NATOs Terror Hordes in Iraq a Pretext for Syria InvasionTony Cartalucci In actuality, ISIS is the product of a joint NATO-GCC conspiracy stretching back as far as 2007 where US-Saudi policymakers sought to ignite a region-wide sectarian war to purge the Middle East of Irans arch of influence stretching from its borders, across Syria and Iraq, and as far west as Lebanon and the coast of the Mediterranean. ISIS has been harbored, trained, armed, and extensively funded by a coalition of NATO and Persian Gulf states within Turkeys (NATO territory) borders and has launched invasions into northern Syria with, at times, both Turkish artillery and air cover. The most recent example of this was the cross-border invasion by Al Qaeda into Kasab village, Latikia province in northwest Syria. In March, ISIS withdrew its terror battalions from Latikia and Idlib provinces and repositioned them in the east of Syria, now clearly in preparations for invading northern Iraq. The Daily Star reported in a March 2014 article titled, Al-Qaeda splinter group in Syria leaves two provinces: activists, that: Turkey Has Already Attempted to Use Al Qaeda False Flag Attacks to Justify Invading Syria It had been revealed that NATO has been planning a false flag attack against Turkey to justify the Turkish invasion of northern Syria, the International Business Times reported in its article, Turkey YouTube Ban: Full Transcript of Leaked Syria War Conversation Between Erdogan Officials. It released the full transcript of a leaked conversation between the head of Turkish intelligence Hakan Fidan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutolu. The Times reported: The leaked call details Erdogans thoughts that an attack on Syria must be seen as an opportunity for us [Turkey]. In the conversation, intelligence chief Fidan says that he will send four men from Syria to attack Turkey to make up a cause of war. The report would also state: Instead of four men carrying out a false flag to secure a tomb, it appears now that an entire mercenary army will be used as a pretext to secure all of northern Iraq and eastern Syria. Banks Robbed After Invasion Funded the Invasion? Western Media Puts Cart Before the Horse Tales of ISIS looting armories, vehicle depots, and banks are being carefully planted throughout the Western media in an attempt to portray the invasion as a terrorist uprising, sustaining itself on plundered supplies, weapons, and cash. In reality, ISIS already possessed all that it needed before beginning its campaign from Syrian and Turkish territory. The International Business Times in its article, Mosul Seized: Jihadis Loot $429m from Citys Central Bank to Make Isis Worlds Richest Terror Force, claims: Nineveh governor Atheel al-Nujaifi confirmed Kurdish television reports that Isis militants had stolen millions from numerous banks across Mosul. A large quantity of gold bullion is also believed to have been stolen. Following the siege of the countrys second city, the bounty collected by the group has left it richer than al-Qaeda itself and as wealthy as small nations such as Tonga, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and the Falkland Islands. This cover story is the latest in a long propaganda campaign designed to cover up the extensively documented state sponsorship of ISIS and other Al Qaeda franchises by the United States, NATO, and the Persian Gulf monarchies. Previous attempts to explain why alleged moderates being funded billions by the West were being displaced by Al Qaeda in Syria have included claims that Twitter donations were eclipsing the combined aid provided by the US, EU, NATO, and Persian Gulf states. The US, NATO, and Persian Gulf States are Behind ISIS Published in 2007 a full 4 years before the 2011 Arab Spring would begin Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hershs New Yorker article titled, The Redirection: Is the Administrations new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism? stated specifically (emphasis added): Throughout the Syrian conflict, which began in 2011, the West and its regional partners have sent billions in cash, weapons, and equipment. In the March 2013 Telegraph article titled, US and Europe in major airlift of arms to Syrian rebels through Zagreb, it is reported: The shipments were allegedly paid for by Saudi Arabia at the bidding of the United States, with assistance on supplying the weapons organised through Turkey and Jordan, Syrias neighbours. But the report added that as well as from Croatia, weapons came from several other European countries including Britain, without specifying if they were British-supplied or British-procured arms. British military advisers however are known to be operating in countries bordering Syria alongside French and Americans, offering training to rebel leaders and former Syrian army officers. The Americans are also believed to be providing training on securing chemical weapons sites inside Syria. Additionally, The New York Times in its article, Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With C.I.A. Aid, admits that: With the pledge of fresh aid, the total amount of nonlethal assistance from the United States to the coalition and civic groups inside the country is $250 million. During the meeting here, Mr. Kerry urged other nations to step up their assistance, with the objective of providing $1 billion in international aid. The US has also admitted that it is now officially arming and equipping terrorists inside of Syria. The Washington Posts article, U.S. weapons reaching Syrian rebels, reported: The Western media and the governments providing them their talking points now expect the general public to believe that somehow Twitter donations and bank robberies have managed to outpace this unprecedented multinational logistical feat and give Al Qaeda the edge over the Wests nonexistent moderate forces in Syria and give rise to phantom terrorist legions capable of seizing entire provinces across multiple national borders. The evidence simply doesnt add up. Combined with reports from the US Armys West Point Countering Terrorism Center, Bombers, Bank Accounts and Bleedout: al-Qaidas Road In and Out of Iraq, and Al-Qaidas Foreign Fighters in Iraq, it is clear that Iraqs Al Qaeda/ISIS legions were created, funded, and armed by Persian Gulf states and are augmented with foreign fighters drawn from Libyas terror epicenter of Benghazi, and Saudi Arabia in particular. These legions have been in operation in one form or another since they were first created by the US CIA, Saudi Arabia and Pakistani intelligence during the 1980s to combat Soviet forces in Afghanistan. A Pretext for NATO Invasion The alleged territory of ISIS overlaps the Iraqi-Syrian border constituting a region nearly the size of Syria itself. With Baghdad asking for foreign intervention, and ISIS giving NATO the perfect pretext to do so by seizing a Turkish consulate in Mosul, making the case for (re)invading Iraq may be feasible. With the Western media capitalizing on ISIS notorious brutality, including mass beheadings and hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing before them, a demonstrable campaign to sway public opinion toward intervention is clearly under way. Invading northern Iraq will allow NATO to then justify cross-border operations into eastern Syria. In reality what NATO will be doing is establishing their long desired buffer zone where terrorists can launch attacks deeper and more effectively into Syrian territory. With western Syria returning to peace and order after a series of victories for the Syrian government, the last front NATOs proxy forces have is Al Qaedas arch of terror running along Turkeys border and now, across eastern Syria and northern Iraq. NATOs presence in northern Iraq would also provide an obstacle for Iranian-Syrian trade and logistics. The idea of such a buffer zone has been in the works since at least March 2012, where the idea was proposed by the US corporate-financier funded Brookings Institution in their Middle East Memo #21 Assessing Options for Regime Change where it stated specifically (emphasis added): Through Iraq, NATO has used its terrorist proxies to create a pretext to put this buffer zone strategy back into motion. The prospect of the US, NATO, or the Persian Gulf states delivering Iraq from ISIS is an ironic tragedy as definitive evidence reveals ISIS brutal incursion was of this collective coalitions own doing to begin with, and for its own insidious ends. Instead, a joint Iranian-Iraqi-Syrian anti-terror campaign should be conducted to corner and crush NATOs terrorist mercenary expeditionary force once and for all. Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine New Eastern Outlook, where this first appeared. 