2005 for terrorism. He would be released in 2008 after sentencing was suspended for "time served," this despite evidence suggesting Kouachi may have even gone as far with his plot as travel to Yemen. Slate Magazine would report in their article, "The Details of Paris Suspect Cherif Kouachi’s 2008 Terrorism Conviction," that: 

Kouachi was arrested in January 2005, accused of planning to join jihadists in Iraq. He was said to have fallen under the sway of Farid Benyettou, a young "self-taught preacher" who advocated violence, but had not actually yet traveled to Iraq or committed any acts of terror. Lawyers at the time said he had not received weapons training and "had begun having second thoughts," going so far as to express "relief" that he'd been apprehended. 

Paris Shooting Suspects Under French Radar for YEARS

Image: Dead men don't talk. French security agencies successfully liquidate
all suspects in the recent Paris shooting.

January 10, 2015 (Tony Cartalucci - LD) - The Paris shooting suspects were no strangers to the French government and its security and intelligence agencies. One suspect, Cherif Kouachi, was arrested by French police in 2005, tried and sentenced to 3 years in prison for "association with wrongdoers with the intention of committing a terrorist act," but his sentence would later be suspended. 

Slate Magazine would report in their article, "The Details of Paris Suspect Cherif Kouachi’s 2008 Terrorism Conviction," that: 

Kouachi was arrested in January 2005, accused of planning to join jihadists in Iraq. He was said to have fallen under the sway of Farid Benyettou, a young "self-taught preacher" who advocated violence, but had not actually yet traveled to Iraq or committed any acts of terror. Lawyers at the time said he had not received weapons training and "had begun having second thoughts," going so far as to express "relief" that he'd been apprehended.

Strange then that Kourachi and his brother would then be reported to have traveled to the Middle East to receive training from Al Qaeda, then to have fought in Syria in a war backed in part by France, before returning home and carrying out this most recent terror attack, all while being tracked by French intelligence. If Kouachi could be arrested for "association with wrongdoers with the intention of committing a terrorist act," why wasn't he arrested immediately upon his return to France for having received and employed military training by a terrorist organization? 

CNN would report in an article titled, "France tells U.S. Paris suspect trained with al Qaeda in Yemen," that: 

Western intelligence officials are scrambling to learn more about possible travel of the two Paris terror attack suspects, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, with new information suggesting one of the brothers recently spent time in Yemen associating with al Qaeda in that country, U.S. officials briefed on the matter told CNN. Additional information from a French source close to the French security services puts one of the brothers in Syria.

To explain how terrorists well-known to France's legal system and intelligence community could simply "disappear," the Wall Street Journal in an article titled, "Overburdened French Dropped Surveillance of Brothers," would attempt to claim: 

The terror attacks in Paris that have killed 17 people over three days this week represent one of the worst fears—and failures—of counterterrorist officials: a successful plot coordinated by people who had once been under surveillance but who were later dropped as a top priority.  

The U.S. provided France with intelligence showing that the gunmen in the Charlie Hebdo massacre received training in Yemen in 2011, prompting French authorities to begin monitoring the two brothers, according to U.S. officials. But that surveillance of Said and Chérif Kouachi came to an end last spring, U.S. officials said, after several years of monitoring turned up nothing suspicious.

It is a narrative that begs to be believed - considering the brothers had already tangled with the law, already traveled to Yemen to receive training from Al Qaeda, and with evidence suggesting they were indeed still being tracked since it is now known they have recently returned from Syria. The Wall Street Journal would also claim that France depends heavily on US intelligence, contradicting US intelligence officials who have said their information came from their French counterparts.

Paris Shooters Just Returned from NATO's Proxy War in Syria

Shooters were radicalized in Europe, sent to Syria, returned, have been previously arrested by Western security agencies for terrorism and long on the watch-list of French and other Western intelligence agencies. Yet "somehow" they still managed to execute a highly organized attack in the heart of Europe.  

