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Arab Spring (view source)

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The failure of the quick removal of Assad, along with Obama's complete disengagement of US troops from Iraq earlier, led to the unanticipated rise of the Islamic State in 2014, which further highlighted the failure of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy, and weakened Hillary's 2016 prospects.

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~~===~~March 2011~~===~~

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'''March 2011'''

*'''11 March.''' ''Reuters'' reports ‘a large shipment of weapons and explosives and night-vision goggles … in a truck coming from Iraq’ carrying 'dozens of grenades and pistols as well as rifles and ammunition belts’ is seized at al-Waleed (known in Syria as al-Tanf) southern bordering crossing, some 400 west of Baghdad. The Syrian Government News Agency (SANA) said the weapons were intended ‘for use in actions that affect Syria’s internal security and spread unrest and chaos.’ The driver said the weapons had been loaded in Baghdad and he was to be paid $5,000 to deliver them to Syria.<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-iraq-idUSTRE72A3MI20110311 Syria says seizes weapons smuggled from Iraq], Mar 11, 2011</ref>

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*'''28 March.''' ''AP'' reports [[Turkey]] takes over running the Benghazi airport.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20110618103616/http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/turkey-will-run-benghazi-airport-prime-m</ref> This is the beginning of a direct flightline to Adana, Turkey where captured Gaddadi regime weapons are delivered to AQI/ISI jihadis, for the purpose of overthrowing the [[Bashar Assad|Assad]] regime. The group eventually evolves into the [[Islamic State]].

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~~===~~April 2011~~===~~

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'''April 2011'''

*'''22 April.''' Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood and AQI [Al Qaeda in Iraq, later ISIS] supported by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, are infiltrated into the southwest Syrian border town of Daraa, a town of 150,000 inhabitants. Western media previously claimed 300,000 protesters were in the streets. 20 Syrian government soldiers are ambushed and beheaded. These are the first known instances of what would become the US-backed Salafi-jihadi's trademark use of terrorism. Government troops are lured into the town after rooftop snipers begin shooting at police during a civil demonstration. 90 people are killed in the days fighting. This marks the end of civil opposition to the regime. For the next half decade, Syria's "Civil War," as it is referred to in Western media, is a war between the Syrian Army and foreign jihadists backed by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the Gulf states.

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~~===~~June 2011~~===~~

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'''June 2011'''

*'''6 June.''' Jisr ash-Shugur massacre in Syria. 120 Syrian regime personnel are executed by US-backed "unarmed peaceful opposition protesters," according to Western media accounts. Many are beheaded and their bodies thrown from a bridge into the Orontes river.<ref>https://www.ted.com/talks/markham_nolan_how_to_separate_fact_and_fiction_online/transcript?language=en</ref> The atrocity is videotaped and uploaded to YouTube, later censored by Western cyberwarfare information specialists.

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~~===~~July 2011~~===~~

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'''July 2011'''

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*'''18 July.''' Former [[Clinton administration]] State Dept. Spokesman Jamie Rubin, husband of CNN’s [[Christiane Amanpour]] emails Hillary:

{{Quotebox|Again, congratulations are in order...It is a pleasure to see the State Department again leading the administration on this. Syria, too......the White House doesn’t seem like it cares very much. In general, the [[NSC]] seems uncomfortable with creative applications of American power and influence. And we all know the military and the [[Pentagon]] resist limited military operations, especially airpower-only engagements. So, it must be you and your colleagues at State. Well done. . . . even a small success like the one that is coming in Libya will turn around the steady decline in American influence in the region and around the world. I suspect that you know this, but European elites, Gulf elites, East Europeans and many others regard the Administration as weak.}}

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~~===~~November 2011~~===~~

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'''November 2011'''

*'''27 November.''' ''Telegraph'' reports that the new Libyan authorities offered [[money]] and weapons to the insurgency against Bashar al-Assad.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8919057/Leading-Libyan-Islamist-met-Free-Syrian-Army-opposition-group.html Leading Libyan Islamist met Free Syrian Army opposition group], Ruth Sherlock in Tripoli 9:00PM GMT 27 Nov 2011. ''The Telegraph'', telegraph.co.uk/.</ref>

{{Quotebox|[Abdulhakim Belhadj] also discussed sending [[LIFG|Libyan fighters]] to train troops, the source said. Having ousted one dictator, triumphant young men, still filled with revolutionary fervour, are keen to topple the next. The commanders of armed gangs still roaming Tripoli's streets said yesterday that "hundreds" of fighters wanted to wage war against the Assad regime. "Everyone wants to go. We have liberated our country, now we should help others," said the commander of the 'Fighting Village' brigade, "This is freedom. This is Arab unity".<ref>See ''The Future of Terrorism: What al-Qaida Really Wants, ''Der Spiegel'', "The Unification Phase," Interview with Ayman Zawahiri.''</ref>

Increasing volumes of video footage have been uploaded to [[YouTube]] of Syrians calling on Libyans to join their fight. In a clip backed by dramatic musical effects, a veiled Syrian woman entreats men from Misurata, the west Libyan city that fought off a month-long siege by forces loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi, to come to save her country."}}

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~~===~~December 2011~~===~~

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'''December 2011'''

*'''7 December.''' Special Operations Forces from US, UK, France, Jordan, Turkey are already on the ground in Syria training opposition forces and ready to act within 2–3 months.<ref>https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/16/1671459_insight-military-intervention-in-syria-post-withdrawal.html</ref>

[[File:North-Syria-Map-696x284.png|right|300px|thumb|The Northern Syria jihadi corridor (in grey). Weapons and foreign jihadis enter Syris from Turkey through the jihadi corridor.]]

