US has a $10m bounty on Syrian terror leader we’re negotiating with
So much for "Stop This Terrorist."
By Daniel Greenfield
JNS
Dec. 9, 2024
This is a little awkward, but it’s not the first time it’s happened.
Here’s the U.S. government’s Rewards for Justice site on the guy who just took over Syria:
“Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Muhammad al-Jawlani, also known as Abu Muhammad al-Golani and Muhammad al-Julani. Al-Jawlani leads the al-Nusrah Front (ANF), al-Qa’ida’s (AQ) affiliate in Syria. In January 2017, ANF merged with several other hardline opposition groups to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). While al-Jawlani is not the leader of HTS, he remains the leader of AQ-affiliated ANF, which is at the core of HTS.
“In April 2013, al-Jawlani pledged allegiance to AQ and its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. In July 2016, al-Jawlani praised AQ and al-Zawahiri in an online video and claimed the ANF was changing its name to Jabhat Fath Al Sham (‘Conquest of the Levant Front’).”
And, not mentioned here, but the future caliph of ISIS helped set Al-Jawlani up in business.
The US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $10 million for information leading to the capture and prosecution of Abu Muhammad al Julani
But I think we have some information on where he is now. And we’re talking to his people, who are talking to our people. Maybe someday we’ll do lunch.
“The United States has been passing messages through the Turkish government in recent days to the rebel groups involved in the lightning blitz that suddenly took down Mr. al-Assad, mainly warning them against teaming up with militants from the Islamic State,” according to The New York Times. “The groups responded through the Turks with assurances that they had no intention of allowing the Islamic State to be part of their movement, according to U.S. and Turkish officials briefed on the messages.”
Not only are we turning over what little authority we have to the Turkish state sponsors of the terrorists, but the idiots at Foggy Bottom are wasting that on telling HTS not to ally with ISIS. We already know they won’t ally with ISIS. There was a pretty bad breakup, and ISIS tends to be petty on those points. Jawlani doesn’t need ISIS and isn’t likely to ally with it anyway.
“U.S. intelligence agencies and top officials in the Biden administration are still in the process of evaluating the group and its leader, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, who is eager for legitimacy and has mounted what one senior U.S. official characterized as a ‘charm offensive’ aimed at allaying concerns about the organization’s intentions and past affiliations,” the Times continues.
“The way the official put it, ‘A charm offensive might mean that people are turning over a new leaf and they think differently than they used to, so you should hear them out. On the other hand, you should be cautious because charm offensives can sometimes be misleading.'”
Just ask the Taliban and the suckers who fell for their charm offensive.
“But now Mr. Biden and his top advisers are debating the extent to which they should engage directly with the rebel groups going forward, according to the officials, who described internal deliberations on the condition of anonymity…” the Times states.
“U.S. officials said that the Biden administration was allowed to talk to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its leader even though they are on the terrorist list, but that it could not provide them with material support.”
Give them time.
Notice there’s no mention of taking that $10 million reward seriously. Just a reluctance (for now) to violate the law by providing material support to terrorists. Biden’s people found ways around that with Iran. I have confidence that given a second term they would have figured out a lot of ways in Syria.
As it is, I imagine we’ll be sending a whole lot of aid to Syria. And it amounts to the same thing.
So much for “Stop This Terrorist.”
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