January 8, 2015 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - In an all too familiar pattern and as predicted, the shooters involved in the attack in Paris Wednesday, January 7, 2015, were French citizens, radicalized in Europe and exported to Syria to fight in NATO's proxy war against the government in Damascus, then brought back where they have now carried out a domestic attack. Additionally, as have been many other domestic attacks, the suspects were long under the watch of Western intelligence services, with at least one suspect having already been arrested on terrorism charges.

USA Today would report in an article titled, "Manhunt continues for two French terror suspects," that:

The suspects are two brothers — Said, 34, and Cherif Kouachi, 32, both French nationals — and Hamyd Mourad, 18, whose nationality wasn't known, a Paris police official told the Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

USA Today would also report (emphasis added):

The brothers were born in Paris of Algerian descent. Cherif was sentenced to three years in prison on terrorism charges in May 2008. Both brothers returned from Syria this summer.

The implications of yet another case of Western-radicalized terrorists, first exported to fight NATO's proxy war in Syria, then imported and well-known to Western intelligence agencies, being able to carry out a highly organized, well-executed attack, is that the attack itself was sanctioned and engineered by Western intelligence agencies themselves,. This mirrors almost verbatim the type of operations NATO intelligence carried out during the Cold War with similar networks of radicalized militants used both as foreign mercenaries and domestic provocateurs. Toward the end of the Cold War, one of these militant groups was literally Al Qaeda - a proxy mercenary front armed, funded, and employed by the West to this very day.

A Timeline: Where'd Paris Shooters Get Their Weapons?

January 8, 2015 (Tony Cartalucci - LD) Heavily armed, well-trained gunmen executed what appears to be a well-planned attack in Paris, France, killing 12, including 2 police officers. Where did these terrorists get their weapons, training, political backing, funds, and inspiration? A short timeline featuring news stories from 2011 to 2014 helps explain how France's recent national tragedy was a direct result of its own insidious, callus, terroristic foreign policy that has visited this very same carnage seen in Paris, upon the people of Libya and Syria, a thousand fold. 

Image: France has been arming, funding, backing, and exploiting armies of terrorists from North Africa to the Middle East as part of NATO's larger bid to use Al Qaeda to overthrow governments and rearrange regions to better align to their hegemonic agenda. Now these same extremists are running rampant in France's own streets - either as a form of blowback, or as a means to manipulate public perception as NATO did with Operation Gladio during the Cold War. 

2011 - France supplying weapons to Libyan rebels, London Telegraph: 

A French military spokesman, Colonel Thierry Burkhard, said it had provided "light arms such as assault rifles" for civilian communities to "protect themselves against Col Gaddafi". 

But the decision to arm the rebels is a further move towards direct involvement in the land war on top of the air war against Col Muammar Gaddafi. The Nafusa rebels have come closest to breaking through to Tripoli itself of any of the front lines of the conflict, while three months of Nato bombing have failed to dislodge Col Gaddafi from power. 

Le Figaro, the French newspaper which first reported the air drops, said the shipment included rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, along with Milan anti-tank missiles.

2011 - Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links, London Telegraph: 

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

France Armed Terrorists that Struck Paris

January 7, 2015 (Tony Cartalucci - LD) France, as part of a NATO-led coalition, has been arming, funding, aiding, and otherwise perpetuating Al Qaeda terrorists for years, beginning, on record in Libya with the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and continuing until today with NATO's arming, harboring, and backing of Al Qaeda terrorists including the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS) within and along Syria's borders.

With the recent attack in Paris likely the work of the very terrorists France has been arming and backing across North Africa and the Middle East, the French government itself stands responsible, guilty of the continued material support of a terrorist organization that has now killed French citizens, including two police officers, not only on French soil, but within the French capital itself.

In the New York Times article, "Terror Attack on Charlie Hebdo Newspaper in Paris Kills 12," it was reported that:

Masked gunmen with automatic weapons opened fire in the offices of a French satirical newspaper on Wednesday in Paris, the police said, killing 12 people and then escaping in a car. 

President François Hollande said the attack on the weekly, Charlie Hebdo, was “without a doubt” an act of terrorism and raised the nationwide terror alert to its highest status. He said that several terrorist attacks had been thwarted in recent weeks.