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~~===~~January 2012~~===~~

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'''January 2012'''

Just as France and the UK were the driving forces in persuading Obama and Hillary to get behind Libyan regime change, so to were Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey the driving forces behind Syrian regime change. In Libya, Gaddafi's African unity policy and development bank threatened established French and UK commercial investments. In Syria, Iranian support and the sanctuary given to [[Hezbollah]] - basically a standing contingent of the Iranian Quds Force on [[Israel]]'s northern border<ref>https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/18328</ref> - threatened both the Saudi kingdom and Israel. In both cases, Libya and Syria, Obama's policy of leading from behind - giving aid to minor allies who started unnecessary wars - had catastrophic consequences for the men, women, and children on three continents, victims of the parochial ambitions of minor state actors and ambitious career opportunists.

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*'''January.''' A Saudi diplomatic cable reads that the Kingdom "must seek by all means available and all possible ways to overthrow the current regime in Syria," expresses fear of Russian intervention if it cannot be done quickly, and note "there is a lack of ‘desire’ and not a lack of ‘capability’ on the part of Western countries, chief among them the United States, to take firm steps…”<ref>https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/02/26/newly-translated-wikileaks-saudi-cable-overthrow-the-syrian-regime-but-play-nice-with-russia/</ref>

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~~===~~February 2012~~===~~

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'''February 2012'''

*'''12 February.''' Deputy Assistant to President Barack Obama,<ref>Jake Sullivan b. 1976. Sullivan, who was 35 years old at the time is presumably one of the "35-year-old PhDs who love to talk, because that's the way you let everybody know how smart you are, is how much you talk." Sec. Hagel continues, "[Obama] has a staff around him that's very inexperienced. I don't think there's one veteran on his senior staff at the White House. I don't believe there's one business person. I don't believe there's one person who's ever run anything. Other than [[Vice President Biden]], none of them have ever been elected to anything." Sec. Gates criticized "staffers calling senior commanders out in the field and asking them questions, of second guessing commanders...I told my combatant commanders and field commanders … if you get calls from … the president, that's one thing. But if you get a call from some White House or National Security Council staffer, you tell them to call me instead, and then tell them, by the way, go to hell." Hagel also criticized Susan Rice's approach and subservience to Obama. https://youtu.be/GPPx83VoLyY</ref> emails Sec. Clinton to notify her "[Al Qaeda] is on our side in Syria. Otherwise, things have basically turned out as expected;"<ref>[https://mobile.twitter.com/wikileaks/status/852266094379380738/photo/1]</ref> the only legal basis Obama has for the use force (2001 AUMF) is to destroy Al Qaeda and associated groups.<ref>https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/the-perils-of-president-obamas-latest-undeclared-war/413566/</ref>

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~~===~~April 2012~~===~~

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'''April 2012'''

*'''23 April.''' [week of 22-29]. 18328 Wikileaks Hillary Clinton email archive. NEW IRAN AND SYRIA 2.DOC. Lays out justification and strategy for the anti-Assad campaign.<ref>The document reads in part: "Iran's nuclear program and Syria's civil war may seem unconnected, but they are. For Israeli leaders, the real threat from a nuclear-armed Iran is not the prospect of an insane Iranian leader launching an unprovoked Iranian nuclear attack on Israel that would lead to the annihilation of

both countries. What Israeli military leaders really worry about -- but cannot talk about -- is losing their nuclear monopoly. An Iranian nuclear weapons capability would not only end that nuclear monopoly but could also prompt other adversaries, like Saudi Arabia and [[Egypt]], to go nuclear as well. The result would be a precarious nuclear balance in which Israel could not respond to provocations with conventional military strikes on Syria and Lebanon, as it can today."https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/18328</ref>

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~~===~~May 2012~~===~~

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'''May 2012'''

*'''May.''' Obama and Clinton had already armed al Qaeda in North Africa, the [[Libyan Islamic Fighting Group]], and Ansar al Shariah to destabilize the Gadaffi and Assad regimes.

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~~===~~June 2012~~===~~

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'''June 2012'''

*'''21 June.''' ''New York Times'' reports "C.I.A. officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey, helping allies decide which Syrian opposition fighters across the border will receive arms to fight the Syrian government...[weapons] are being funneled mostly across the Turkish border by way of a shadowy network of intermediaries including Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood and paid for by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar."<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/world/middleeast/cia-said-to-aid-in-steering-arms-to-syrian-rebels.html</ref><ref>http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/03/25/world/middleeast/an-arms-pipeline-to-the-syrian-rebels.html?_r=0</ref>

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~~===~~July 2012~~===~~

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'''July 2012'''

*'''27 July.''' Adventure film maker Bernard-Henri Levy tells al-Arabiya TV, "What we did in Libya is more doable in Syria."<ref>https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=87e_1456332942</ref>

*'''30 July.''' ''The Guardian'' reports, <ref>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/30/al-qaida-rebels-battle-syria</ref>

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*'''31 July.''' NBC News reports anti-Assad forces obtained shoulder fired surface-to-air missiles.<ref>http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/48427738</ref>

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'''August 2012'''

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~~===~~August 2012~~===~~

*'''1 August.''' ''Reuters'' reports Obama issued a secret Presidential Finding earlier in the year authorising transfer of captured weapons from Libya to Syria.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20170216061621/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/01/obama-secret-syria-order_n_1730712.html?tw_p=twt</ref>

{{Quotebox|under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.

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