By BEN HUBBARD
NEW YORK TIMES
AIRO â In Syriaâs largest city, Aleppo, rebels aligned with Al Qaeda control the power plant, run the bakeries and head a court that applies Islamic law. Elsewhere, they have seized government oil fields, put employees back to work and now profit from the crude they produce.
Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists.
<B>Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.</B>
<B>âMy sense is that there are no seculars,â</B> said Elizabeth OâBagy, of the Institute for the Study of War, who has made numerous trips to Syria in recent months to interview rebel commanders.
This is the landscape President Obama confronts as he considers how to respond.
<B>"I used to fight for revolution, but now I think we have lost what we were fighting for," said Mohammed, a moderate Muslim rebel from the northern town of Raqqa who declined to give his last name. "Now extremists control my town. My family has moved back to government side because our town is too unsafe. Assad is terrible, but the alternative is worse." The prevalence of extremist Islamist groups in rebel-held areas, particularly in the north, has caused some opposition fighters to "give up" on their cause.</B>
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/w...eate-dilemma-for-us.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&
Don't worry jihadists, O'bomber is sending the AQAF ( Al-Qaeda Air Force) formerly known as USAF to bomb the shit out of your enemies and aid you in jihad.
NEW YORK TIMES
AIRO â In Syriaâs largest city, Aleppo, rebels aligned with Al Qaeda control the power plant, run the bakeries and head a court that applies Islamic law. Elsewhere, they have seized government oil fields, put employees back to work and now profit from the crude they produce.
Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists.
<B>Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.</B>
<B>âMy sense is that there are no seculars,â</B> said Elizabeth OâBagy, of the Institute for the Study of War, who has made numerous trips to Syria in recent months to interview rebel commanders.
This is the landscape President Obama confronts as he considers how to respond.
<B>"I used to fight for revolution, but now I think we have lost what we were fighting for," said Mohammed, a moderate Muslim rebel from the northern town of Raqqa who declined to give his last name. "Now extremists control my town. My family has moved back to government side because our town is too unsafe. Assad is terrible, but the alternative is worse." The prevalence of extremist Islamist groups in rebel-held areas, particularly in the north, has caused some opposition fighters to "give up" on their cause.</B>
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/w...eate-dilemma-for-us.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&
Don't worry jihadists, O'bomber is sending the AQAF ( Al-Qaeda Air Force) formerly known as USAF to bomb the shit out of your enemies and aid you in jihad.
In 2001, America was attacked by the same people obama's going to give help to today, in 2013. Hello America????