However, despite Hollande's feigned concern and outrage over the attack, it was the French government who had advocated and presided over the arming of terrorist groups across the Arab World in the West's bid to overthrow nation after nation and reorder the entire region according to their own geopolitical and economic interests starting with the "Arab Spring" in 2011.

The Washington Post would report in 2011 in an article titled, "France sent arms to Libyan rebels," that:

Image: British-French leaders tour decimated Libya in wake of  2011 NATO
intervention on behalf of "rebels" composed primarily of Al Qaeda terrorists. 

French officials announced Wednesday that they had armed rebels in Libya, marking the first time a NATO country has said it was providing direct military aid to opponents of the government in a conflict that has lasted longer than many policymakers expected.

While Hollande's predecessor, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy would be the one to set foot in decimated Libya in the wake of NATO's intervention there - which included in addition to French arms sent to terrorists, French planes providing these terrorists air cover as they carried out atrocities and genocide - Hollande would continue policies enacted under Sarkozy, both in Libya, and currently in Syria.

Attack Was Carried Out By Professional "Gladio-Style" Operators 

By Design: French Mali Invasion Spills into Algeria

January 17, 2013 (LD-Tony Cartalucci) - Exactly as predicted, the ongoing French "intervention" in the North African nation of Mali has spilled into Algeria - the next most likely objective of Western geopolitical interests in the region since the successful destabilization of Libya in 2011.

In last week's "France Displays Unhinged Hypocrisy as Bombs Fall on Mali" report, it was stated specifically that: 

"As far back as August of 2011, Bruce Riedel out of the corporate-financier funded think-tank, the Brookings Institution, wrote "Algeria will be next to fall," where he gleefully predicted success in Libya would embolden radical elements in Algeria, in particular AQIM. Between extremist violence and the prospect of French airstrikes, Riedel hoped to see the fall of the Algerian government. Ironically Riedel noted: 

Algeria has expressed particular concern that the unrest in Libya could lead to the development of a major safe haven and sanctuary for al-Qaeda and other extremist jihadis.

And thanks to NATO, that is exactly what Libya has become - a Western sponsored sanctuary for Al-Qaeda. AQIM's headway in northern Mali and now French involvement will see the conflict inevitably spill over into Algeria. It should be noted that Riedel is a co-author of "Which Path to Persia?" which openly conspires to arm yet another US State Department-listed terrorist organization (list as #28), the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) to wreak havoc across Iran and help collapse the government there - illustrating a pattern of using clearly terroristic organizations, even those listed as so by the US State Department, to carry out US foreign policy."

Now, it is reported that "Al Qaeda-linked" terrorists have seized American hostages in Algeria in what is being described by the Western press as "spill over" from France's Mali operations.

The Washington Post, in their article, "Al-Qaida-linked militants seize BP complex in Algeria, take hostages in revenge for Mali," claims:

"As Algerian army helicopters clattered overhead deep in the Sahara desert, Islamist militants hunkered down for the night in a natural gas complex they had assaulted Wednesday morning, killing two people and taking dozens of foreigners hostage in what could be the first spillover from France’s intervention in Mali."

France Displays Unhinged Hypocrisy as Bombs Fall on Mali

NATO funding, arming, & simultaneously fighting Al Qaeda from Mali to Syria.

January 11, 2013 (LD) - A deluge of articles have been quickly put into circulation defending France's military intervention in the African nation of Mali. TIME's article, "The Crisis in Mali: Will French Intervention Stop the Islamist Advance?" decides that old tricks are the best tricks, and elects the tiresome "War on Terror" narrative.

TIME claims the intervention seeks to stop "Islamist" terrorists from overrunning both Africa and all of Europe. Specifically, the article states: 

"...there is a (probably well-founded) fear in France that a radical Islamist Mali threatens France most of all, since most of the Islamists are French speakers and many have relatives in France. (Intelligence sources in Paris have told TIME that they’ve identified aspiring jihadis leaving France for northern Mali to train and fight.) Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), one of the three groups that make up the Malian Islamist alliance and which provides much of the leadership, has also designated France — the representative of Western power in the region — as a prime target for attack."

What TIME elects not to tell readers is that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is closely allied to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG whom France intervened on behalf of during NATO's 2011 proxy-invasion of Libya - providing weapons, training, special forces and even aircraft to support them in the overthrow of Libya's government. 

 

As far back as August of 2011, Bruce Riedel out of the corporate-financier funded think-tank, the Brookings Institution, wrote "Algeria will be next to fall," where he gleefully predicted success in Libya would embolden radical elements in Algeria, in particular AQIM. Between extremist violence and the prospect of French airstrikes, Riedel hoped to see the fall of the Algerian government. Ironically Riedel noted: 

Algeria has expressed particular concern that the unrest in Libya could lead to the development of a major safe haven and sanctuary for al-Qaeda and other extremist jihadis.

And thanks to NATO, that is exactly what Libya has become - a Western sponsored sanctuary for Al-Qaeda.

West Attempts to Trigger Clash of Civilizations

Al Qaeda & Islamophobic bigots working in tandem exploiting fear and ignorance.
by Tony Cartalucci

September 19, 2012 - In France where people are sent to jail for "Holocaust denial," considered by law a religious hate crime, it seems strange then that well timed, raunchy cartoons designed solely to insult and inflame hate against and amongst Muslims worldwide would be defended vigorously by French politicians who claim, according to the Christian Science Monitor, that "freedom of the press should not be infringed."

With Neo-Conservative warmongers behind a recent inflammatory film titled, "The Innocence of Muslims," and their counterparts amongst radical sectarian extremists leading violent protests across the Middle East and North Africa, it would almost seem as if the publication of insulting cartoons by a French paper, "Charlie Hebdo," was part of a grander strategy to create a manufactured conflict between Islam and the West, setting the stage for more overt military operations to take over faltering covert operations in Syria and beyond. 

France (and the West) Are Playing Both Sides

It is a fact that France itself has provided state sponsorship of terrorism from Libya to Syria, arming, funding, and politically backing the very groups taking to the streets, burning Western consulates, and killing bystanders, diplomats, and security forces alike. France had armed, trained, funded, and provided air support for the UN-listed terrorist outfit, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) last year in Libya, in their bid to overthrow the government of Muammar Qaddafi.

Image: Libyan Mahdi al-Harati of the US State Department, United Nations, and the UK Home Office (page 5, .pdf)-listed terrorist organization, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), addressing fellow terrorists in Syria. Harati is now commanding a Libyan brigade operating inside of Syria attempting to destroy the Syrian government and subjugate the Syrian population. Traditionally, this is known as "foreign invasion." France is one of a handful of nations currently leading state-sponsorship of terrorist groups like LIFG in Syria.

....

LIFG had merged officially with Al Qaeda, according to a US Army West Point Combating Terrorism Center report in 2007, long before the French knowingly aided and abetted these terrorists in their bid to overthrow and overrun Libya. Currently, the government of France is funding and arming these very same terrorists, who promptly transferred weapons, cash, and fighters to Syria to begin terror operations there.

The report titled, "Al-Qa'ida's Foreign Fighters in Iraq" stated specifically:

The apparent surge in Libyan recruits traveling to Iraq may be linked the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group’s (LIFG) increasingly cooperative relationship with al‐Qa’ida, which culminated in the LIFG officially joining al‐Qa’ida on November 3, 2007. (page 9, .pdf)

France had recently announced its intentions to overtly arm these terror groups operating in Syria, now exposed by Human Rights Watch as carrying out systematic and widespread atrocities against the Syrian population.

The Hindu, in their article, "France to fund opposition in Syria," reported: 

"Reuters quoted a “diplomatic source” as saying France had started supporting parts of Syria that are apparently being controlled by the armed opposition. More alarmingly, the report pointed out that Paris was considering supplying heavy artillery to anti-government fighters — a move that would harden the possibility of a full-blown civil war in the country."

Now France, through its media, and the complicity of its politicians' tacit support, is providing their new terrorist allies with something else - a causus belli for confrontation with the West to reinsert in the public's mind the adversarial plot device needed to introduce more direct military intervention where the covert support of listed-terrorist groups has now seemingly failed.

The Lie We Are Expected to Believe

What we are now expected to believe is that France, the US, UK, and other nations were benevolently, and unwittingly helping these groups into power, only to be betrayed by extremists.

In reality, the nature of these militant groups was known years in advance, these groups specifically chosen to lead the violent subversion of Western targets across the Arab World - with the possibility of sectarian genocide and significant blowback acknowledged as an acceptable risk.

In 2007, an article by Seymour Hersh published in the New Yorker titled, "The Redirection" admitted that: 

"To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda." -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)

Hersh's report would also include: 

"the Saudi government, with Washington’s approval, would provide funds and logistical aid to weaken the government of President Bashir Assad, of Syria. The Israelis believe that putting such pressure on the Assad government will make it more conciliatory and open to negotiations." -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)

Clearly the West, including the complicit regimes of Nicolas Sarkozy and now François Hollande, knowingly funded terrorists. Hersh's report admits that all parties involved even in 2007 knew full well the potential dangers involved in funding terrorist groups but believed these forces could be controlled:

"...[Saudi Arabia's] Bandar and other Saudis have assured the White House that “they will keep a very close eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was ‘We’ve created this movement, and we can control it.’ It’s not that we don’t want the Salafis to throw bombs; it’s who they throw them at—Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.” -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)

For the West to feign that evidence Al Qaeda is now overrunning the Middle East is somehow an unintended consequence, when officials in 2007 were on record already implementing such a policy is indeed a bold lie. To help sell that lie, the West is calling on its Neo-Conservative factions, and in particular, dusting off their Islamophobia brigades led by the likes of Daniel Pipes, a member of the Bush administration, a Project for a New American Century (PNAC) signatory, and a chief proponent for war with Syria and Iran, as well as lesser demagogues such as Robert Spencer, Pamella Geller, and David Horowitz.

The creation of a sectarian extremist front to undermine and destroy the governments of Syria and Iran began under Bush in 2007 - Syria and Iran being the specific targets Neo-Cons like Pipes have ceaselessly advocated war with. That Pipes and his compatriots are now claiming the rise of this terrorist front they themselves helped create  is somehow the result of a "pro-Islam Obama" is immense propaganda designed for the most impressionable minds.

The Plan: Flip the Script (Again)

In reality, Obama provided left-cover for a singular corporate-financier driven agenda, decided upon decades ago, and part of the reoccurring patterns and themes that define all empires past and present.

It appears that the public is becoming increasingly aware that the US has just handed the nation of Libya over to sectarian extremists and is backing brigades of these same terrorists, now operating in Syria. The operation in Syria seems to have reached a stalemate, with the further arming and backing of increasingly visible terrorist forces a politically untenable option.

It appears that the alternative plan is to flip the script once more, turning Al Qaeda - who began as celebrated freedom fighters battling Soviets in the mountains of Afghanistan, to reviled terrorists waging a decade of war on America in Iraq and Afghanistan, to freedom fighters seeking to oust Qaddafi and President Bashar al-Assad, to once again back to reviled, embassy attacking, ambassador-killing thugs.

Seemingly fully committed to tipping off a "clash of civilizations," the ground is being prepared for false flag attacks and preparing public opinion for more direct military intervention in places like Syria and Iran. The failures of the last four years of corporate-financier driven policy is being compartmentalized around Obama and will be flushed with his presidency either in 2012, or 2016 with the hopes that the agenda itself will survive and carry on.

An Obama win in 2012 would allow the West to continue funding terrorists more openly worldwide against the governments of Syria, Iran, and even Russia and China - blaming it all on "Pro-Islam Obama." A Romney victory would allow more aggressive, direct military intervention. Either way, the nations of Syria, Iran, Russia, and China will continue to find themselves in the firing line of both covert and overt foreign military aggression.

The overall agenda is global corporate-financier hegemony, the destruction of the nation-state, and the primacy of Wall Street-London dictated "international law" for an "international order" corporate-financier think-tank policy maker Robert Kagan concedes "serves the needs of the United States and its allies, which constructed it."

By recognizing the singular agenda front-men like Bush, Obama, and Romney cover for, we can expose the corporate-financier special interests truly dictating Western policy. By understanding that it is corporate-financier interests, not politicians, that drive these nefarious, overarching agendas, we can formulate solutions based upon undermining and replacing their power and influence, rather than becoming absorbed in short-sighted political battles that ultimately change only the front-men, not the agenda itself.

France to Fund/Arm Al Qaeda in Syria

Meanwhile, US-backed terror rips across Iraq, as Saudi-Qatari coddled Iraqi vice president is sentenced to death. 
by Tony Cartalucci

September 10, 2012 -  The French government has ignored the will of voters who ousted warmonger Nicolas Sarkozy in recent elections, and is continuing its unpopular military adventurism abroad as well as its support for militant terrorism across the Arab World.

France has announced that it will be funding and arming terrorists operating along Syria's boarders, offering them heavy weapons, just as they did in Libya last year. In fact, the US-British and UN-listed terrorists assisted into power in Libya, are now leading death squads currently ravaging Syria - disingenuously portrayed as "indigenous" "freedom fighters" by the Western press.

 Image: Hollande (right) after paying lip service to French voters, set out almost immediately betraying campaign promises to end foreign military adventurism and is in fact picking up right where ousted Nicholas Sarkozy left off, leading the West's destabilization and destruction of Syria through funding the very Libyan terrorists his predecessor assisted into power in Tripoli. 

....

The Hindu, in their article, "France to fund opposition in Syria," reported: 

"Reuters quoted a “diplomatic source” as saying France had started supporting parts of Syria that are apparently being controlled by the armed opposition. More alarmingly, the report pointed out that Paris was considering supplying heavy artillery to anti-government fighters — a move that would harden the possibility of a full-blown civil war in the country."

International condemnation led by Russia, China, and Iran have pointed out that the so-called "armed opposition" constitutes sectarian extremists, many of which have direct ties to Al Qaeda, many of which are also not even Syrian, betraying the West's unraveling narrative. France's recent announcement is particularly unconscionable, considering that Syria's so-called "opposition" has recently announced their intentions to begin targeting civilian infrastructure, a blatant war crime. 

Evidence stretching back as far as 2007 has exposed a Western conspiracy, years in the making, intent on using sectarian extremists under the guise of "pro-democracy" "regime change' to violently overthrow the government of Syria and undermine Iran's influence throughout the Middle East.

A report published in 2007 by the New Yorker titled "The Redirection" (full article here), cited US, Saudi, and Lebanese officials who admitted that military and financial aid was already flowing to militant groups affiliated with both Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood with the aim of destabilizing Syria and Iran. Former intelligence agents were also cited, warning that the plan, then being implemented under the Bush administration, would lead to a catastrophic sectarian bloodbath - the very sectarian bloodbath now unfolding in Syria today.

France, along with the UK, US, the autocratic Saudi and Qatari regimes, as well as NATO (specifically Turkey) have meticulously planned and created the very violence they now seek to use as justification for further military intervention. In reality, they are employing the very terrorist forces against Syria they have used as an impetus to send their own soldiers to their needless deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan for over a decade as part of the "War on Terror."

Meanwhile, in Iraq, violence tore across the nation as former-vice president Tariq al-Hashemi was sentenced to death for his role in using death squads against his political rivals. While the Western press attempts to frame the power struggle within Iraq as one of an isolated sectarian nature, in reality, al-Hashemi, who is being coddled by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, represents extremist elements backed by Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Israel, while Iraq's current government is attempting to cultivate closer ties with Iran.  

Image: Vice president of Iraq, or viceroy of US-Saudi-Israeli interests? With ex-Vice President Hashemi now hiding abroad and being handed down a death sentence, Iraq has seemingly taken a decisive stance against Hashemi and his foreign backers. The West is now using the threat of igniting sectarian violence once again across Iraq as leverage against the current Iraqi government. 

....

The terror wave crossing Iraq is being carried out by fighters who are currently operating on both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi border, indicating that Iraq, as well as Syria and Iran are being targeted by US-Saudi-Israeli backed militants. The violence is connected, and part of a greater strategy to reorder the Middle East against Iran, and ultimately against Russia, China, and all other potential threats to Wall Street and London's global hegemony.